Despite the word invoking a much different image in my mind (don’t click this), Cybersquatting is the practice of registering domain names with malicious intent in hopes of reselling them to the rightful owner.
Sounds a lot like what is happening to The Creator and his preferred names. Unless you believe the SinBin.vegas conspiracy theory, part of the team name hold up has been consistent issues securing the proper domain names for the selected name. The reason for this is that people from all over the world are buying up every domain out there with the hope their name is selected and the organization will reach out with a big bag of money asking for it back.
The problem is, until the team actually releases a name, there’s nothing that can stop anyone from buying up these domains and waiting to see if they can cash in. In order to prevent someone from cybersquatting on your name you must prove all of the following…
- The domain name registrant had a bad-faith intent to profit from the trademark ✓
- The trademark was distinctive at the time the domain name was first registered (uh-oh)
- The domain name is identical or confusingly similar to the trademark ✓
- The trademark qualifies for protection under federal trademark laws — that is, the trademark is distinctive and its owner was the first to use the trademark in commerce. (I don’t know what this means, but #2 was already a problem so who cares)
In order to get your domain name back, you must be able to prove a trademark was registered before the domain was purchased. In the case of the Las Vegas team name, they will not be able to do it since their first trademarks hit the books on August 23rd and almost every LasVegas(TeamName).com domain had been purchased prior to that date.
So what does it all mean? First, legally no one is doing anything wrong buying up all the domain names. Second, waiting around to register trademarks may not be the best idea. Last, no matter which name they eventually go with someone is probably going to make some money selling their domain.
In other words, stop what you are doing and go buy up some domain names. That CreatorCash can be all yours. (RatPackHockey.com is still available)
What else does it mean? We desperately need some real news so I can get stop having to educate myself on compound words that sound much dirtier than they actually are.
James
@Ken Boehlke
Per Clark Rasmussen
‘Nighthawks, Red Hawks, Desert Hawks, Sand Knights
Black Knight IP Holdings owns domains for these. Various denials have been made about whether or not they’ll be used.
Golden Knights
Black Knight has the trademark for this but no domains.
Silver Knights, Desert Knights
Black Knight has the trademark for these and the domains are held privately. Foley confirmed that he registered Desert Knights and Murray Craven said that the group registered Silver Knights. That said, I’ve since confirmed independently that the privately-registered Silver Knights domains are not held by Black Knight.
While this would seem to mean that Desert Knights is the only name that Foley both owns the trademark and the domains for’
What are the odds of Foley choosing Desert Knights over Silver Knights as a matter of principle? If there is not much to choose between them owning the domain for Desert Knights could put it over the top
franky
@James, thing is all the best domains for Desert Knights are on ebay. He (Foley) may own a desert knights domain but not the three best on ebay. Just type in lasvegasdesertknights.com and see.
franky
@James Foley does own SilverKnights domains, Ken mentioned them a while back I think. The best one’s, no but some.
James
@franky
Thank you very much, you’ve been very helpful.
DB
Very very well done Ken, you nailed the situation perfectly. May I add that any domain registered prior to Foley using it or having a date of first use to even fall back on a common mark does not and would not exist to make claim to the domain.
Furthermore if you look at his trademarks none show a date of first use existing.
Bottom line if he uses one of those names he trademarked and did not own the domain and said domain(s) were registered prior to his TM filing, he’ll have to pay if he wants them.
I must say I am rather impressed at the knowledge you displayed.
Jonathan
Aren’t all of these domain names people have been registering pointless because none of them will have the magic “.nhl” before the “.com”?
Michael
@Jonathan
My guess would be you want as many websites redirecting to the real website as possible. And you don’t want someone putting porn or Nazi propaganda on http://www.lasvegaswhatevers.com.
Jonathan
Good point.
Matt M.
The point here is that they want the domain that will redirect to the .nhl.com site
For example, rangers.nhl.com is the site of the NY Rangers, but people just know to check nyrangers.com It is the nyrangers.com that is on all their ads, posters etc.
