domains Tesla Motors Acquires Tesla.com: We Speak With the Seller

It was recently confirmed that the domain name Tesla.com has been sold to Tesla Motors, after being owned by a Mr. Stuart Grossman of California for a very long period of time. In the past, Mr. Grossman has defended the name in a UDRP against Tesla Industries, but as of today, the domain name redirects to Tesla Motors' official website.

I just had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Grossman, and here is what he told me:

Basically, I realized that I would never have the time to use the domain in a productive manner. Between family, work and other obligations, there just isn't enough of me left over to devote any time to a web site.

In addition, between the UDRP, and the frequent (but not very serious) requests to buy, borrow or use the name it was becoming a burden. Despite being insulated by my registrars privacy scheme, people still tracked me down, and called my home, sent letters, and in one case even dropped by for a visit.

In another instance, a bunch of spam went out with tesla.com as the (faked) originating address. I think it contained a virus or a link to something bad. That resulted in a bunch of hate mail and a couple of very nasty phone calls to my residence.​

As expected, Stuart was unable to share a price with us due to a non-disclosure agreement. Coincidentally, in a recent interview with us, Angel Investor @jason calacanis (friend of Tesla CEO Elon Musk) shared a piece of advice about Tesla.com:

If the person with Tesla.com decides they want to buy a nice condo or house, sure, it’s a great idea [for Tesla Motors] to spend $500k or $1m buying that name.​

Perhaps Jason knew something we didn't?

 

[daj]

Could of made a wonderful site about Nikola Tesla. I wonder how he was able to hold on to it for so long considering his last name isn't Tesla and he didn't have an established brand called Tesla?

 

[cmdomains]

I was just wondering why domain wasn't with Tesla Motors yet.. about a month ago. Thanks again for this update =)

 

[Keith DeBoer]

Nice to see it's found its way home. I hope the prior owner was well compensated.

 

[Acroplex]

In a poll 2 years ago, 21% of the voters said it's a $10,000,000 domain.

 

[Acroplex]

Correctin: 25%.

 

[James Iles]

Apologies for the typo. Tesla.com was saved in a UDRP from Tesla Industries rather than Tesla Motors; this has now been fixed.

 

[Recons.Com]

I must have something too:

I meant solvent companies/projects capable of investing in a good name.

Do you think Tesla could not afford VRSuit.com. It is a multibillion company that went for TeslaSuit.com instead. Heck, Tesla does not even [have] tesla.com and Elon Musk could not care less. He is happy with TeslaMotors.com. If that was taken, I suspect, he'd be cheap enough to go for TeslaMotorCars.com

Check the list of some VR startups here:
....

 

[Omar Negron]

Awesome!

 

[jberryhill]

That was a fun UDRP.

 

[Perceptron]

Wow, thanks for the share,
NikolasTesla will give his specific countenance to the occasion for ThePukkaIronMan!

 

[Recons.Com]

Elon Musk should have named his company Muskateer instead of Tesla ) The guy is not good at brandables )

 

[Mr. Deleted]

In a poll 2 years ago, 21% of the voters said it's a $10,000,000 domain.

Being aware of the large footprint that Tesla Motors has gained – Tesla Motors stock currently trades around the $250 dollar mark at NASDAQ – we wonder how much Tesla.com is realistically worth.

166.77 now.

 

[DomainVP]

Could of made a wonderful site about Nikola Tesla. I wonder how he was able to hold on to it for so long considering his last name isn't Tesla and he didn't have an established brand called Tesla?

The domain did fall under fair use and this is directly from the UDRP:

"Further, “Tesla” seems to be both a surname of a famous person and a common term, at least in the field of electromagnetics. Panels have often held that absent bad faith or no legitimate interest, the first to register such a generic or merely descriptive word should prevail."

I doubt Tesla motors went into this UDRP thinking that it would work. It was just part of their process.

One of the lesser complicated UDRPs.

 

[Mr. Deleted]

The domain did fall under fair use and this is directly from the UDRP:

"Further, “Tesla” seems to be both a surname of a famous person and a common term, at least in the field of electromagnetics. Panels have often held that absent bad faith or no legitimate interest, the first to register such a generic or merely descriptive word should prevail."

I doubt Tesla motors went into this UDRP thinking that it would work. It was just part of their process.

One of the lesser complicated UDRPs.

It was Tesla Industries (teslaind.com) not Tesla Motors (teslamotors.com) filed the UDRP.

 

[TheWatcher]

Excellent acquisition of property.

 

[HUKU]

I doubt Tesla motors went into this UDRP thinking that it would work. It was just part of their process.

Just as it would be for many companies and to simplify:

In other words, why should we pay for the Domain Name if we can steal it through a process that has legitimacy?

 

[brandsly]

One of my favorite names of all time

 

[Recons.Com]

Next one being Einstein.com? ))

 

[manurawat]

they want to use it for for years...but they cant honor the other persons business...... they want to use it for billions but they cant shred millions....... ..elon musk and and mark you bought doamains...means someone knew you will....they thought of this name well before you established your business.....UDRP is plane game........

 

[ResoluteDomains]

they want to use it for for years...but they cant honor the other persons business...... they want to use it for billions but they cant shred millions....... ..elon musk and and mark you bought doamains...means someone knew you will....they thought of this name well before you established your business.....UDRP is plane game........

Tesla Industries not Tesla Motors filed that UDRP..

 

[manurawat]

i m sorry.....as they say in UDRP well know name i thought Tesla motors..lol

 

[MarketingArchi]

Elon Musk should have named his company Muskateer instead of Tesla ) The guy is not good at brandables )

I disagree with you, I think it fits perfectly, I also think that if Tesla would be alive he would love it.

 

[MarketingArchi]

i m sorry.....as they say in UDRP well know name i thought Tesla motors..lol

Would not fit to Musk's style)

 

[HUKU]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-tesla-com-domain-name-after-waiting-a-decade