www prefix : typosquatting

[ji]

SO I am a member of a very large online forum called General Mayhem, or Genmay. The owners of the forum are in control of genmay.com/net/org/biz/info.

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=wwwgenmay.com

Domain Name: wwwgenmay.com
Registrar: Name.com LLC

REGISTRANT CONTACT
Protected Domain Services
125 Rampart Way
Suite 300
Denver
CO
80230
US
Email Address: e4e00bb5d24a0961d0d8b5fec1ef8fcc4afefaad@protecteddomainservices.com

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT
Protected Domain Services
125 Rampart Way
Suite 300
Denver
CO
80230
US
Email Address: e4e00bb5d24a0961d0d8b5fec1ef8fcc4afefaad@protecteddomainservices.com

TECHNICAL CONTACT
Protected Domain Services
125 Rampart Way
Suite 300
Denver
CO
80230
US
Email Address: e4e00bb5d24a0961d0d8b5fec1ef8fcc4afefaad@protecteddomainservices.com

BILLING CONTACT
Protected Domain Services
125 Rampart Way
Suite 300
Denver
CO
80230
US
Email Address: e4e00bb5d24a0961d0d8b5fec1ef8fcc4afefaad@protecteddomainservices.com

0.28007900 1183708176

as you can see, the whois doesn't point me anywhere. this is when domain by proxy is not good.

anyway, dow jones won a case similar to this, for the domains wwwdowjones.com and wwwwsj.com

http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2000/d2000-1259.html

I do not own this website nor do i have any connection except for being a member.

what can be done? write a cease/desist to name.com?

thank you.

 

[Algis]

Write to the email provided by name.com that this domain is infringing copyright and ask them for direct contact information.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

If the owners of General Mayhem want to take issue with it, let them. Don't go and sour any potential chance they have to work out an amicable resolution by being overly aggressive.
Just my .02
-Allan

 

[ji]

If the owners of General Mayhem want to take issue with it, let them. Don't go and sour any potential chance they have to work out an amicable resolution by being overly aggressive.
Just my .02
-Allan

I already contacted the 51% owner and he said not to do anything. If we get big then we'll go after them.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

I don't know the real answer, but I'd presume it would be a cut and dry case of squatting, and generally the name proves that. If they actually try to take traffic to a competitive site, that's bad faith use. Personally, I think the www without the dot typosquatters give all of us operating ethically bad name. Even if you don't go to the cost of a UDRP or WIPO, it would be a good idea to send a C&D to the registrar to forward through the proxy service. Odds are they'll not do anything actively unless they get a legal document, but at least you've shown your intent to protect the copyright.

 

[ji]

I don't know the real answer, but I'd presume it would be a cut and dry case of squatting, and generally the name proves that. If they actually try to take traffic to a competitive site, that's bad faith use. Personally, I think the www without the dot typosquatters give all of us operating ethically bad name. Even if you don't go to the cost of a UDRP or WIPO, it would be a good idea to send a C&D to the registrar to forward through the proxy service. Odds are they'll not do anything actively unless they get a legal document, but at least you've shown your intent to protect the copyright.

Thanks for you reply.

This is crazy. Do a whois on most popular websites with the www squat and a lot of them are taken. stupid people.

 

[bluesman]

An extra www added, huh? That's a new twist - to me, at least. The term "typo-squatters" has usually meant just those who take advantage of wrong-spelling surfers - wherein the bad guys would see your genmay.com and then go and reg gennay.com, gemmay.com, gemnay.com, genma.com, etc.

And recently the powers that be had announced a major crackdown on just such typo twits. But the extra www thing now? Wow! So what's next - www.wwwgenmaycom.com ???

 

[Devil_Dog]

An extra www added, huh? That's a new twist - to me, at least. The term "typo-squatters" has usually meant just those who take advantage of wrong-spelling surfers - wherein the bad guys would see your genmay.com and then go and reg gennay.com, gemmay.com, gemnay.com, genma.com, etc.

And recently the powers that be had announced a major crackdown on just such typo twits. But the extra www thing now? Wow! So what's next - www.wwwgenmaycom.com ???

Been going on for years. Regged a generic term and actually built a site off of it back in 99 because the regular .com was taken.

 

[Acroplex]

wwwnamepros.com

 

[Peter]

An extra www added, huh? That's a new twist - to me, at least. The term "typo-squatters" has usually meant just those who take advantage of wrong-spelling surfers - wherein the bad guys would see your genmay.com and then go and reg gennay.com, gemmay.com, gemnay.com, genma.com, etc.

And recently the powers that be had announced a major crackdown on just such typo twits. But the extra www thing now? Wow! So what's next - www.wwwgenmaycom.com ???

As Devil_Dog states this has been going on for years. It is still a typo as the traffic generated is caused by people forgetting to type the . after the www.

 

[DNQuest.com]

yeah, the www is just another form of traffic stealing.

 

[verbster]

yeah, the www is just another form of traffic stealing.

Not sure about this, especially if the intent isn't there. Seems like a hard way to steal traffic...hoping someone types in an extra www without a dot. Could happen I guess, but TM would probably be the bigger issue in most cases...with the intention to profit from the TM.

Checking, I found I own wwwaddict, but I'm not trying to steal from www.addict (in fact it receives almost no traffic at all); at the time, I was more interested in the internet habit niche, with "www" being synonymous with "Internet." Turns out the extra www (in my case) was not so good as part of a domain name (and I'll probably let it expire), but it did seem to be a legit use at the time.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Not sure about this, especially if the intent isn't there. Seems like a hard way to steal traffic...hoping someone types in an extra www without a dot. Could happen I guess, but TM would probably be the bigger issue in most cases...with the intention to profit from the TM.

QUOTE]


It is typo squatting and is registered with hopes peolpe forget to put the (.( in there. It does happen alot, that is why people registered www domains. I used to see most of these with TMed domains though.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Checking, I found I own wwwaddict, but I'm not trying to steal from www.addict (in fact it receives almost no traffic at all); at the time, I was more interested in the internet habit niche, with "www" being synonymous with "Internet." Turns out the extra www (in my case) was not so good as part of a domain name (and I'll probably let it expire), but it did seem to be a legit use at the time.

Based on that case, you are probably okay. Your reason sounds reasonable and the sound of it make sense as long as you aren't trying to compete with whatever addict.tld is doing. Addict is also probably generic andmay not be TM'd. It's pretty obvious though when the domain is something like wwwgoogle or wwwyahoo, what the intent was.