So lets say they become the goldenknights, sure they will be goldenknights.nhl.com, but what will they use in their ads? LVgoldenknights.com? VegasGoldenKnights.com? GoldenKnightsNHL.com? They will need something.
Luckily, there is the .vegas domains, perhaps one of those are available
franky
True, brand protection job #1 and honestly/tested a lasvegaswhatevers.com will get nearly all the natural traffic when people look vs. lasvegaswhaters.nhl.com Id guess 100-1000 times more direct navigation, they MUST own the dot com all other teams do then redirect.
Ron Murphy
Don’t know if it’s still true, but the patent office use to have a way of stopping “whoever files first gets the patent “…you had to detail step-by-step how you invented your idea, thereby justifying your claim…I’d say Mr. Foley would have about 500 million reasons why the ” Las Vegas _______” would be his team’s name
franky
He would qualify for the TM on the three he filed, not doubt.
btw Patent and TM two different thing, processes and uses 🙂
Navada Onslaught
Not everything in the form of a domain name has been brought I would of thought.
Dave
For those that mentioned .vegas lmao, sorry but dot com (.com) is the KING! The world types dot com, maybe some locals will use .vegas when asked to on the side of a bus but nearly no one on the planet types in .vegas, these new extensions are failures. Even NHL’s .nhl.com hack is garbage next to .com in terms of natural habit.
As far as not all variations of a team name have been registered. There is only 4-5, read it 4-5 variations that matter at all and hold any value. Those 4-5 will generate many natural type in’s, result in million upon millions a year in sales like tickets, merchandise etc. and only on a dot com! they are…
1. team name dot com(Values of pro sports names alone range from ($150,000-$1M)
2.city + team name dot com(Values $50,000-$150,000)
3.Acronym of city + team name LA LV NY etc dot com(Values $25,000+++)
In the case of LA or LV NY etc there are 2 #3 domains ex. Vegas/LV.
5. Team name + Hockey, Jerseys, etc (Values $20,000+)
They MUST buy them, they will not succeed on Lasvegasnhldesertknights.com or desertknightsvegas.com they need to be the natural order as mention in the above list. The difference in value is $10 and $100,000 when you misplace a word and it receives no natural traffic.
AT this point I would say a few things could be going on IF one of the three trademarked names are not bought before the announcement.
1) None of them are the name
2)If he buys the ones he wants now he tips his hand
3)He may wait and buy right after announcement
4)They are too ignorant of the web to realize hey need them (possible) but considering the NHL owns the other teams domains as mentioned above besides a handful they cannot buy, they must have advised him to.
My advice to him, buy your names now under NDA, pay for them, take ownership right after announcement. That way no hand tipping and you avoid paying even more once its national news.
Ken Boehlke
How did you get to this site… SinBin.vegas.
James
I guess that’s the price of doing business. Foley tipped his hand to the cybersquatters by mentioning Las Vegas Black Knights at the onset. But he had to generate interest in a team that didn’t exist in order to sell season tickets. He was walking on eggshells during interviews and had to be careful with his words. For example, he couldn’t talk about players on other teams. The team name is a lightning rod and generates the most comments on sinbin.vegas.
To be honest, I wouldn’t be heartbroken if Foley goes with a name out of left field and doesn’t have to pay for the domain names. I’m lukewarm about the prospective names. It adds insult to injury that Foley is going to pay for them.
nick
As long as it’s not Golden shower, I mean golden knights lol.
James
@Dave
It seems like every name I have seen mentioned is owned by the domain community using your criteria. I can see why Foley appeared out of ideas at the George McPhee presser. I guess he learned a costly lesson.
I just find it hard to believe that he didn’t have a back-up plan. It appears he put all his eggs in one basket (Black Knights). I recall him saying he owned everything (social media) pertaining to Black Knights.
franky
I agree with you James, he dropped the ball but the flip side is for what ever money he can just buy what he wants, why X number of dollars is stopping him a billionaire is beyond me.