SubscribeApril 29, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Domainer Anything.com will be handing over the domain name JerrySeinfeld.com (jerryseinfeld.com) to its “rightful” owner, stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld, after facing the National Arbitration Forum (arb-forum.com) last week for its “controversial” ownership of the domain name and its suspected exploitation of the TV funnyman’s self-titled website.
Although it makes sense for the case to have been made by the comedian himself, reports on the story allude that his management company or Sony, the company behind the popular sitcom Seinfeld, may have been the entities to approach Anything.com about the matter.
According to DomainNameWire, the website, at first glance, appeared to be a fan site featuring a bio of the comedian and linked to a few other websites devoted to his TV show, Seinfeld.
The website even included a disclaimer, saying the site was “not endorsed or authorized by Jerry Seinfeld or by any party other than the owner of this site,” as apparent proof that it was an unofficial fan site.
DomainNameWire says the part where it got problematic was that the links on the page actually led to a secondary page with nothing but ads, making the website simply a “glorified parking page.”
Amongst accusations in the comments section of the DomainNameWire report that Anything.com was using the domain name exploitatively and giving all domainers a bad name with its actions, Ari Goldberger - a man who claimed to be Anything.com’s lawyer - says there is more to the story and that the registrant was, in a sense, victimized through this process.
“Anything.com has been the registrant of the JerrySeinfeld.com domain name for ten years,” writes Goldberger. “Anything.com’s owners are big Seinfeld fans and registered the domain name in good faith to use as a fan website and reserve it for Mr. Seinfeld to give to him at no charge if he ever so desired and requested it. When approached by Mr. Seinfeld’s attorneys earlier this year, Anything.com offered to settle the matter and immediately transfer the domain to Mr. Seinfeld free of charge as it always intended, asking for nothing in return. Anything.com simply asked for Mr. Seinfeld to meet briefly for a souvenir photo at a convenient time and place with its counsel, an equally big fan. Mr. Seinfeld’s lawyers answered by filing a UDRP dispute. At this point, Anything.com has no choice but to defend the UDRP action.”
On Monday, Anything.com seems to have posted a message on JerrySeinfeld.com, writing that it “wishes Mr. Seinfeld well as the master of his domain,” at least publicly showing that there are no hard feelings around the way the dispute was resolved.
Besides voluntarily giving the domain name to Seinfeld, Anything.com says that the ad links on JerrySeinfeld.com have also been removed.
Anything.com has apparently been subjected to the URDP arbitration process in the past when it lost ownership of Flamingo.com to casino operator Park Place Entertainment in 2002.
Source: thewhir.com
AlexM
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The Domain Name After Market
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