Tag: twiter.com

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Disputes News WIPO

Twitter is going after another typo domain: Twittter.com (with an extra ‘t’)

twittter.com

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

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Disputes News WIPO

Twitter wins dispute over highly trafficked typo domain Twiter.com

twiter

Twitter, Inc. has won a dispute over the highly trafficked typo domain name Twiter.com that led visitors to an online scam survey site.

A panel with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ruled in favor of Twitter.  

Twiter.com was registered long before Twitter.com became what it is today.  Its first owner registered the domain in 2004, nearly 2 years before Jack Dorsey launched the site. 

However, ever since filing the dispute with WIPO (Case No. D2011-1210), it has seemed to be an open-and-shut case against Geigo Inc (the respondent) who has used the web address for a malicious survey scam.

When twiter.com resolved to its own web page, it hit over 100,000 unique visitors per month according to a rough traffic estimate by Compete.

But months ago, Geigo (the respondent) began re-directing visitors from twiter.com to socialupdatepanel.com, a scam survey site (pictured above) that looked confusingly similar to Twitter’s own website.  A message on the home page told visitors they had been selected to participate in a three-question survey, and for completing the survey, they would be able to select a prize like an iPhone 4 or iPad 2.  The site attempted to collect personal information such as cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses. 

In July, I wrote about Twitter taking control of twiter.biz.  Twitter had originally filed a dispute with WIPO over twiter.com in June, then days after filing the dispute it added twiter.biz to the same complaint.  For one reason or another, the case was eventually suspended, then terminated, but not before Twitter was able to get twiter.biz.

After Twitter took control of twiter.biz, it filed a new complaint (Case No. D2011-1210) in July targeting only the twiter.com domain name.

Now with the twiter.com win under its belt, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the company file disputes against other typo domains such as twutter.com, which uses the same type of redirect to a scam survey site as twiter.com has used.

Update at 10:34 a.m. ET on Nov. 11: The full administrative panel decision has been posted online.  Twitter Inc. has also filed a new complaint over the domain Twittter.com (with an extra ‘t’).

Discussion: The Next Web, Search Engine Land, The Verge, Softpedia News and Techmeme

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Disputes News WIPO

Domain dispute proceedings over typo Twiter.com have been suspended

Twiter logo

It appears Twitter has requested that the proceedings over the disputed domain twiter.com be suspended. 

The micro blogging site filed a domain dispute (case #D2011-0890) over the web address twiter.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in early June, days later it added twiter.biz to its case. 

The owner of twiter.com has used the web address typo to trick visitors into clicking links that promise free gifts after providing personal information such as email and address.

According to the latest website update (see below) by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, the case status has been changed to ‘Suspended’, which indicates that Twitter has reached a settlement with the respondent.  

Twitter WIPO UDRP Suspended

As of today though, the domain names twiter.com and twiter.biz are not in the hands of Twitter and twiter.com continues to re-direct visitors to an online survey website.  If the respondent in the case fails to transfer the domain names or fulfill their end of the agreement, Twitter can file a request to re-institute the proceedings.

Either way, this domain dispute seems like an open and shut case whether the case is terminated or reinstated. 

Twitter’s only other case filed to date with WIPO involved twittersearch.com back in 2010, a domain dispute that also never reached a panel, but was transferred to Twitter.

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Disputes News WIPO

Twiter.com (typo) domain dispute is not the only problem name for Twitter

Tweeter surveys

If you’re a frequent Twitter user, at some point you may have accidentally misspelled the URL and ended up landing on a web page promising you a free iPad 2 for simply filling out a short, anonymous 30 second questionnaire.

On Saturday, I was the first to report that Twitter Inc had filed a complaint with the owner of the domain name twiter.com, who uses the same tactic mentioned above of confusing visitors into thinking they’re on an official, legit site.  The story grabbed headlines from The Inquisitr to The Next Web and The Domains to the Financial Post.

Though it could take months for a decision to be handed down by a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) panel, the outcome (if in favor of Twitter) could pave the way for other Twitter (typo) domain names.  That is, if Twitter files cases against other Twitter (typo) domains that use the same method of diverting users to an unrelated site that is confusingly similar to Twitter’s own.

If Twiter.com loses, several others could follow. 

Here’s a list of other Twitter (typo) domain names using the very same technique as Twiter.com.

twitte.com – redirects users to tweetersurveys.com.  The website reported over 20,000 unique visitors in May 2010, according to a rough estimate by Compete. 

twtter.com – redirects users to quizedonline.com and other random Twitter-looking survey sites.  Twtter.com reported over 25,000 visits in August 2010.

tiwitter.com, twiteer.com, twutter.com, and teitter.com – all redirect users to socialquizcenter.com, a survey site that no longer resolves.

I didn’t list twttr.com.  That’s because twttr.com as you may already know, is owned by Twitter and is the original name for the micro-blogging service.

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News

Twiter.com shows the power of Typos with +132% Yearly Change in Traffic

twiter

Are there problems with typo domains?  With many, yes, especially if they were registered in bad faith. But “typo” doesn’t always equal bad faith.  And Twiter.com is an example of one such domain name. 

At least, in its beginnings. 

The typo domain which has been written about many times in the past, received over 79,000 unique visitors in February 2010.  At times over the past year, Twiter.com hit over 100,000 unique visitors per month according to Compete.  And as the massively popular microblogging service Twitter.com has soared in traffic, so too has traffic to Twiter.com.  In February 2009, the domain had less than 35,000 unique visitors per month.

Despite the typo-believers who argue every domain name similar to a trademark or service, is registered in bad faith, Twiter.com was registered long before Twitter.com became what it is today.

No one knows with certainty if Twitter.com will ever try going after the current owner of Twiter.com.  But unfortunately, the assumption of many people landing on the Twiter.com page resulting from a typo, is that a typo-squatter must be behind the initial registration.

Whatever happens with the domain, you gotta be impressed by the power of typo traffic. Twiter.com has an Alexa Traffic Rank of 27,136, more popular than some of the biggest sites on the net.