Snapchat domain squatter loses comedy £1m URL sellback attempt
- Reference: 1588064349
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/28/snapchat_domain_name_comedy_1m_sale/
- Source link:
The dot-UK domain name registrar published a dispute judgment earlier this month detailing the comedy of errors that saw the clueless 'tog forcibly parted from the domain name snapchats.co.uk.
Having registered snapchats.co.uk, East Londoner Muhibur Rahman built a photo business website on it. He even managed to get the site [1]listed on Trustpilot.
Inevitably, Snapchat, the global photo-sharing app, noticed and in June 2019, it wrote to Rahman "asking him to cease use of the Domain" and transfer it to them.
All was not as it had appeared: investigators for the US brand who pored over snapchats.co.uk found "several examples" of Rahman "misrepresenting the work of third parties as [his] own".
Unhappy with Snapchat's demands to hand over the domain name, Rahman told its lawyers he would only give in for £1m. He even wrote to them: "If Snap Chat declines to offer me any sort of payment, I will not close my business and I will want Snap Chat to take legal action on me
sic
."Unlike its core product, Snapchat did not go away within a few seconds. Instead its lawyers went to Nominet's quasi-legal Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) in January, cited all of the company's global trademarks on the word "snapchat" and asked the DRS to take the domain name off Rahman. Everyone who buys a dot-UK domain name signs up to Nominet's Ts&Cs allowing the DRS to do this very thing if it decides that your new domain name infringes someone else's trademarks.
When the DRS asked Rahman what he had to say in his defence, he sent them this single paragraph:
I am no longer using snapchats.co.uk, I have deactivated the domain and website is also deactivated. I have taken snap chats off all social platforms and no longer using snap chats. My domain snapchats.co.uk expires in few weeks and I will not renew it and I will no longer have anything to do with snapchats.co.uk. I didn't realise the law behind trademark and never [k]new this is a serious matter. I thought we can change one letter of a big brand and make a business and its alright
sic
, clearly it isn't.A poker-faced Micah Ogilvie, the DRS expert deciding the case, noted: "Whether it would be sensible to incur the risks of formal legal action through the courts is a separate matter."
He went on to find that "it can be inferred that it was, and has always been the Respondent's primary intention to sell the Disputed Domain based on its value as a famous mark" and ordered that snapchats.co.uk be transferred to Snapchat, which told the DRS it currently has "210 million daily users".
The DRS's full decision can be read [2]here [PDF].
Not every DRS decision goes the way of business: Pusher Ltd lost an attempt to regain control of pusher.co.uk last year after [3]forgetting to renew it on time . ®
Sponsored: [4]Legacy Modernization: Finding Your Way With Low-Code
[1] https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.snapchats.co.uk
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/04/27/d00022241_full_decision.pdf
[3] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/14/pusher_ltd_domain_name_hijacking_fail/
[4] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8553/legacy-modernization-finding-your-way-with-low-code?td=wptl1936
There are plenty of sites with common names that post completely unrelated contents - do you really think that Boris owns (or should sue) the company running the [1]Tory web site ?
[1] https://tory.com
Note the Tori gate in the 2014 picture.
Plus, it's a dot.com, and "tory" in the UK sense is actually a term of abuse.
I doubt he would have standing.
He could have a bright future as an advisor in the White House.
Someone registered TrumpBleach.com a couple of days ago. Could be the same guy.
Jog on chancer
That last quote should just read " I didn't realise the law applied to me "
Isn't it interesting how these people are apparently capable of setting up and running a business... Yet, when it comes to something that doesn't work out how they wanted, they're completely oblivious?
It's almost like he's talking out of his arse.
There is scum, and there are idiots
If you "add one letter" to a domain name and honestly believe that you're doing nothing wrong, you truly are a wonder of stupidity.
On the other hand, if you fail to track your domain renewal dates, you're just run-of-the-mill stupid and you deserve to learn the hard way.
Re: There is scum, and there are idiots
I suppose you could maybe, possibly dismiss his choice of domain as a derivative work for the purpose of satire. But in this case he's just a fool.
do you feel lucky, punk?
The tone of that message suggests to me that he maybe received a friendly letter from snapchat's lawyers, possibly outlining in simple terms the implications of them taking him to court. like being asked to pay costs when they inevitably won.
With some realistic numbers attached, shit would have gotten real, I reckon.
Words fail me, did none of his family or friends try and point out what was wrong with this 'new business idea'? And if not why not?