Filing a Domain Name Dispute?

0backlash0 writes "I work for a not-for-profit that's involved in community media especially radio, television, and increasingly, the internet. We exist by and for the community, which is to say that we're not a large organization. Someone has registered a domain name that we used to own: kdhxfm88.org The name appears to be registered in "bad faith". Because of our size, we can't exactly afford to hire a team of lawyers to take care of this for us. What can we do and how do we do it?"

The ? is...

[modemboy]

can you afford a better lawyer than the person who took your domain?

"used to own"

[mrbill]

If you let the domain expire, and someone else registered it, I say you're going to have a hard time *taking it back* from its now-rightful owner.

You used to own it?

[saynt]

If you owned the domain name and then let your ownership drop, especially if it wasn't simply a failure to pay in time, you might have some real trouble getting it back. You need to be able to show that you meant to keep the domain name and that it was lost through some error.

Re:Bad faith? Go And Look at the Url, sheesh...

[ackthpt]

Like the subject says, the site [kdhxfm88.org] now offers porn, not exactly a service to an public FM radio station. I'd call a .org site doing that a bit of a stretch, particularly because they're using the association of the radio station to sell porn.

IIRC there's something in the ICANN guidelines about .org registers now necessarily being a non-profit, etc, etc. Perhaps someone could shed more light on this. Appeal, by all means.

Re:Bad faith?

[mdpowell]

In addition to spewing porn (and popup windows), the domain also has a link where you can basically "bid" (offers less than $500 explicitly ignored) for the domain.

Looks like bad faith to me.

If someone registered the .org of my university's .edu and did this sort of thing, I'm sure the university would either 1) cave in and buy the domain or 2) sue their bad faith pants off. This registration seems to serve no purpose other than to frustrate the previous owner of the domain and/or collect a high price for squatting.

--mdp

Re:Am I missing something?

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently you are missing something.

This particular domain name is very easily for me to remember. In the Saint Louis area, where I am from, anyone that listens to 88.1 on the FM dial will certainly have no problems remembering this name because they hear it whenever they listen to KDHX, that great community radio station. This domain name is effective for market that it was originally targeted for.

You do make a good point however: Throughout most of the world this domain name makes absolutely no sense, further substantiating the claim that this domain was registered in "bad faith".

Re:Easy!

[Fnkmaster]

Bug the shit out of them? Dude, they'd just think they were getting crazy hits and then they'd NEVER give the domain back. Furthermore, these pr0n people usually make money PER hit because there are tons of links to other pr0n sites and banner ads and all that crap.

I realize bombing them with script requests would just be toasting their bandwidth, but they'd think they were getting more viewers. Best thing to do would be NOT to visit their page to discourage this sort of despicable squatting.

the least of your worries

[blisspix]

the domain is the least of your worries in radio. as a fellow non-profit radio volunteer, i would have to put numerous legal threats that we get every year well above your domain woes.

keep your insurance up, keep your listeners happy, forget about the rest.

defamation insurance, a godsend to broadcasters everywhere.

Google!

[TheSHAD0W]

I strongly recommend you use Google to find any sites on the net referring to that domain. Most likely, many of them are outdated URLS, and that is what this pr0n site is depending on for traffic. Get those links cut, and cut the traffic, and they'll be less likely to hang onto the address.

Could this be a troll / spam article?

[HEbGb]

If it is, it's one of the more ingenious.

Sumbit a phony story to slashdot, making up some bogus story about a stolen domain name, set up a porn ad on the domain, and wait for the hits to roll in.

Pretty smart. I bet these folks made a bunch of money from the posting of this article.

Re:Cambodia Airlines website also turned into porn

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like it's time for a class action lawsuit here... :)

With the number of sites he's apparently taken in bad faith so far, he's pretty unlikely to win in ANY domain name dispute cases in future. With the specific choice of sites, and the material he's placing on them, it would not be at all difficult to justify considerable damages payouts.

Definitely don't give him the money he wants. I suspect soon, if not already, he will be extremely unwilling to contest any kind of legal dispute action.

Re:This happened to me also

[SomeoneYouDontKnow]

If this guy has sucked up so many domains, he's probably pissed off some folks along the way. Perhaps you should attempt to locate some of them and concentrate on filing coordinated UDRP complaints against him. In many of the judgements I've read about, the defendant loses because he doesn't bother replying.

Um, and it might help if folks don't visit this site anymore. My guess is that this guy is getting paid per ad view, so the more hits he gets, the more money he makes. Would one of the admins consider updating the original post to point this out to folks just finding this thread?