Tag Archives: domain theft

Tue 29th September 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Lawsuit filed to redeem stolen OnlineMBA.com domain name - Company files lawsuit after losing UDRP. After failing to recover the allegedly stolen domain name OnlineMBA.com through a UDRP, the previous owner of the domain name has turned to the courts. CMN.com, LLC, which generates leads for education companies, filed a lawsuit (pdf) in U.S. District Court in Virignia late last week to recover the domain name. It says that an unknown person gained access to its email address, and used this to hijack the domain name. Plaintiff CMN.com says the domain thief ... read more ...
Tue 9th June 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Court earnings stolen 224.com, 605.com and 452.com domain names - Three number domain names returned to rightful owner after lawsuit. A U.S. Federal Court has ordered the domain names 224.com, 605.com and 452.com be returned to Traffic Names, Ltd. Ian Andrew of Traffic Names filed suit last year alleging the domain names were stolen from his eNom account. He found out about the theft after the domain names were listed for sale on domain name marketplace 4.cn. 4.cn noticed the recent ownership change and contacted Andrew to make sure he was aware. ESQWire.com and ... read more ...
Mon 18th May 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Stolen domain GPZ.com recovered by cybersquatting claim - National Arbitration Forum panel orders stolen domain name be returned to its longtime owner. An allegedly stolen three letter domain name has been returned to its previous owner through a UDRP cybersquatting claim. Mountain View, California software company GPZ Technology, Inc. registered GPZ.com in 1996. The domain name was apparently stolen from its 11 domain name registrar account earlier this year and transferred to Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC. GPZ provided a police report to the panel. Although ... read more ...
Mon 20th April 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Help! My Domain name was stolen! with Pablo Palatnik – DNW Podcast #29 - What would happen if your business’s domain name was stolen? Imagine waking up one day and finding that your business’s domain name was stolen. That’s exactly what happened to Pablo Palatnik, founder of online sunglasses retailer ShadesDaddy.com. On this week’s episode, Palatnik explains how he first learned his domain was stolen, his understandable freakout, and his full court press to get the domain name back. It’s a fascinating story that hopefully can help other people who become a ... read more ...
Thu 12th March 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Wall Street Journal covers domain name theft - Article shines light on growing problem for businesses. Domain name theft is getting mainstream exposure today thanks to a Wall Street Journal article. The article focuses on the recent theft of ShadesDaddy.com, but also discusses other companies that have fallen victim to domain name theft. It also quotes the ICA’s Phil Corwin and attorneys Enrico Schaefer of Traverse Legal and David Weslow of Wiley Rein. It also refers to domainers, but describes them in a much better light than the typical article ... read more ...
Tue 10th February 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain registrars should supplement confidence check for transfers to eName - Registrar has become a haven for stolen domain names. Over the weekend I received an email from the (former) owner of ShadesDaddy.com, an online sunglasses seller. He said his domain name had been stolen. I didn’t have to read on to make a prediction: the domain name was transferred to domain name registrar eName. Indeed, it was. How did I make this prediction? Well, a couple months ago someone in Austin was connected to me after their domain name was stolen. It was stolen from their eNom account ... read more ...
Tue 13th January 2015
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
$55k Stolen domain name CIN.com returned around UDRP - Company paid $55,000 for domain name before it was stolen. Corporação Industrial do Norte, S.A (CIN) has recovered the domain name CIN.com, a domain name it says was stolen from it, through a UDRP. The company acquired CIN.com for $55,000 last summer. It alleges the domain name was then stolen and transferred to domain name registrar eName. (eName has apparently become a favorite registrar for domain name thieves. I see lots of allegedly stolen domain names ending ... read more ...
Mon 1st December 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Lawsuit alleges 3 series domain names stolen - Lawsuit says three three-number domain names were stolen from an eNom account. A federal lawsuit alleges that the domain names 224.com, 605.com and 452.com have been stolen. Ian Andrew of Traffic Names, Ltd filed an in rem action (pdf) against the domain names in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Traffic Names alleges that it is the rightful owner of the domain names and that they were stolen from its eNom domain name registrar account. According ... read more ...
