Guy Who Runs Anti-Ryanair Website Forced To Hand Over The Domain Because He Made A Little Money
from the nominetsucks.co.uk? dept
For many years, we've discussed the legality of so-called "sucks sites." These are, generally speaking, sites that people put up about a brand that they've had a bad experience with, that goes by something along the lines of brandsucks.com. While there has been some back and forth, for the most part, people and domain dispute boards have recognized that such "sucks sites" should be allowed. They're not infringing on trademarks, in that they don't, for the most part, lead to any confusion over who is running the domain, or if the company in question actually endorses the site (unlikely in most cases).So it was interesting to see the news that a guy who ran IHateRyanair.co.uk was forced to turn over the domain name to the company. It was double surprising, because four years ago, we had written about another sucks site, called RyanairCampaign.org that was allowed to keep its domain. So what gives here? Well, it turns out that it wasn't a normal domain resolution process that is normally used over domain trademark disputes. Instead, Ryanair went straight to the registry -- which, in this case, was Nominet, and apparently Nominet's policies are much more stringent. The company even admits this, saying that the traditional UDRP domain resolution process probably would have let him keep the domain, but they decided it offends their stricter policies. Why? Because on the page he had some affiliate links that earned him £322. And, even though he took down the links, and agreed to sign documents that he wouldn't put them back, they still felt it violated their policies.
This is, frankly, ridiculous. Earning a little bit of cash from a website does not automatically make it such that it's just being done "for the money," as is implied by this ruling. Besides with the amount made, it probably didn't do much more than covering hosting fees. This is really an unfortunate decision, and could certainly chill some forms of speech in making it much more difficult to cover your costs in hosting a public advocacy website against a company. Perhaps someone needs to set up Nominetsucks.co.uk. Of course, all is not lost for the original domain holder, who has simply moved his site to IHateRyanair.org, and hopefully to a less ridiculous registrar.
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Filed Under: domains, sucks sites, trademarks
Companies: ryanair
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TechDirt sucks?
This is filled to the brim with affiliate advertising, etc.
Visitors to the site can register.
Each month the entire ad revenue is directed to a random registrant.
It could also publish comments from people (corporate shills) who hate TechDirt.
I think TechDirt could withstand this, eh? ;-)
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Re: TechDirt sucks?
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Re: Re: TechDirt sucks?
Funny thing from a lottery perspective it might draw in more users. Crosbie Fitchs idea "Each month the entire ad revenue is directed to a random registrant." would give people an RtR (Reason to Register).
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Re: TechDirt sucks?
Incidentally, there is no way to suppress this form of criticism because other forms such as Name-1-Sucks or any other of endless possibilities will yield the same results.
While I think that TechDIRT is an incredibly biased forum I do not think they deserve their own SUCKS site. Such should be saved for the dredges of our society.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
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Re: Re: TechDirt sucks?
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Yes
/pwnd
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.com?
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Clearing up some confusion in this post
Not agreeing with the terms Nominet use, but your description of the case is wrong.
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Re: Clearing up some confusion in this post
Not agreeing with the terms Nominet use, but your description of the case is wrong.
Mike doesn't let facts get in the way when he's whining about censorship, but I thank you for the information.
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Re: Clearing up some confusion in this post
Always get the two mixed up, honestly. Registars/registries always seem the same to me. Thanks for clarifying.
Co.uk domains aren't .com domains - but the TLD for the UK, the managing body of which is Nominet. co.uk names simply aren't governed by the UDRP proces but by the policies enforced by Nominet. Different countries aren't bound to follow the rules ICANN set up for the generic TLDs (.com etc).
Never meant to imply otherwise and don't believe I did. Thought I was clear that Nominet wasn't using UDRP. I just was pointing out that they were different (and not very smart).
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Great idea!
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Hit Em Where It Hurts
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Re:
of those empires, every single one was a worse deal than Britain.
at it's height, and for all it's screw ups (which were usually individuals doing dumb things rather than institutional issues), the British Empire was described as 'the largest system or organised liberty in the history of the world'. quite accurately. (please note that this was After lessons learned from the debacle that lead to the independence of the USA)
in more modern times they have had issues, it's true, though these have come about After they lost the empire, and those having to do with international incidents have a lot more to do with being a major US ally than anything.
... they do, of course, have bizarre legacy legal issues, and the standard 'politicians suck' problems.
also, news flash: said terrorists put a lot more effort into attacks on the US than the UK. the UK gets hit more, if it does, which i do not have information to back up one way or the other, it's because it's Closer and more readily accessible by way of Europe.
but Anonymous Coward's rant is, at best, ill informed.
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Sucks Sites
Think about it, should it be illegal for someone to say your product or service is not what it claims to be? Of course the answer is "Hell no!" We should actually have more SS rather than fewer. If companies/corps knew their product/service would be subject to real review they would, perhaps, behave differently. Of course, those simply bashing a product/service to bash it spoil it for everyone. And just because a product didn't live up to your "expectations' doesn't mean it should be bashed. Some folks simply can't be satisfied.
Lastly, the case is about Ryan Air, for God's sake. They do what they do. All they promise is a ride from A to B!
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Re: Sucks Sites
I've only ever heard them called "gripe sites," and in the U.S. they are allowed to exist. There were a lot of challenges early on, but the caselaw is now pretty settled that they're OK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gripe_site
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More on this subject
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Nominet Deal??
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 - (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 8 pm EST.
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I wonder....
Oh I forgot such things only ever apply when a big wealthy company with lots of lawyers goes after an individual or the little guy. Freedom of speech is great... if you have the money for it.
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Blocked?
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wonder
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thx for shar
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