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

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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?
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I disagree with you, I think it fits perfectly, I also think that if Tesla would be alive he would love it.

You don't have to agree with jokes )
 
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I had noticed that Tesla didn't own Tesla.com when I was searching for the car a month or so ago. I think it makes perfect sense for Tesla to cough up a cool million for the domain if they needed to because you want your domain name to reflect your company as closely as possible. I think it's a great win for Tesla.

I'm just glad to see that the courts didn't just hand over the domain to Tesla because I believe if you register a domain name in good faith, it should be yours to keep. Just to be clear, I definitely do not support cyber-squatting. It's just like if you purchase a prime property in NY and some big wig wants that piece of land, then they will have to pay a premium to acquire it.

I'm sure Grossman is a happy camper too. So, in this case, it's a win-win situation.
 
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Another big vote for the king. Long may you reign king com. Some may not see the relevance of this sale to the argument about .com and the new ntlds but I do.
 
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