Tag: "wipo"
Apple files dispute over iPhone5.com domain name [UPDATED]
Apple is planning ahead for the release of the next iPhone by filing a complaint (Case number: D2012-0951) with the World Intellectual Property Organization over iPhone5.com. The domain dispute popped up on WIPO’s website this week.
Anyone who visits the website of iPhone5.com today will be greeted by smart phone advertisements and online forums discussing the iPhone 5.
Although Apple has been known to open its wallet to acquire domain names, in the past year it has selected to go the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) route. And it’s had a lot of success.
The company secured rights to iphone4s.com, iphoneporn4s.com, iphonesex4s.com, iphonexxxforce.com, iphone4s.com and other domains that were being used by an adult website operator, after filing a similar dispute with WIPO.
But, that’s not all.
Apple has won disputes over applesales.com, appleproductsonline.com, appleipods.com, and even ipods.com, just to name a few.
In mid-July 2011, Apple acquired the domain names iPhone4.com and WhiteiPhone.com for an undisclosed amount, opting to pay for the domain names.
In the years to come, expect to see more iPhone domain disputes. At the time of this story, Apple doesn’t own iPhone6.com, iPhone7.com, iPhone8.com, iPhone9.com, iPhone10.com — you get the idea.
[Update 2 on May 13, 2012:. According to Whois records, Apple has taken ownership of the domain iPhone5.com through the brand protection agency Corporation Service Company.]
[Update 1 at 6:48 PM Est:. In an interesting little twist, there are now two new discussion threads on iPhone5.com that discuss Apple going after the domain name. One thread is called HELP US FIGHT. The second thread includes a poll that asks whether Apple should be able to take control of iPhone5.com.]
Talking about this story: Mashable, ComputerWorld, The Register, Macworld, WebProNews, Red Orbit, PC Mag, Gotta Be Mobile, MacRumors, Apple Insider, VentureBeat, AppAdvice, Apple Bitch, Cult of Mac, The Mac Observer, Silicon News, iClarified, Inrumor, Gotta Be Mobile, International Business Times, Huffington Post, Afterdawn and Business Insider
(Image of iPhone 4 via Apple.com)
Twitter is going after another typo domain: Twittter.com (with an extra ‘t’)
The dispute submitted by Twitter Inc over the typo domain Twittter.com (with an extra ‘t’), comes on the heels of Twitter’s win this month in a similar complaint against the typo domain Twiter.com.
WIPO Case D2011-1973 was filed this week with the World Intellectual Property Organization.
In the case of Twittter.com, the owner is using a popular scam, like the one used by Twiter.com of luring unsuspecting users to a site that looks confusingly similar to the official Twitter site (as shown in the picture above).
The user is guided through a series of questions that attempts to gather personal information by promising free gifts like an iPad 2.
Today, the full administrative panel decision was posted in the case of Twiter.com, which involved Twitter, Inc (the complainant) vs. Geigo, Inc of Albrook Park, Panama (the respondent).
According to the factual background, prior to filing its complaint, Twitter sent several cease-and-desist letters to Geigo, but received no reply.
Twitter finally reached a Geigo Inc. rep by telephone, who confirmed that they would not transfer the disputed domain name but would consider altering the content at the website.
This apparently, never happened.
Twitter demonstrated confusing similarity, that Geigo lacked rights or a legitimate interest in the domain, and that it was registered in bad faith, which might surprise some readers since the domain was first registered in 2004.
Here’s what the panel had to say on the point of ‘bad faith’: “Had Respondent made the initial registration in 2004 and maintained ownership through 2011 the Panel would likely have reached a different outcome about Respondent’s having registered the disputed domain name in bad faith. But Respondent has not even alleged that it or an affiliate owned the disputed domain name continuously since 2004, and has offered no proof (indeed no allegation) that it is or was affiliated with any prior owner. The available evidence, not contested by Respondent, shows another owner as late as March 2011.”
Twittter.com (extra ‘t’) is currently registered to Goldberg Client Services, Inc. according to WHOIS records (privacy has been removed as of yesterday). The domain was initially registered by its first owner in 2007.
Given the track record of WIPO with Twitter, Twittter.com will likely be ordered transferred.
You can read through all the details of the Twiter.com decision in Twitter’s latest win here.
