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Save the Children recovers domains from scumbag

Kevin Murphy, November 22, 2010, 14:34:14 (UTC), Domain Policy

The international charitable organization Save the Children has recovered two domain names from a squatter who held them hostage for $2,500.
Save the Children, which hosts its official web site at savethechildren.org, recently won a UDRP complaint for the domains save-the-children.com and save-the-children.org, which are both parked.
As you might imagine, it was an open-and-shut case.
Save the Children has been around since the 1930s, and it owns trademarks on its name.
Bad faith was proved with a shockingly clueless email from the registrant:

As you may be aware, with the explosion of the internet and domains, there has been a scramble by speculators or entrepreneurs to purchase popular names or names which we believe may become popular, so we can resell them for a profit. In fact, many businesses will buy numerous domain names that are similar, or may be abbreviations or acronyms, or with different suffexes [sic] in order to get them off the market and prevent somebody else purchasing it.
After consulting with my attorney, and in the best interests of a speedy resolution, I’ve been advised to offer to sell my domain to your client.
I am unwilling to give it up for free since I purchased it. However, I am willing to sell it, and I am asking $2,500.00 for my website.

Whois records show that the domain has changed hands a few times since it was first registered in 2001. I hope the current registrant paid a lot for it.
This kind of behavior is why domainers get a bad rep.

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Comments (3)

  1. fred says:

    Squatters don’t help, but the bad rep comes about because no other industry presents such an opportunity to rip off buyers.
    Ignoring market value and simply screwing as much money as possible out of the victim seems to be the accepted norm.

  2. Adam says:

    Domainers are scumbags. Period. Squatting on domains, sneaking around trying to grab up every domain as fast as possible to try to cash in and hold customers hostage for ridiculous prices. They make it impossible for entrepreneurs to buy domain names and put them to good use.

  3. fred says:

    Not all domainers hold customers hostage for ridiculous prirces.
    But having to deal with those that do can be a sickening and deflating experience for the budding entrepreneur.

Leave a Reply to fred