Thu 23rd October 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Lawsuit filed to redeem stolen 3 minute domain names - Suit alleges 35 domain names were stolen from a GoDaddy account. Acme Billing Company filed a federal lawsuit (pdf) in U.S. District Court this week to recover 14 stolen domain names, including 9 three letter domain names. The suit alleges that an unknown person stole 35 domain names from Acme Billing Company’s GoDaddy account. The company became aware of the theft in early August and worked with GoDaddy to recover 21 of the domain names. It filed the suit in an ... read more ...
Mon 13th October 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Name Wire Podcast #2: Tips to quarrel domain burglary and Howard Neu talks TRAFFIC - Listen to Domain Name Wire Podcast #2. It’s Monday, and that means it’s Podcast Day! This week’s Domain Name Wire Podcast includes the latest domain name industry news, plus 5 tips to make sure you don’t become a domain name theft victim. I also chat with Howard Neu, who co-founded the TRAFFIC conference with Rick Schwartz. Howard discusses the upcoming show (including why it’s scheduled on Halloween and what’s new this time) as well as the future of ... read more ...
Wed 8th October 2014
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Moniker’s transition-related confidence holes come to light - Moniker customer explains some of the security holes that may have led to his domains being stolen, including some introduced by the transition from the old Moniker system to a new platform. So it is sad to say goodbye to Moniker, and to witness the self-destruction of this company that played such a large role in the development of the domain industry. So writes Nat Cohen, long time domain name investor and owner of perhaps the best portfolio of three character domains ... read more ...
Sun 24th June 2012
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Company sues over stolen domains after losing UDRP - Austin Rare Coins asks court to hand over allegedly stolen domain names. An Austin company has filed an in rem cybersquatting lawsuit in an effort to get control over eight domain names it says were stolen from its possession. Austin Rare Coins, Inc. first turned to National Arbitration Forum with a UDRP filing to try to get the domain names back. The panel awarded it one domain but not the others, saying it didn’t prove any trademark rights to most of the domain ... read more ...
Thu 8th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Good News: YH.com Returned to Rightful Owner - Owner gets domain name back after long ordeal. Last week I wrote about the domain name YH.com, which was stolen from its owner and offered for sale. I received good news today: the owner has gotten the domain name back. The entire domain name industry should pat itself on the back for stepping up to the plate. According to T.M. Camp, whom I interviewed for the previous story, the domain name was returned thanks to “some concerted efforts by GoDaddy, Escrow.com, ... read more ...
Wed 7th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VeriSign Offers Tools to Secure Domain Names - Two tools from VeriSign help keep your domain names secure. With a couple recent high profile domain thefts, and the recent hijacking of Baidu’s nameserver settings, I reached out to VeriSign Chief Technology Officer Ken Silva to learn what VeriSign offers to help domain owners protect themselves. “Over the next 12 months, we’re working so that from the time a person registers a domain name and creates an account to when it gets resolved, almost every single ... read more ...
 
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
RL.com Case Shows What Can Happen if You Buy a Stolen Domain Name - Buyer of hijacked RL.com domain name has spent dearly on legal bills. In light of recent domain thefts, you might ask yourself what can happen if you happen to buy a stolen domain name. Look no further than the case of John Laxton, who bought the domain name RL.com for $15,000 in 2005. RL.com was originally registered by Dale Mayberry in 1995. He also owned the domain name mat.net, and used a mat.net email address as the registered contact for both RL.com and Mat.net. ... read more ...
Mon 5th April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
8 Clues a Domain Name is Stolen - 8 warning signs a domain name is stolen. Over the past few days we’ve learned about a number of domain name thefts, including YH.com and VL.com. People typically steal domains with the hopes of selling them before word gets out that the domain is stolen. Here are 8 clues a domain name you’re thinking about buying is stolen. Just because one of these is true doesn’t mean a domain is stolen; but you should use caution. 1. Person claims they must sell the domain ... read more ...
Sat 3rd April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
VL.com Domain Name Stolen, Too. Here’s a Inside Story. - Beware: more stolen domain names. Yesterday I reported about the theft of YH.com. It turns out another valuable domain, VL.com, was also recently stolen. In this case it appears the weak link was web hosting company Dreamhost. That’s also the host in the YH.com case, although the actual weak link in that case hasn’t been determined. It wasn’t Dreamhost’s automated systems that are to blame. It was a human mess up, just like when Baidu’s DNS was hijacked. ... read more ...
