Sedo blacklisted a political domain of mine

[Work In Progress]

Anybody else have a similar problem? I was under the assumtion that political domains were thought to be "fair game" in domaining.

Just received this email from Sedo

We are writing to inform you that the domains listed below have been suspended from Sedo\'s services because we will no longer be allowing election based domains. While Sedo strives to protect our users rights to exercise free speech and maintain a marketplace with a vibrant and diverse collection of domain names, we apologize any inconvenience that this may cause.

barackobamacampaign.com



In the course of removing such domains from our system there is the possibility that otherwise legitimate domains were suspended due to their inclusion of terms used in different contexts. If you have any questions about this decision please contact your Sedo account manager or the Sedo legal department at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Sedo Legal Dept.
Sedo.com LLC
161 First Street
Fourth Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
Email: [email protected]

Would love to hear comments from others.
Thanks!

 

[tristanperry]

Seems stupid/harsh to me - why ban just election-based campaigns? They allow adult ones, and un-PC ones... so why not election ones?

 

[Robert Allen]

I don't understand what is political about that domain, but banning a sale of any domain by sedo is just unjust,

Rob

 

[AdoptableDomains]

To me, an individual candidate name domain like that seems like a pretty clear case of cybersquatting. Generally only one person can use it or it could be considered confusing. Anyone else is feeding off the publicity of that person for their own good. I think of it more like a fan site name of a celebrity. If you want to use it as a fan, they develop it. Trying to sell is just trading on their fame and publicity. I don't see that as being much different than registering katrina, 911, or VT domains.

Now if they banned a generic one like election2008 or presidentialvote, I would jump on the bandwagon to defend it.

 

[Dave_Z]

Read the fine print, folks. There's a term or so there tackling this.

But basically, it's their rules. Of course, no one's forced to use them.

 

[verbster]

Read the fine print, folks. There's a term or so there tackling this.

But basically, it's their rules. Of course, no one's forced to use them.

The fine print of Sedo and other registrar/brokers makes them untouchable...according to their TOS, they can pretty much do anything at anytime, right or wrong, and not be held accountable.

The problem with "no one's forced to use them" is that the alternative choices have similar fine print.

 

[namenut]

Read the fine print, folks. There's a term or so there tackling this.

But basically, it's their rules. Of course, no one's forced to use them.

SEDO can violate it's own rules as well. Remember when they announced that ONLY names with adult themes could be used for adult content? These names (iTeen, iWoman, Clickmy) clearly did not meet crtieria for adult content yet SEDO forced adult content on my parked domain names even after strong protest. And one of them with the word "teen" in it. I suppose if SEDO will populate a "teen" lander with porn it will ban political names as it see fit


SEDO...... pull your head out. You need oxygen. I wonder if they will ban my PresidentBush.mobi?

namenut

 

[Kate]

To me, an individual candidate name domain like that seems like a pretty clear case of cybersquatting. Generally only one person can use it or it could be considered confusing.
...
Now if they banned a generic one like election2008 or presidentialvote, I would jump on the bandwagon to defend it.

I think you did a good job at drawing the line

 

[Robert Allen]

Sedo is a business and not a charity. They will do whatever they want.

Rob

 

[acronym007]

I had one blacklisted too.

 

[Dave_Z]

The problem with "no one's forced to use them" is that the alternative choices have similar fine print.

Yup. That's the rub.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Seems arbitrary... search "Obama" or "Clinton" or any other candidate and you'll see dozens of names that are more blatant issues than the OP's.
That's my only issue with the action.
-Allan :gl:

 

[DNQuest.com]

We are talking SEDO here...


Is it a possibility they were contacted "unofficially" to have them removed?

 

[airwav]

We are talking SEDO here...


Is it a possibility they were contacted "unofficially" to have them removed?

What do you consider "unofficially"?

I had three removed... :td:

That's ok, I am moving them to Bodis.com. Bodis has done more for my domains in the last two months than Sedo has done for the last two years...

 

[kemjika11]

well, thats your advantage in a free market-there are substitutes and alternatives. Move the domain to another good parking company, and i'm sure your revenue will be at least the same, so i don't think you're really losing much except sales exposure @ sedo.

 

[labrocca]

Hey I just got this.

We are writing to inform you that Sedo has received a complaint of potential trademark infringement regarding the use of the following domain names in conjunction with Sedo services:

votemccain2008.us / votemccain2008.info

Due to the famous nature of the trademark contained in the domain at issue, Sedo is forced to remove your domain from the domain marketplace and parking program at this time. This action in no way affects your registration or control of the domain, your Sedo user account or the other domains you have listed for sale or parked with Sedo. However, due to the potential of infringement of a famous mark Sedo must do the following:

- Suspend the domain name from our domain marketplace
$ifBlockPark:- Suspend the domain name from our parking program

Sedo takes great pains to strike a balance between the legitimate rights of domain owners and third party intellectual property owners and require verification of legal complaints before taking any action against a domain listed for sale or parked with Sedo.

If you have any questions regarding this message, or if you believe this action was taken in error, please contact the Sedo legal department at [email protected].


Sincerely,

Legal Department
Sedo.com :: 161 First Street :: 4th Fl.
Cambridge, MA 02142
tel 617-499-7280::fax 617-499-7202::
http://www.sedo.com :: [email protected]

Here was my response.

Having just recieved this email from Sedo I am greatly disturbed. There is no trademark associated with my domain names. I ask Sedo to inform me who the party was that contacted Sedo in regards to my domain. These domain names are related to the 2008 presidential election and are protected by free speech. I can see no trademark for VoteMccain or mccain2008. I find it offensive that Sedo has removed these names without inquiring to the validity of the trademark claim. While I do understand Sedo needs to protect itself it also needs to weigh the effects of a trademark claim on it's members. Whoever has made this complaint to you has made an invalid one.

Thank you,
Jesse Labrocca

The domain was making me money but I find it offensive to be told it was a TM problem when it's clearly not.

http://www.johnmccain.com/ I see no correlation with my domain name and any TM problems.

Asswipes...I would respect it more if they just told me they are removing all election domains but to say someone made a TM complaint that imho is invalid..F that...they are getting a response from me as well as a phone call just to be a bitch about it.

hehe...just got this response...

Dear Jesse:

Please be advised that the trademark email was sent to you in error,
however, the domains were removed because Sedo does not allow the parking
and/or listing of domain names which contain the names of candidates for
presidents combined with election based terms as well as the election year.

Thank you and we apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

Regards,

Sedo Legal Department.

I wonder if they read my post that quickly.

 

[TT]

Obama - Democrat
Sedo - Republican

 

[seeker]

I wonder if they read my post that quickly.

I can only assume they ysed a scare tactic at first to 'justify' their position.
Once they got a reply from you (which they probably didnt expect), they just told you their 'general' rule of not allowing these names.

The strange world of Sedo...