friend needs help...

[Jack Gordon]

A friend of mine went to one of those hosts who offer domain registration and hosting in one cheap package. They got him his domain and set up a space for him to build his site. It was for his family business - a pizza joint.

After repeated downtime, he tried to get his domain from them so he could move it. They were unresponsive. Their information was listed as the admin/billing/tech contacts.

Now his domain points to a porn site. It appears as if it may have expired and been re-registered by a new owner in the last week, though I am not sure how to confirm that.

My friend is unhappy to say the least - he is watching the domain he promoted for his small-town business get stolen from him, then essentially sold to pornographers.

The domain is enzas.com - what would be your next step?

 

[FineE]

There may be some options here but they do cost money. The chances of success here may be slim, may produce a judgement that is not worth the trouble, or may get your friend's domain back. The first step should be for you freind to get proper legal advice in order to consider his options. Some of the options may be:

1) Since he did business under the domain name, and hence may be able to claim common law trademark rights file a complaint under the ICANN UDRP for cybersquatting to get the domain back. The following case comes to mind. Featureprice is the webhosting company and a search in google for Featureprice will tell you all about them.

Pathlink Technology Corporation v Featureprice.com Client Domain - Case No. 115688

2) Sue the webhosting company.

This is a classic case where a microgram of prevention is worth a ton of cure. The rule is never register a domain name with the same company that is hosting it. For the price of a domain registration one can save thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

 

[domainduck]

You cannot know where the new owner stands unless you contact them.

Here is the contact info:

[email protected] +1.2024780990
DA
4222 Wis Ave
Washington DC Australia 20011

Washington DC Australia ??

It looks bogus to me, which is in violation of ICANN / WIPO law, so you can get OnlineNic.com ( the ICANN registrar ) involved.

Try the email address and see what they want or call the phoine number.

And yes, Enzas.com now points to porn. This is the sort of activity that keeps domain name resellers in the gutter class.


quack :-D

 

[Jack Gordon]

thanks for the info, both of you.

duck - how did you get that contact info? I looked in about a dozen different whois sites and was not able to get anything that good

 

[domainduck]

Movie,

A WhoIs search shows no data, but it does show OnlineNic.com as the registrar.

I went to OnlineNic.com and did a WhoIs search from their direct Who Is link.

quack :-D

Originally posted by MovieDomains
thanks for the info, both of you.

duck - how did you get that contact info? I looked in about a dozen different whois sites and was not able to get anything that good

 

[Ari Goldberger]

Using a non-porn name to direct users to a porn site MIGHT be deemed to be a criminal violation of the U.S. Truth in Domain Act that carries penalties up to two years in prison.

 

[cyphix]

Washington DC Australia ??

It looks bogus to me, which is in violation of ICANN / WIPO law, so you can get OnlineNic.com ( the ICANN registrar ) involved.

Actually that is a registrar problem that a few have. If you leave the state field blank & put in another state it will sometimes default to washington.

 

[Anthony Ng]

Originally posted by FineE
There may be some options here but they do cost money. The chances of success here may be slim ...

Agree. No offence (to Enza's Pizza), but judging from their website, I don't think it's worth the time and money to go after anybody. I see that they now use enzaspizza.com which is actually a BETTER name for them. It's a lesson learned ... the hard way though.

P.S. Make sure he tells all his friends and relative about this terrible hosting company, not through spamming though.

 

[Jack Gordon]

thanks everyone for your thoughts. they have been very helpful, especially your tip Ari.

nameslave, only a domainer who has been in front of the computer for too many hours without a break would try to argue that enzaspizza.com is better than enzas.com

I was able to contact the new owner with the above info and am now in negotiations. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

 

[Anthony Ng]

Originally posted by MovieDomains
nameslave, only a domainer who has been in front of the computer for too many hours without a break would try to argue that enzaspizza.com is better than enzas.com

:huh: But your friend's business IS "Enza's Pizza", right? (Unless they usually call it "Enza's" or "the Enza's".) Actually, that's EXACTLY the difference between a domainer and an end-user. From my experience in dealing with small business owners, most of them would prefer enzaspizza.com, a more descriptive name for their business (even though it may not have a higher resale value). But never mind, it's YOUR friend, and not mine. LOL! :evil:

 

[Jack Gordon]

e-n-z-a-s = 5 letters, easy to pronounce, easy to remember

not just pizza, they have a good representation of italian dishes

phone rings... "enzas, how can I help you?"

but, perhaps most important, the domain was bought and promoted for a year as enzas.com

didn't mean to put you on the defensive... :-D