According to several reports the Big East Conference is going to change their name to the America 12 Conference.
The Domain name America12.com is owned by Oversee.net which has owned the domain name since 2010.
The domain name america12conference.com was registered by brand protection company MarkMonitor.com definitely indicating that America12 will in fact be the name of the new conference meaning Oversee just won the domain lottery.
Another suggested name for the new conference was Big Metro Athletic Conference. One sports writer was shocked to see that the conference hadn’t registered any of the domain name associated with the Big Metro name under consideration so took it upon himself to register these domain names calling it a “proactive measure in order to prevent domain squatters, speculators and extortion artists from locking up the goodies and holding them for ransom”:
• BIGMETROATHLETICCONFERENCE.COM
• BIGMETROATHLETICCONFERENCE.ORG
• BIGMETROATHLETICCONFERENCE.NET
• BIGMETROATHLETICCONFERENCE.INFO
• BIGMETROATHLETICCONFERENCE.US
• BIGMETROCONFERENCE.COM
• BIGMETROCONFERENCE.ORG
• BIGMETROCONFERENCE.NET
• BIGMETROCONFERENCE.INFO
• BIGMETROCONFERENCE.US
• BIGMETROSPORTS.COM
• BIGMETROSPORTS.ORG
• BIGMETROSPORTS.NET
• BIGMETROSPORTS.INFO
• BIGMETROSPORTS.US
• BMACSPORTS.COM
• BMACSPORTS.ORG
• BMACSPORTS.NET
• BMACSPORTS.INFO
• BMACSPORTS.US
• METROPOLITANCONFERENCE.COM
• METROPOLITANLEAGUE.COM
Something I have always pomdered about the domain lottery before (since I have not won it yet). So when you win how do you claim it? Is that TM risky to immidiately pounce on the NBA in this case, or do you have to wait and hope they come to you? Furthermore if they never come isn’t it risky to monetize all that new free traffic on anything NBA related loke tickets, subscriptions, etc… How about just ads for Basketballs? Basketballs aren’t TM’d but are you then profiting from someone’s mark even though you had the domain first? You’ve won this lotto before, how does this generally play out? What is the anatomy of it?
JP
You claim it in one of two way.
In this case Oversee owned the domain 3 years before the conference was named so I think they can do whatever they want with the domain which should receive a lot more traffic than its been receiving.
The conference would be smart to go ahead and buy the domain
So you don’t think it is neccesary to tread lightly in any way? Oversee can still get sued even if they do nothing wrong. Lawsuits are expensive. You think really low risk to say affiliate sell tickets and official memorobilia and put a huge new pricetag on it and fire an email out to NBA right away? No limits? Yes conference would be smart to go and buy it but people and companies don’t always do the smart thing, like for example it would have been smarter for them to buy that domain last month.
Anyone can get sued for anything at anytime
You can sue me for fathering your child JP.
I’m sure they will seek the advice of their attorneys and then do what they think they can do within their rights and defend what comes.
Right now the domain seems to be forwarding to a monster.com
If that domain is own by a normal person on the street, NCAA will sue but since it is own by a company, they will just buy it.