[Update 2 on January 26, 2012: The WIPO Panel has ordered <twittr.com> to be transferred to Twitter Inc. Details of the decision are available here.]
[Update 1 on November 15, 2011,: Robin Wauters of TechCrunch pointed out that Twitter has filed a separate complaint (WIPO Case D2011-1992) over Twittr.com.]
Discussion: Search Engine Land and TechCrunch
Toys “R” Us, which acquired the internet domain Toys.com in 2009, files dispute for nearly two dozen domain names
Geoffrey, LLC, the company that owns and operates Toys”R”Us has filed a domain dispute over nearly two dozen domain names with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization.
The disputed domains, which use the “R” Us mark at the end of the web address, cover a wide variety of products and services ranging from insurance, to attorneys, even to tattoos.
Geoffrey LLC has won disputes in the past over domain names that clearly involved cybersquatting. Names such as: wwwtoysrus.com, wwwtoyrus.com, babyrus.com, and babysrus.com. However, the company hasn’t been so lucky when the domain names being disputed, weren’t outright abusive registrations.
In 2006, the company lost a dispute at WIPO over pensareus.com and pensrus.com, after the panel found that the dispute was more appropriate for the courts rather than UDRP, which it stated is intended for the narrow class of cases involving cybersquatters.
The domain names named in the latest dispute include:
bestcreditcardsrus.info
carinsurancequoterus.info
cheaptermlifeinsuranceratesrus.info
childrensbedroomfurniturerus.com
dentalinsuranceplansrus.com
desklampsrus.com
digitalproductsrus.com
edmontonlawyerrus.info
floridainjurylawyerrus.info
freeonlinegamesrus.com
healthinsurancerus.info
homebusinessopportunityrus.com
injuryattorneyrus.info
insurancerus.info
makingmoneyonlinerus.com
personalinjurylawyersrus.com
stringtrimmersrus.com
tattoosrus.info
therusgroup.com
watchbandsrus.com
wholelifeinsurancerus.info
Toys “R” Us and domain names
Toys “R” Us made internet headlines when it purchased the domain name toys.com for $5.1 Million at auction in 2009, beating out National A-1 in a competitive auction that went back and forth for hours, according to TechCrunch.
The purchase of toys.com, secured the domain name a spot in the top 10 domain sales of all time according to Domaining.com, which keeps track of the Top 500 sales in history.
Today, toys.com is a separate website from the Toys “R” Us site and is used to post a wide range of unadvertised and exclusive deals, not found anywhere on the Toys “R” Us network of internet properties.
According to news sources, Toys “R” Us is planning to go public sometime later this year.
CharlieSheen.com — The case of celebrity domain names and legal disputes
The Charlie Sheen drama that has been all over the media, no doubt, is creating interest online, which naturally means that people are typing in the web address, charliesheen.com, on the internet. In January 2011, the same month Charlie Sheen was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center by paramedics, the domain name saw a spike in visitor traffic according to Compete.com, an online service that provides free information for websites.
So, what’s going on with possibly one of the hottest domain names of the moment?
I haven’t seen any other news sites or blogs cover this story and there is a whole lot of backstory, not only on the domain name itself, but on the owner, who has a taste for great domain names, including celebrity domains like pamanderson.com.
Here’s a look at the charliesheen.com domain, and some related stories that have sprang up in the past week as a reaction to Charlie Sheen’s venture online with Twitter and more.
The domain name: charliesheen.com
The plain and simple answer to what’s up with the domain name is that there is no website online, just a HTTP 404 Not Found web page. Charlie Sheen also doesn’t own the right to the domain: charliesheen.com, a person by the name of “Jeff Burgar” of the company “Alberta Hot Rods” is the registrant according to Whois records provided by DomainTools. The very same Jeff Burgar of “Alberta Hot Rods” who owns some great domains, like Tammy.com, AbrahamLincoln.com, StevieNicks.com, Blondes.com, as well as over 1,000 more domain names including, yes, Hotrods.com.
The owner: Jeff Burgar of Alberta Hot Rods and domain disputes
The owner, is also the very same “Jeff Burgar” of “Alberta Hot Rods” who has had to respond to a number of domain disputes at WIPO, most of which involved high-profile celebrity domain names he registered in the nineties, and most of which were lost and transferred to the complainant.
