Microsoft Files Dispute Against Current Owner of XboxOne.com

MojoKid writes "Microsoft might have one of the most talked-about products at the moment with the Xbox One, but would you believe it doesn't own the rights to the most obvious domain name to accompany it? Domain squatting is a real issue for companies about to launch a new product. If they register a domain before the official launch, people can find that and subsequently ruin the company's surprise. This particular case is different, however. The domain name wasn't registered just the other day. Instead, a UK resident registered the name XboxOne.com in December of 2011, long before Microsoft itself even likely had a definitive name for its upcoming console. So, what can a company do in this instance? File a dispute with the National Arbitration Forum, an ICANN-approved organization that specializes in dealing with these sorts of matters."

Comments

Xbox One? Oh my!

[Anonymous Coward]

They's better change that ridiculous name instead.

What's there to dispute?

[wbane]

Fork over some money, Micro$oft, if you want it that bad...

Re:What's there to dispute?

[MishgoDog]

They could have offered to buy the domain from the current owner for $1000, and saved 20% off the cost of the complaint fee, and avoided the costs that will be incurred for the legal representation altogether.

Except:

a) Creates a precedent - much better to encourage people to think there's no money in domain squatting against MS
b) $400 is - literally - nothing to a company like this. They would consider the costs to be equivalent, and immaterial, and go for the one which has a better strategic flavour (be it PR, precedent, etc)

Re:What's there to dispute?

[fatalwall]

just because port the base domain or port 80 goes to a parked page does not mean the domain is not in use. Before claiming that someone is not using the domain please at least check the DNS and MX records. Your ID is low enough where you should know web pages are no the only use for a domain.

Re:What's there to dispute?

[bloodhawk]

The problem is not the money here, it is the bad precedent it sets, Domain Squatting is a plague that needs to be stamped out, not rewarded. If however it is a fan site or such that was created with a legitimate purpose THEN and only then should MS be paying off the site owner.

I could never defend a cyber squatter

[Gadget_Guy]

If the domain owner had actually been using the name (rather than just to show a default launch page) then I might have some sympathy for them. But those people who speculatively register thousands of domains just to extort money from legitimate users deserve to be sued.

Nobody should ever reward the bad practices of those douchebags. They are the equivalent of patent trolls.

Re:I could never defend a cyber squatter

[Nyder]

If the domain owner had actually been using the name (rather than just to show a default launch page) then I might have some sympathy for them. But those people who speculatively register thousands of domains just to extort money from legitimate users deserve to be sued.

Nobody should ever reward the bad practices of those douchebags. They are the equivalent of patent trolls.

I don't agree. Sure, it sucks, but the name is property. People buy up property cheap all the time with the hopes that the area might become developed and the property will go up in price.

Just because MS wants it doesn't mean they should get it. Just because the person hasn't done anything with his website doesn't mean MS should get it. This is mostly just catering to the corporations.

MS should of bought all the Xbox* names they could of back when they released the original xbox. They didn't, tough shit, imo.

And why do you need a new website name for a new console? Why not just have Xbox.com show the new console? It's not like they are going to keep selling and advertising the Xbox 360 after the Xbox One is released.

Playing with fire, even if legit ...

[MacTO]

Even if the registration was legitimate, they still used a Microsoft trademark as a portion of the domain name. That is going to cause problems for the domain's owner even if the trademark XBox One didn't exist at the time of registration.

For what it's worth, I pulled up on archive.org and it was some sort of xbox fan site in the past. Depending upon the trail of registrations since then, it is doubtful that a domain squatter owns it.

Re:Ask any McDonald about mcdonalds.com domain

[thewolfkin]

were they? that is to say were they obviously trying to leverage that market? To an extent that's no different than say.. PS3Blog.net (a site I frequent and very very rarely write for) which leverages Sony's PS brand. Having not seen the site I would like to know what's on there? Are they impersonating MS? Or did the guy just pick a name that sounded like it would relate to MS to advertise his website that has to do with the MS Xbox console

Re:Ask any McDonald about mcdonalds.com domain

[meerling]

The first Xbox came out, it was named Xbox, and everyone called it Xbox.
The second Xbox came out, it was named Xbox 360, everyone called it xbox, and started calling the previous one Xbox 1 to differentiate since nobody wanted to say Xbox three sixty.
The third Xbox is announced, it is named Xbox One, everyone realizes that Microsoft should stop hiring brain dead monkeys for their naming division.

Re:Ask any McDonald about mcdonalds.com domain

[LordLucless]

You don't need permission to use trademarks, if they're not being used in a manner likely to confuse consumers. Company names are also trademarks, but Slashdot isn't going to get in trouble for including "Microsoft" in this article. Whether the use of the logo in this particular case is likely to cause people to think it was an official X-box site is another question, but one that is only likely to be answerable by a judge.

Re:Ask any McDonald about mcdonalds.com domain

[DarkOx]

Honestly I don't see why that should make him look bad. Personally if some mega corp suddenly wanted my domain name, which I do use to receive mail at and to host some other personal stuff on which I can give people a memorable for, I'd ask for a pile of money too.

I mean why not? I have rights to a unique resource someone else has decided is valuable to them. They have no claim on it; I had the name first after all selected for my own reasons. Just like Nissan did, it was his last name after all a perfectly reasonably cause to choose it. Its going to inconvenience me and all of my contacts to change it; maybe not to the tune of a million dollars but its a thinly traded market if demand for it from entity like a Microsoft is high so should be the price.

I'll agree squatting and not using a domain should not be allowed; it is a limited resource there are only so many short, easy to remember, spellable names. Only the dipshits at TSA want to use name most users would need to enter character codes to type or use something like charmap and copy/paste to enter. Otherwise I think if you even so much as receive the occasion mail there and you have an even halfway credible reason why you selected the name in the first place, like "my first cat had that name" quality; it should be first come first serve.