Fri 2nd April 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Warning: YH.com Domain Name Stolen - Valuable two letter domain name YH.com has been stolen. The domain name YH.com has been hijacked from its owner and the thief is trying to sell it. The domain’s owner is Jaynell Hogan, who was properly identified in the whois database until March 26, when the domain name was suddenly transferred from Go Daddy to DOMENESHOP AS. The whois record changed to “Domain Administrator”. The thief then created a Gmail address using Hogan’s name, which is currently ... read more ...
Mon 22nd March 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Allegedly Stolen Domain Names Resold on Flippa - Thief resold domain names on Flippa to unsuspecting domain buyer. A National Arbitration Forum panel has refused to hand over the domain names Recent.net, Than.net, and They.net in a UDRP decision. I wrote about the case earlier this month, suggesting that the UDRP dispute must be over stolen domain names. UDRP is sometimes used to regain control of stolen domain names, but the complainant needs to be able to show trademark rights to the domain names. In this ... read more ...
Thu 21st January 2010
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
DingBats.com Case Discusses Pool.com Lawsuit Over Domain Theft - Case sheds light on Pool.com lawsuit against former registrar partner. A National Arbitration Forum has awarded the domain name Dingbats.com to the complainant in a case against a Pool.com entity. What makes this case interesting is not that Dingbats is a generic term (don’t make me start writing in dingbats!), nor that the complainant bought the rights to a trademark for Dingbats for watches just recently, nor that the domain was originally owned by the previous ... read more ...
Fri 20th November 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Indictment Shows Ease of Hijacking Domain Name - Three hackers indicted for hijacking domain name. An indictment against three hackers involved in hijacking the Comcast.net domain name last year shows how easy it is to pull it off: just get access to the administrative contact’s email address. The U.S. government has charged three hackers with doing just that, and using the email address to change the nameservers on Comcast.net at domain name registrar Network Solutions. Blame the hackers, but also Comcast for ... read more ...
Mon 16th November 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
New Jersey Indicts Alleged Domain Thief - New Jersey hands down first every indictment for domain theft. New Jersey today handed down an indictment (pdf) against Daniel Goncalves, alleged thief of the P2P.com domain name. The Division of Criminal Justice Major Crimes/Computer Analysis Technology Unit obtained a seven-count state grand jury indictment for theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, computer theft, and identity theft, all in the second degree, and three counts of fourth-degree falsifying ... read more ...
Wed 28th October 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Lawsuit Against Tucows Provides Glimpse Into Domain Theft - Lawsuit provides complete correspondence in alleged domain heist. A lawsuit against Tucows provides a rare, detailed glimpse into a possible domain theft. The suit was brought by Mrs. Jello, LLC against Tucows with regards to a domain name purchased by Mrs. Jello (MJ). MJ bought the domain name W9.com for $20,000 from someone purporting to be the owner of the domain name. MJ completed the transaction through Escrow.com and received the domain name. Several days ... read more ...
Tue 20th October 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Domain Registrars Often Blamed for Customers’ Mistakes - Critical customer mistakes often blamed on domain registrars. When online backup service CrashPlan.com went down earlier this month, the company was quick to blame its domain name registrar GoDaddy. Code 42 Software, which runs the CrashPlan.com service, tweeted about how GoDaddy “mistakenly removed our root nameserver entry”, “inappropriately took over our DNS”, and did a DNS “hijack”. What Code 42 Software never tweeted was that it had mistakenly ... read more ...
Tue 4th August 2009
Written by DomainNameWire in EN and tagged
Arrest for Domain Theft Gets Major Media Attention - Arrest grabs headlines and shines light on daily plague to domain industry. First ever domain thief mugshot. As far as theft is concerned, it doesn’t get much more intriguing than this. It involves the internet, intellectual property, the first arrest of its kind, and a celebrity. It’s a perfect storm and is shining light on one of the plagues of the domain name industry: domain theft. Domain Name News broke the story yesterday about an arrest in the theft of ... read more ...