Cases have involved Pamela Anderson who won pamanderson.com, Ashley Judd who won ashleyjudd.com – the list goes on and on – catherinecookson.com (transferred), ianfleming.com (transferred), direstraits.com (transferred), tomcruise.com (transferred), larryking.com (transferred), jrrtolkien.com (transferred), and michaelcrichton.com (transferred). For a look at all the cases involving “Alberta Hot Rods”, go here and type “Alberta Hot Rods” in the Named Respondent search field.
But Jeff’s Alberta Hot Rods was successful in a few domain disputes. The case of the common first name domain, lana.com, saw the complainant denied. Alberteinstein.com was denied to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. And the complainant for scorpions.com was denied the name.
The re-direct and website: celebrity1000.com
Take a jump in Archive.org’s Wayback Machine, and the name charliesheen.com re-directed at one point to the website, Celebrity1000.com (also offline), which served as a fan network starting back in 1996 which included a directory of celebrity websites ranging from David Haselhoff to Demi Moore.
Celebrity1000.com, is also owned by Jeff Burgar to this day. And the site has been named in several decisions around “registration and use in bad faith” handed down by WIPO after complainants like Pamela Anderson, pointed out the site was misleading to internet users, and celebrity domains had been stockpiled and used to further the fan network of Celebrity1000.com and its advertising revneues.
Interestingly enough, JeffBurgar.com (which is privately registered) redirects to WIPO.org, the World Intellectual Property Organization. I can’t say whether the same Jeff Burgar who owns charliesheen.com owns jeffburgar.com, but it’s certainly an interesting use of a name.
The fate of the domain name: charliesheen.com
While Charlie Sheen hasn’t filed a domain dispute over the name at this point, if it ends up in a legal dispute before a panel of WIPO decision-makers, it’s all but certain that charliesheen.com will be transferred to Charlie Sheen.
Recap of Charlie Sheen online
Here’s a quick recap of stories related to Charlie Sheen now to taking to the internet with his antics.
- Twitter: Since joining Twitter on March 1, 2011, Charlie Sheen who tweets using the name @charliesheen, has nearly 2 million followers at the time of this story. Guinness World Records announced he set a new record for fastest time to 1 million followers, which he achieved in just 25 hours and 17 minutes.
- Prank: CharlieSheen.com for $275,000: A person posted a video of himself fooling his friend into believing that he registered charliesheen.com for $12, then tricking him into thinking they’re selling it for $275,000. Watch how it unfolds.
Twittersearch.com turned over to Twitter, after domain dispute filed back in Dec. ’10
Back in Dec. 2010, Twitter Inc. filed a case against the owner of the domain Twittersearch.com with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization. As TechCrunch first reported, the UDRP complaint was the first ever since the company was founded.
The disputed domain is now registered to Twitter Inc, according to the latest Whois information and data provided by DomainTools. News of the ownership change has not been reported by any other blog or news site.
The web address continues to resolve to a GoDaddy parked page as it had before the UDRP complaint.
The UDRP complaint, case number D2010-2073, is still active with WIPO. And though no decision has been officially announced by WIPO as of today, the registrant is now Twitter, Inc.
Will Twitter go after more Twitter domains?
While Twitter hasn’t filed any new cases with WIPO, it’s possible that some degree of precedence has been set on twitter domains.
Robin Wauters suggested that Twitter-search.com might be the next disputed domain, but my money is on Searchtwitter.com. According to a rough estimate by Compete, Searchtwitter.com receives just as much type-in traffic (often more) than Twittersearch.com.
And the owner of the domain, even has a For Sale page online suggesting the domain is available for purchase.
WIPO proceedings over BlackberryTablet.com suspended, domain now registered to RIM
Last month, Research In Motion filed a complaint with WIPO over BlackberryTablet.com, a domain name that was first registered over 1 year ago on January 24, 2010.
While details haven’t been released, it appears both parties have reached a settlement. The case has been suspended at WIPO and as of yesterday, the domain name re-directs to the Playbook Tablet page on the Blackberry web site.
And, as of Thursday, Feb. 10, the domain name is now registered to Research In Motion Limited according to Whois records.
