Dealing with domain squatters

TidBITS Talk
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Sometimes it does go in the opposite direction. I had a client who had let a domain name registration lapse, and the new owner was asking $3,999 for the domain. My client made a couple of much lower offers, eventually regaining the domain name for $500. Not a great situation, but it can be worth trying to negotiate if the domain name truly is important.

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There’s some good U.S. information here:

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I was able to recover a domain after the domain name lapsed. Someone in the group noticed that we couldn’t access the domain, and I was able to track down the problem as that our guaranteed payment was on a credit card that expired, and the payment did not roll over to the new card number, as often happens. I contacted WordPress, which hosted the domain and held the name. A scumbag claimed they had owned the new domain, but WordPress sold it back to me for what we had been paying for it.

I don’t know the details of domain name transfer, but it appears the speculators don’t actually pay for the domain name for the host until the victim has paid for it, so you may be able to reclaim the domain by acting carefully.

Another lesson is to be sure you are getting notices about the domain. This was going to a Gmail address that no one in the group was monitoring, and Google was stuffing it into the Promotions category, which wasn’t going into the Inbox.

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I don’t think copyright law will get you very far with domain squatting. Trademark law, possibly.

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It depends on how the information was claimed. There’s good information here:

6 things to know about domain squatting in 2024 | CybelAngel.

Domain squatting and cybersquatting laws:

Here is a list of relevant domain and cyber squatting laws, protocols, and corporations.

  • Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA): A law that made domain squatting illegal
  • Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP): Requires all domain-name disputes to be resolved by agreement, court action, or arbitration
  • Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): A non-government, non-profit corporation coordinating Internet processes, including domain name system management (DNS)
  • National Arbitration Forum: A dispute resolution provider, including in domain name disputes
  • WHOIS: An Internet database that identifies domain name registrants, and how to get in touch with them
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I’m sure she’s already thought about this, but can she add/delete/change one or more letters and still make it look like the name of her book? I know it’s going to be a bit confusing, but she may not have much choice. I think the worst thing to do is to give in to the squatter because who knows how it will end?

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This is a great idea! And your friend might want to think about starting with her name as a sizeable byline before the name of the book:

Stephen King has been doing this since book #1:

Walter Isaacson:

https://www.amazon.com/Leonardo-Vinci-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1501139150

Also Walter Isaacson’s:

https://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-Franklin-American-Walter

And Steve Jobs before he died:

Tim Cook:

https://www.amazon.com/Tim-Cook-Genius-Apple-Level/dp/0525537600