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DOS staffer cybersquats on Tourism Whistler website
IT tech usurps domain name
By
Reporter
Dee Hon
Special to The Chief
Pretend for a moment you’re from out of town and are looking to see what Whistler has to offer. What hotels are in town? What’s there to do when your knee is too creaky for the slopes?
Until recently, if you typed www.tourismwhistler.ca, or www.whistlertourism.ca into your web browser, you’d go straight to the official website for… the District of Squamish.
“It kind of took us by surprise,” said Tourism spokesperson Michele Comeau Thompson.
Her organization only found out about the issue after an inquiry from the Question.
“Visitors might be surprised the website has nothing to do with Whistler,” she said.
Tourism Whistler’s website is www.tourismwhistler.com. So how did www.tourismwhistler.ca end up directing visitors to Squamish? “That’s a good question,” said District of Squamish (DOS) Mayor Ian Sutherland after he was informed of the issue.
After a bit of investigation, it was found the domains www.tourismwhistler.ca and www.whistlertourism.ca belonged to Garry Broeckling who, among other titles, is the DOS IT director.
The domains are registered to Broeckling personally, not to the DOS.
Broeckling changed the site within hours of being questioned about it. At the time of this writing, those URLs direct visitors to a personal website that includes pictures of Broeckling.
Broeckling said there was “no real reason” why he chose to direct viewers to the DOS site. He said he had only linked to the DOS site temporarily until he found something else to put on the sites.
Broeckling said he purchased the domain names simply because, “It was available.” The names had belonged to a company in Whistler that gave them up after it went out of business.
Whistler lawyer Corey Steinberg created Canada’s first law school course on Internet Law. “It’s a question of trademark,” he said of domain name disputes.
In the past, companies have successfully sued “cybersquatters” – people who register domain names including, or similar to, the trademarked names owned by a company.
Some squatters are domain hoarders, and scoop up dozens of domain names hoping to eventually profit from them. In 2004, Microsoft won a $4 million judgment against a man who had used the domain windowsupdatenow.com to lure visitors to download his own software.
The defendant was ordered to forfeit that and several other domain names including as hottmail.com, wwwwindows.com, microsoftc.com, wwmsn.com.
Steinberg said you can register your trademark with the Trade-mark Office, giving you ownership of the mark under the Trade-mark Act.
If you don’t register you’re left with the common law, which requires you to prove that “you’ve been using a particular mark, that you were using it before the alleged infringer, that you’ve built up good will in the name, etc.”
Steinberg said there are two ways to challenge an alleged cybersquatter.
First, a person or company can challenge the domain holder under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). All domain-name registrars follow the UDRP and they can force someone to forfeit a domain.
Steinberg said a company can also sue an alleged cybersquatter in court if the squatter diminishes the company’s good will or profits from the company’s trademark. “In court, they can order an injunction,” he said.
Comeau Thompson said Tourism Whistler wasn’t keen on taking legal action right away.
“I think we’ll probably get in touch and see what his goals are,” said Thompson. But added that the issue did cause some concern because “we have obviously built equity in our name.”
IT tech usurps domain name
By
Reporter
Dee Hon
Special to The Chief
Pretend for a moment you’re from out of town and are looking to see what Whistler has to offer. What hotels are in town? What’s there to do when your knee is too creaky for the slopes?
Until recently, if you typed www.tourismwhistler.ca, or www.whistlertourism.ca into your web browser, you’d go straight to the official website for… the District of Squamish.
“It kind of took us by surprise,” said Tourism spokesperson Michele Comeau Thompson.
Her organization only found out about the issue after an inquiry from the Question.
“Visitors might be surprised the website has nothing to do with Whistler,” she said.
Tourism Whistler’s website is www.tourismwhistler.com. So how did www.tourismwhistler.ca end up directing visitors to Squamish? “That’s a good question,” said District of Squamish (DOS) Mayor Ian Sutherland after he was informed of the issue.
After a bit of investigation, it was found the domains www.tourismwhistler.ca and www.whistlertourism.ca belonged to Garry Broeckling who, among other titles, is the DOS IT director.
The domains are registered to Broeckling personally, not to the DOS.
Broeckling changed the site within hours of being questioned about it. At the time of this writing, those URLs direct visitors to a personal website that includes pictures of Broeckling.
Broeckling said there was “no real reason” why he chose to direct viewers to the DOS site. He said he had only linked to the DOS site temporarily until he found something else to put on the sites.
Broeckling said he purchased the domain names simply because, “It was available.” The names had belonged to a company in Whistler that gave them up after it went out of business.
Whistler lawyer Corey Steinberg created Canada’s first law school course on Internet Law. “It’s a question of trademark,” he said of domain name disputes.
In the past, companies have successfully sued “cybersquatters” – people who register domain names including, or similar to, the trademarked names owned by a company.
Some squatters are domain hoarders, and scoop up dozens of domain names hoping to eventually profit from them. In 2004, Microsoft won a $4 million judgment against a man who had used the domain windowsupdatenow.com to lure visitors to download his own software.
The defendant was ordered to forfeit that and several other domain names including as hottmail.com, wwwwindows.com, microsoftc.com, wwmsn.com.
Steinberg said you can register your trademark with the Trade-mark Office, giving you ownership of the mark under the Trade-mark Act.
If you don’t register you’re left with the common law, which requires you to prove that “you’ve been using a particular mark, that you were using it before the alleged infringer, that you’ve built up good will in the name, etc.”
Steinberg said there are two ways to challenge an alleged cybersquatter.
First, a person or company can challenge the domain holder under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). All domain-name registrars follow the UDRP and they can force someone to forfeit a domain.
Steinberg said a company can also sue an alleged cybersquatter in court if the squatter diminishes the company’s good will or profits from the company’s trademark. “In court, they can order an injunction,” he said.
Comeau Thompson said Tourism Whistler wasn’t keen on taking legal action right away.
“I think we’ll probably get in touch and see what his goals are,” said Thompson. But added that the issue did cause some concern because “we have obviously built equity in our name.”
