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Search Engines Are Killing URLs

Members of the ISP-DNS list report that unscrupulous search engine operators are buying up expired domains and pointing the domains at their search pages. It's not pornography, but it is a disruption of business.

[April 1, 2002]

On the ISP-DNS list in March, BT inquired,

"I discovered today that a domain name I owned (not a registered trademark) was registered by someone else after it expired. The new site is one of those generic search pages: I assume this company registers expired domains in hopes of driving traffic to their sites. The registrar has sent out renewal notices in the past, but they didn't this time. Can I make a complaint under the UDRP? What are my options?"

A number of respondents explained that, without a trademark, it's all but impossible:

[WW advised] "Here are the rules. You have to prove that their registration of the domain name meets all three of these conditions. First, the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark in which the complainant has rights. Second, the registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name. And third, the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. Bad faith is defined as registering the name just to sell it back to the original owner, to prevent the owner of the trademark from using it, to disrupt the business of a competitor, or to create confusion with the complainant's trademark. I doubt you have a case, especially since you made a statement on a publicly archived forum that you have no trademark rights in the name."

[MJ agreed] "Without a trademark, you are out of luck. The domain is gone, and you have no recourse to get it back."

Others suggested that it might be possible to work out a compromise solution:

[CK offered] "Your only chance of getting the domain back is to try and file a dispute with an Approved Dispute-Resolution Service Provider. To do this, you will need to read up on the UDRP so you can prove you have a legitimate case. Your cheapest bet is going to be a single-judge arbitration at about $950.00, which will need to be paid by you whether you win or lose. You are really going to have a tough time proving your case, since you have no trademark. Still, there are other ways to prove your rights to the domain, such as proving that whoever registered it did so just to keep you from having it. A simple way to do this is to state your case that it was mistakenly expired and that you wish to have it transferred back to you for the amount paid to register the domain. It's a rather long and trying process: it just depends how bad you want the domain back."

[MJ added] "You could also just try to purchase the name back from the current registrant: I would make an offer of $200 or $300 and see what happens."

—End