Tag: World Intellectual Property Organization

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Disputes News WIPO

Columbia Pictures files dispute over FantasyIsland.com [UPDATED]

Fantasy Island

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
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

Apple wins domain name dispute for AppleiPods.com, MacBookPros.com

MacBook Pro

Apple continues to win domain name disputes filed with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization.

AppleiPods.com, MacBookPros.com, iPhine.com, and iPodHack.com, have been ordered transferred to Apple Inc. by a WIPO panel in the latest decision.  The dispute (Case no. D2011-1390) was filed in August.

The decision comes on the heels of a big win over iPods.com back in late July. 

Full details of the ruling for Case no. D2011-1390 have not been posted on the web yet.  The decision ordering the domain names transferred to Apple, was just issued yesterday.

Two additional cases are still open with WIPO which involve appleproductsonline.com (case no. D2011-1387) and (case no. D2011-1388) which involves: applebigdiscount.com, applesdiscount.com, applessales.com, and applestorewell.com.

This week Apple also officially took ownership of wwwitunes.com and wwitunes.com in a separate case it won in late September.

Discussion: The Next Web and Yahoo! News Philippines

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Disputes News Technology WIPO

Apple wins dispute over iPods.com, domain name ordered transferred

iPod Shuffle

Updated August 1, 2011:  The full administrative panel decision has been posted online.

**

WIPO Panelist David Cairns has ruled in favor of Apple in a dispute over the domain name ipods.com.

Apple filed the complaint at the end of May with the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Although the company is known for paying millions of dollars for domain names, sometimes months after launching a product, it may be adopting a different approach by following the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the UDRP), which costs thousands not millions when it’s successful for a complainant.  

In the case of iCloud.com which captured technology news headlines, the company reportedly paid $4.5 million in late April for ownership of the domain name (along with others) from Swedish cloud computing company Xcerion, shortly before officially launching the service. 

But the days of Apple purchasing domain names for seven figures, like it did for iPhone.com from businessman Michael Kovatch months after it released the iPhone, might be gone.

Full details of the ruling in case no. D2011-0929 have not been posted yet, which would explain what led Panelist David Cairns to the decision of ordering ipods.com to be transferred to Apple.  

The decision was just issued this past Friday, on July 29, according to WIPO’s website.  When the full decision becomes available online, I will update this post.

Depending on the reasoning, this decision could prompt Apple to file dozens of disputes over web addresses it still doesn’t own such as iPad.com, iPads.com, Macs.com, iPhones.com, iPhone5.com and countless more.

Earlier this month, Apple acquired the domains iPhone4.com and WhiteiPhone.com for an undisclosed amount.

Discussion: Apple Insider, Chron.Com / TechBlog, iPodNN, Neowin.net, 9to5Mac, Network World, The Inquirer, Mashable, Geeky Gadgets, the Sociable and Techmeme

(Photo of iPod Shuffle Second Generation via Wikipedia)

Categories
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.