Although RIM has had to file literally dozens of complaints over the years at WIPO in order to win web addresses that are clearly abusive registrations, the company does own BlackberryPlaybook.com and Playbooktablet.com. But despite RIM expecting to be a major player in the tablet market, it doesn’t own all the domain names that could potentially help its online marketing even further. Perhaps the best name for its tablet product, Playbook.com, is operated by Playbook Publications which runs a web site for sports handicapper Marc Lawrence.
The Blackberry Playbook is rumored to be launched some time next month or at the latest, by April.
Zynga goes after ZyngaGiftcards.com and ZyngaWorld.com domain names
Zynga has filed two domain name complaints concerning zyngagiftcards.com and zyngaworld.com with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization.
The complaints were filed today for ZyngaWorld.com and yesterday for ZyngaGiftcards.com.
Zynga’s Domain Dispute Track Record
Zynga has had no problem winning domain disputes filed using the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, better known as UDRP.
In all previous cases, the domain names were transferred from the respondent back to Zynga. The list of domain names includes zynga-chips.com, zynga.cc, zyngachips.com, zyngapoker.com, buyzyngachips.net, cheapzyngachips.net, chips4zynga.com, yourzyngachips.com, and zyngachips4sell.com.
As TechCrunch reported in March 2010, Zynga rolled out gift cards at a number of major retailers in the U.S. Though Zynga refers to them as “game cards“, they are essentially gift cards which can be used for in-game currency to buy the items you want.
Zyngagiftcards.com is currently registered to Joanna Hewett according to Whois Records, and has been registered since December 2009. Zyngaworld.com is registered to David Cahill of Australia.
Oddly enough, Zynga doesn’t own zyngagamecards.com and hasn’t filed a dispute over the domain as of yet, even though it refers to its “gift cards” as “game cards”.
The company also doesn’t own zyngaecards.com, online ”game cards” that can be purchased and sent to users with a personal message. What’s even stranger, is the domain name isn’t even registered at the time of this story, despite the number of abusive registrations the company regularly encounters. But given Zynga’s success at WIPO, hopefully people will learn some lessons, and avoid these types of registrations.
Though the company will likely win these domain disputes and have the names transferred, they might not be as lucky with the trademark dispute over Blingville, which so far has backfired after Blingville responded with a lawsuit, and thousands have lined up to test and play the soon-to-be released Facebook game.
[Update 1: On March 21, 2011, the WIPO panel ordered the domain name zyngaworld.com transferred to Zynga. The dispute for zyngagiftcards.com was terminated, after the owner agreed to turn over the name to Zynga.]
With SocialEngine.net earning $1,000,000 per year, company goes after .com at WIPO
After meeting as high school students in 2002, Alex Benzer and Charlotte Genevier, co-founders of Webligo developed and launched Social Engine in 2007. The product is described as a social-network-in-a-box, a white label social networking application that is growing and now earns nearly $1MM/year according to the Webligo home page.
With dorm room offices and virtually zero operating costs, Webligo’s savings grew quickly. In 2006, Alex and Charlotte began developing a new product – SocialEngine – seeded with their sales and the recent acquisitions of two earlier projects (BlogHoster and IMS Pro). SocialEngine, 100% bootstrapped without any outside investment, was launched in 2007 with great reception. With SocialEngine now earning nearly $1M/year, Alex and Char have built a team of seven developers and designers to grow SocialEngine and explore other opportunities.
The only problem is, Webligo’s founders launched the product using the .net (socialengine.net), instead of the .com.
Now Webligo wants the .com, so the company has filed a WIPO complaint over the domain name SocialEngine.com.
While it’s not known whether Webligo made a previous offer on the .com domain, the company recently filed for a trademark on “Social Engine” in Sept. 2010, three years after launching their product, and nearly 11 years after the domain name socialengine.com was first registered.
The current registrant according to GoDaddy Whois is listed as “Domains for Sale” out of Columbus, OH, with an email address of DomainsForSale -at- Gmail.com.
Here’s a little more information about Social Engine, in a video pitch posted on TechCrunch back in 2008.
Research In Motion files complaint with WIPO over BlackberryTablet.com
Research In Motion (RIM) filed a complaint this week with WIPO over BlackberryTablet.com, ahead of the company’s launch of its own tablet in early 2011.
