It's Lawsuit Time

from the domain-resolution-silliness dept

The Miller family from San Carlos, California are going to court in order to try to keep control of their MillerTime.com domain. Not surprisingly, Miller Brewing wants the domain for themselves. Of course, the Miller family registered the domain before Miller Brewing trademarked the phrase (though, many years after they started using it). The ridiculous ICANN domain dispute process, which is known for favoring corporate interests over individuals, has said the family needs to give up the domain. The article also talks about the recent decision to hand over the domain PeterFrampton.com to the famous guitarist from the guy who had registered it. In that case, it's even more confusing, because the registrant goes by the name Peter Frampton (his real name is Lyle Peter Frampton). The arbitrator ruled that the more famous Peter Frampton has more of a right to the domain name than the guy who actually thought to register his own name. It will be interesting to see what the courts have to say about the MillerTime domain, because it could suggest that the arbitration process is not at all binding - and will simply cause all arbitrations to end up going to court anyway when the losing party disagrees.