Slipknot just filed a lawsuit to gain control of the domain slipknot.com.
This domain has been owned by an anonymous person for more than 20 years and registered in 2001, six years after the band was formed two years after the release of their self-titled debut album.
The Psychosocial rockers have been using the domain name slipknot1.com but now it seems the band and their lawyers want control of what they presumably believe is rightfully theirs.
DNW reports that the lawsuit, filed in the United Stated District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Alexandria Division, explains Slipknot’s argument that the unknown people or person who owns the domain has used it to profit from the band’s name.
The suit alleges that the domain has displayed pay-per-click advertising links for “concert tickets,” “Slipknot merchandise,” and “concert VIP packages.”
The lawsuit reads: “The domain name was registered in an effort to profit off of plaintiff’s goodwill and to trick unsuspecting visitors – under the impression they are visiting a website owned, operated or affiliated with plaintiff – into clicking on web searches and other sponsored links.”
It continues, “A fan of plaintiff or someone who otherwise wanted to purchase authorized Slipknot merchandise would undoubtedly visit the slipknot.com website assuming it belonged to plaintiff and then purchase the Slipknot merchandise linked to on the site, causing damages to plaintiff.”
“The name of the registrant of the Slipknot.com domain is not identified in WHOIS or ICANN records, but these records list a post office box address for registrant in the Cayman Islands. Elsewhere in these records, ‘technical’ and ‘administrative’ contact information is given,” the Duality rockers further claimed.
“Here, an organization named ‘Slipknot Online Services, Ltd’ is listed along with the same address in the Cayman Islands. A search for this organization name however shows that it is not registered in any state in the United States,” the suit explained.
It is pertinent to mention that it was common in the 1990s and early 2000s to purchase domain names that would be desirable to big name businesses and brands, by people known as cyber squatters.