Although Research In Motion has named its tablet, Playbook, the company is going after the owner of BlackberryTablet.com who first registered the domain name nearly 1 year ago on January 24, 2010.
Ever since Apple introduced the iPad, tablets have been in demand, but this is the first such case filed with WIPO over a tablet domain name, but it likely won’t be the last. According to the reports from CES 2011, over 80 tablet launches will be taking place in 2011.
Research In Motion isn’t the only company missing its name
A quick glance at some of the bigger names launching tablets, shows that Research In Motion isn’t the only company who doesn’t own their name + tablet. Only a handful of companies appear to have registered their name in time. Not even the mighty Apple which leads the tablet market with its iPad owns Appletablet.com. The domain name was first registered back in 2006 and serves as an online resource guide for Apple products. Apple doesn’t own iPad.com either.
Motorola which is launching the Xoom in the first quarter of 2011 doesn’t own MotorolaTablet.com. The owner has the name up for sale.
Toshiba missed registering its domain name. Toshibatablet.com was registered in February 2010 to an Adam Feber who currently has the domain parked at GoDaddy.
Dell, so far, might be the only exception in the lot. The company does own Delltablet.com and it redirects the domain to its homepage on Dell.com. The company which launched its own tablet called “Streak” in 2010, also owns DellStreak.com. And if Dell pays attention to the domain aftermarket, it has a chance of getting the generic domain streak.com, which has been put up for sale with a reserve price range of 10,000 – 24,999 EUR in the upcoming GreatDomains auction starting January 20th.
Samsungtablet.com, Panasonictablet.com – neither name is owned by the company and you’ll be hard pressed to find very many manufacturers that own their company name + tablet.
Research In Motion and WIPO
Research In Motion has filed dozens of complaints over the years with WIPO over domain names and it has had success in having a large portion of the names transferred. Cases the company have won include RIM.com, researchinmotion.com, blackberryworld.com, blackberryguru.com, and dozens of other cases.
Currently, Research In Motion has other cases active with WIPO where a decision has not been made, including blackberrybing.com and blackberrybridge.com.
As the tablet market heats up, companies will be suiting up to duke it out with owners of domain names.
But there’s one domain owner who won’t have to worry about a battle – he’ll just have to worry whether to turn down huge offers or to develop the domain name into the top online tablet destination - Aron Meystedt of XF Investments who owns Tablets.com. As I first reported in the beginning of November 2010, Aron who also owns the first .com domain ever registered (symbolics.com), acquired Tablets.com for an undisclosed amount.
If you’re actually curious about the Blackberry Playbook which is expected to be forthcoming in Q1 of 2011, here’s a preview of its features.
Twitter files UDRP complaint against owner of domain: TwitterSearch.com
TechCrunch is reporting that Twitter is going after the domain name Twittersearch.com, that was registered by its owner in March 2007. Twitter launched its popular micro-blogging service a year before, in March 2006.
Twitter late last week filed a UDRP complaint, notably its first ever since the company was founded, in an effort to obtain ownership over the (currently parked) domain name twittersearch.com – as you can see here.
Obviously, Twitter is right to do this, since the domain is likely to cause some confusion, although we should note Twitter hasn’t managed to secure a trademark for the term ‘twitter’ in the United States so far, despite multiple attempts.
A compliance review is currently pending according to the World Internataionl Property Organization (better known as WIPO). In the same list of cases over at WIPO, Pocket Kings the company that owns Full Tilt Poker is going after typo domain names.
A look at a rough traffic estimate provided by Compete, shows TwitterSearch.com receives several thousand visitors per month.
To avoid a trademark issue, other sites like TwitterCounter.com, a site which receives over 1 million visitors per month and provides stats, graphs and widgets for Twitter users, licenses the Twitter name from Twitter, Inc. Probably a smart move short term, but long term it might be in the company’s interest to re-brand. The company also owns Twittermail.com.
Oddly enough, Twitter Inc hasn’t gone after the owner of Twiter.com (a popular typo of Twitter), who is obviously trying to trick unsuspecting visitors into clicking on ads, but as TechCrunch points out: “ Twitter hasn’t managed to secure a trademark for the term ‘twitter’ in the United States so far, despite multiple attempts.” So winning a case for Twiter, might be a lot harder than winning a case for TwitterSearch.com.
