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From
Slashdot.org:
AOL accused of domain name hijacking
Posted by Hemos on Thursday June 24, @11:05AM EDT
from
the no-now-its'-ours dept. Michael
Fischer
sent
us an interesting story
about AOL using trademark leverage on African-America
OnLine Search,
which had been registered in Sept of 1998 as aolsearch.
AOL wanted to use it as the search location for their web
site,
although it does not seem to be currently in use. The
{former} owner
of the domain is accusing of Network Solutions of "an
arrogant,
indifferent attitude" to the problems surrounding the
dispute.
More
on Slashdot.org News........
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From Internet.com June 23rd,
1999
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article/0,1087,3_143441,00.html
A Web
developer
in New York claims she's the victim of reverse domain-name
hijacking
by America
Online Inc.
Cybele Emanuelle, owner of WebmasterFX
Digital Systems said she
registered the
domain aolsearch.com back
in September of 1998 and subsequently built a site at that
address
called
African-American
OnLine Search.
According to
Emanuelle, aolsearch.com was a guide to "the best of black
pride
& empowerment on the net" and got positive reviews from many
visitors.
Unfortunately for Emanuelle, her site stood in the way of
plans
by AOL to
launch a new search engine covering both the Web and its
proprietary
content. The big online service is currently previewing AOL
Search
to its
subscribers, and recently announced plans to launch it
officially
later this fall, using technology from Inktomi
Corp.
Last April, Emanuelle received a notice
by e-mail from an attorney
representing America Online, accusing her of violating AOL's
trademark
rights and demanding that she transfer the aolsearch.com
domain
to AOL.
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After
she refused, Emanuelle heard little else on the matter, until
receiving an automatically generated e-mail template from Network
Solutions
last May 13th asking her approval for a request to transfer her
domain
to
America Online. Emanuelle immediately contacted NSI to stop the
transfer and to ask for an explanation.
"I talked with people there, including the legal department, who
pulled
up
my account and assured me I had nothing to worry about. (They
said) 'You
didn't give your approval, so everything's fine.'"
One week later, however, the URL aolsearch.com stopped working,
and
Emanuelle's site went dark. According to internic records, the
domain
had
become the property of America Online Inc.
Emanuelle has since gone looking for answers from Network
Solutions and
the
Department of Commerce, which oversees NSI's contract with the
government.
NSI has said that it properly followed its domain dispute policy
but was
unable to notify Emanuelle of the transfer because hard copy
documents
sent
to the mailing address in her registration record were returned as
undeliverable . Emanuelle disputes that explanation, saying she
has
successfully received other NSI correspondence, including
invoices, at
that
address, and is considering a legal challenge.
" I invested a lot of time and energy into this. I wasn't
cybersquatting. And to have this done and have an arrogant,
indifferent
attitude from Network Solutions makes my blood boil."
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