A story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution point out how important it is for all businesses and “famous” persons to engage in defensive domain registrations.
The story tells the tale of MartinLutherKing.org, which is owned and operated “””by a white supremacist group called Stormfront, described by one watchdog organization as the largest “hate group” online. It has used King’s name for its Web address since 1999.”””
Unfortunately according to the article if you type the term Martin Luther King into Google the .org comes up third, ahead of the “official” site thekingcenter.org.
According to the article, King’s heirs, have known about the site for more than two years
Isaac Newton Farris Jr., King’s nephew and head of the nonprofit King Center in Atlanta, said he’d sent the site’s operator threatening letters and offers of money to shut it down since then, but that they were ignored. Farris said he consulted lawyers, but has not approved filing a lawsuit.
Everyone should all remember that you grow your businesses into successful companies, or for those that gain fame and notoriety, there are those waiting to make money off your success or on occasion, to use your own success, to attack you.
I’m sure there is a way to shut them down. Especially involving such a high standing figure like MLK. Maybe defamation or libel ? A defamation of character suit from the family would make sense. Then again, I’m no law guru.
Isaac Newton Farris Jr doesn’t sound like the smartest tree in the woods. Has he ever heard of UDRP arbitration? Instead of sabre rattling he should start doing his homework. If he did, he would find out how Madonna got Madonna.com and use a similar strategy when he files.
David
I’m not so sure the family could get this domain so easy.
This is fair use, and courts have already ruled that “sucks” sites are generally fair use if they have content and not just vehicles for PPC ads.
There is also the free speech protection that would probably have the ACLU on the side of the hate group.
Mike:
I’d put my money on them succeeding in UDRP arbitration. This goes way beyond simply being a “suck” site. Madonna won Madonna.com and Sting lost when he went after Sting.com. As we well know, different arbitrators think differently. For $1500 the KIng family has little to lose.
David:
If they lose in the UDRP perhaps it may set a bad precedent in case they try to obtain it again in the future? I don’t really know much about it, just guessing, but if laws pertaining to domaining are likely to undergo serious changes, maybe the Kings would do better trying later on?
my first thought was for them to hire a ghost buyer… My second thought is a Russian hacker named Boris 🙂
I personally don’t love the King’s chances at a UDRP which is why I’m guessing they haven’t taken a shot at it in over 2 years
Tim
You have a number for Boris?
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This site has been around for years. When I taught English composition, I would direct my students to this site and ask them to evaluate its validity.
More often than not, they would misconstrue its message as being a “positive” MLK site and were shocked when they discovered it was a white supremicist site. You have to actually read the text to see this (which is how I knew they hadn’t read it and simply made assumptions based on the domain name).
As long as there are no ads on the site (and I don’t think there was back then), I doubt very much if the King family would have much of a case in a UDRP suit. I think that the King lawyers probably know this, which is why this site has been around so long. (Whois says 1999, which sounds about right.)
As much as one can despise the message, free speech that does not infringe TM, no matter how ugly, is protected. That pesky 1st amendment (US) protects the good, the bad, the ugly, and the VERY ugly.
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SAD that another case highlights the negative side of domain names in the wrong hands!
I agree with your commnets Mike – I dont think they would win this domain very easy as you never know what side the judge shall fall on but for the sake of $1500 I would try!
I would ask write to google, MS & Yahoo and ask that they remove the site due to its nature and content.
Just shows again that if you have a brand you must protect it and register all available domain ext.
Regards,
Robbie
I’m appalled by most of the comments here from so called domainers, who usually get it right. While I don’t support the site in any fashion, my forefathers in the United States died so these individuals could voice their opinions, which in turn protects all of our own public opinions. I’m so sick and tired of the ACLU and their supporters undermining freedom of speech in this country. If you don’t like a site’s content, don’t read it, plain and simple, it’s not rocket science. If you encourage shady legal maneuvering to shut the site down, remove it from Google, etc, then you don’t actually believe in FREEDOM OF SPEECH at all, but in FREEDOM OF THE MAJORITY CONSENSUS.
white supremacist groups are TERRORISTS like any extremist organization that includes the so called Christian Scum – right wings thugs.
Humanity has to evolve beyond this kind of scum mindset and use all its energy to do good and go into space and establish Human life there.
Intelligence is knowing what has been done wrong in the past and not follow that crap again.
Let there Be PEACE on earth – Evil thugs should stop that crap.