Categories
Disputes News WIPO

Columbia Pictures files dispute over FantasyIsland.com [UPDATED]

Fantasy Island

Last summer DotWeekly wrote about the domain name FantasyIsland.com selling in a Go Daddy expired domain auction for $22,005 USD. 

The first comment made by a reader of the article was that the purchase was a waste of money.

“What a waste of money IMO.  That purchase makes no sense unless you own the rights to the show Fantasy Island. If not, what the hell can one do with it? A titty bar? “Boss boss, de UDRP, de UDRP,”” wrote Mike.

Well, now Columbia Pictures Industries, which has owned the Fantasy Island trademark since the early 1980s, has filed a domain dispute (Case Number: D2012-0043) over FantasyIsland.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the current owner is going to have to think about what to do.

What makes this case interesting is that the current owner Howard Guessner, has owned the domain name dating back to 2004 all the way up through today, according to Whois historical records.  So it appears Guessner may have renewed the domain in time and never paid $22K to Go Daddy to purchase it in an expiring auction.  

I’ve reached out to Guessner via e-mail to learn more and will update this post if I hear back.

[Updated on February 29, 2012:. The name has been ordered transferred to Columbia Pictures Industries.  The decision was issued on February 19, 2012.  Full details of the decision can be read here.]

Categories
Movies News

Sedo brokers the sale of Skeletor.com, is a Masters of the Universe film getting ready to start production?

Skeletor

It appears the domain name skeletor.com has been sold. 

The Whois record, which was updated this week, now displays Sedo’s Domain Transfer Escrow Service.  Because the domain name is currently in Sedo’s Transfer Service, it won’t be known immediately known who purchased it.  Or, for that matter, what they have in store for the name of the villain in the Masters of the Universe franchise.

There is one possible theory that hasn’t received any press in the past year; that Columbia Pictures (owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment) is getting ready to start production on the Masters of the Universe film, after years of no failed attempts. 

Last April, screen writers were added to the Columbia Pictures “Masters of the Universe” project, so with any luck, production will begin soon.

Sony Pictures owns the domain name skeletorthemovie.com, which it first registered in 2009.  It currently re-directs to the Movies page on SonyPictures.com.

Here’s a look at the current Whois record for Skeletor.com.

Domain Name: SKELETOR.COM
Registrar: MONIKER

Registrant [705163]:
        Domain Transfer Escrow Service
        Sedo.com
        One Broadway, 14th floor
        Cambridge
        MASSACHUSETTS
        02142
        US

Domain servers in listed order:

        NS1.PARKED.COM
        NS2.PARKED.COM

        Record created on:        2006-11-11 14:34:06.0
        Database last updated on: 2011-06-22 05:18:08.63
        Domain Expires on:        2011-11-11 14:34:06.0

Categories
Movies News

Sony Pictures registers domain names for yet-untitled “Killing bin Laden” movie

Killing bin Laden Movie

Earlier this month as reported by Deadline.com, The New York Times, Associated Press, and other news sites, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired the rights to Kathryn Bigelow’s film about killing Osama bin Laden.

The film project was originally called “killing bin Laden” according to Deadline who first broke the story. 

After bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs, the project changed, and so did the title of the movie. 

Well, despite rumors that the film is untitled, Sony Pictures isn’t taking any chances. 

On May 26, only days after news broke of Sony’s deal with Bigelow, the company has registered nearly a dozen domain names related to the killing of bin Laden movie.  

Registrant:
        Domain Administrator
        SPDE Domain Names Inc
        9050 West Washington Blvd Smith Building 2014 A
         Culver City CA 90232
        ‘[email protected]

    Domain Name: killingbinladen-movie.com

        Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
        Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com

Created on…………..: 2011-05-26.
    Expires on…………..: 2012-05-26.
    Record last updated on..: 2011-05-26.

Other names registered by Sony Pictures include the following:

killingbinladen-movie.com 
killingbinladen-movie.net 
killingbinladen.net 
killingbinladenmovie.com 
thekilling-movie.com 
thekilling-movie.net 
thekillingofbinladen-movie.com 
thekillingofbinladen-movie.net 
thekillingofbinladen.net 
thekillingofbinladenmovie.com 

The company missed out on some of the better web addresses. 

The domain killingofbinladen.com was registered May 2, 2011, while killingbinladen.com was registered May 3, 2011 after it had expired and became available again.

Kathryn Bigelow had better luck on The Hurt Locker, which won six Academy Awards including Best Picture.  The official site is located at the URL thehurtlocker.com. 

At the time of this posting, no other news site or blog has reported about Sony Pictures’ domain registrations. 

[Photo of the Situation Room in the White House via Wikimedia]

Categories
Movies News Trademarks

A flurry of Navy SEAL domain names registered after the killing of bin Laden

US Navy SEAL

As one might expect, with the Navy SEALs being in the news after killing Osama bin Laden, the number of Navy SEAL domain names being registered has soared.

The latest stories of Disney abandoning its trademark application on SEAL Team 6 and news of Columbia Pictures set to debut the first film in 2012 about the raid, has sparked even more registrations — which can average anywhere from 30 to 50 a day depending on the news.

Here’s a look at recent SEAL registrations, courtesy of DomainTools

The domains range from merchandise domains like SEALTeam6shirts.com to fan names like ThanksNavySeals.com and  SEALTeam6forPresident.com.  NavySEAL.info was registered only yesterday.

Because there have literally been hundreds and hundreds of SEAL domains created, I’ve only listed a limited number that I’ve seen registered in recent days. 

By the way, if you haven’t seen this Funny or Die video on the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden, it’s a must see. WARNING: The video contains profanity.

The Navy Seal Who Killed Osama Bin Laden from Rob Riggle