This is nuts! I got sosu.com stolen at GoDaddy, and have been talking with them almost everyday and with the BBB. GoDaddy's response is that domains are like car titles. WTF! GoDaddy said I should file a complaint so I did. So for $1500 I can have one person hear my case, or for $4000 I can have three people hear my case. I have asked over and over for GoDaddy to ask how the thief ended up with my domain, but they won't. I asked GoDaddy to investigate my account being hacked, but they won't. I have been with GoDaddy for 10 years! Latest email: -------------- Dear Sir, This is further to your email of April 4, 2008. Please note that the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center does not deal with problems related to domain name registrations, which must be solved directly with the Registrar (= entity with which you have registered the domain name, which can be found on http://www.internic.net). We would recommend that you contact the Registrar directly in order to obtain information on this issue. Our services are limited to the administration of disputes over the abusive registration and use of domain names that infringe third-parties' trademark rights under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). As an administrative alternative to court proceedings, the UDRP provides an efficient option for the resolution of disputes between a domain name registrant and a third party-trademark or service mark owner over the abusive registration and use of an Internet domain name. The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is solely intended to resolve disputes between trademark owners and holders of domain names registered and used in bad faith. The UDRP procedure is applicable for every gTLD domain name (ending in .com, .net, .org, etc) and those ccTLDs that have opted for the UDRP as their dispute resolution policy. See list at http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/cctld/index.html The UDRP Policy and Rules require that the complainant have rights in a trademark or service mark and that mark be identical or similar to the domain name at issue. Those rights can be in a mark that is registered or protected under common law. It is up to the complainant to demonstrate sufficient usage of the mark, where it is not registered, to convince the fact-finder that a common law mark exists. After the above hurdle is over-come, it will be necessary to demonstrate that the registrant/respondent does not have rights or legitimate interests in regards to the domain name. The final criteria that must be demonstrated is that the registrant/respondent has registered the domain name in bad faith and is also using it in bad faith. With respect to the legal grounds of your case, we recommend you consult our Index of WIPO UDRP Panel Decisions at http://arbiter.wipo.int/cgi-bin/domains/search/legalindex?lang=eng as well as our WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Views on Selected UDRP Questions at http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/search/overview/index.html We also refer you to http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/gtld/udrp/index.html where you can find the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, Rules, and WIPO Supplemental Rules, as well as a Model Complaint and filing guidelines. The Administrative Procedure normally should be completed within 45-60 days of the date the WIPO Center receives the Complaint. For a case filed with the WIPO Center involving between 1 and 5 domain names that is to be decided by a single Panelist, the fee is USD1500. For a case that is to be decided by 3 Panelists, the fee is USD4000. Do not hesitate to contact us again, should you require further information concerning the UDRP procedure. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any further question on the UDRP. Sincerely, WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center
Here is GoDaddy's responce to the BBB. My account was hacked, so if someone forges a name on your car title they just get the car. -------------------------------------- Dear Dispute Resolution Consultant, Concerning the two domain names, 8bp.com and sosu.com, someone initiated a change of ownership for the two domain names from within the account itself. This is effectively the same as signing the title of a vehicle over to a new owner. Unfortunately, submitting an Invalid Whois complaint will not return the domains to the account, but merely suspends the names from being used by the current registrant until they update their information. What Mr. Carlson will need to do is dispute the ownership of the name either through the legal court system or through an ICANN (Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers) approved arbitrating forum such as WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), http://wipo.org. RESOLUTION: As an ICANN accredited registrar, GoDaddy.com is a neutral party in domain disputes. We recommend that Mr. Carlson review our Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy located at http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/legal_agreements/show_doc.asp?pageid=UNIFORM_DOMAIN We hope this information is helpful to Mr. Carlson in reacquiring his domain names, but unfortunately, GoDaddy.com is not able to reassign ownership of the domain names. Regards, Todd Cluff Office of the President 14455 N Hayden Ste 226 Scottsdale, AZ 85260 (480) 505-8828 Phone (480) 275-3975 Fax
That's not fun. Sorry to hear man. I know someone who had their domain stolen because their email address got hacked. All the emails sent for the domain transfer got forwarded to the hacker.
Oh, this is really bad. I'm so sorry to hear about it. It also gives me something to think about because I use GoDaddy. I might consider using another registrar.
Thanks for the comments. The hardest part is I went to college at SOSU, so I thought it was great when I got SOSU.com many many years ago.
really bad, the authorities can't find the guy ? to report it , is a serious issue 61.136.63.125 - country China, city Tianjin inetnum: 61.136.63.96 - 61.136.63.127 netname: TJOnline-CO-TJ country: CN descr: TJOnline-CO admin-c: HZ19-AP tech-c: HZ19-AP status: ASSIGNED NON-PORTABLE changed: 20070419 mnt-by: MAINT-CNCGROUP-TJ source: APNIC route: 61.136.0.0/18 descr: CNC Group CHINA169 Tianjin Province Network country: CN origin: AS4837 mnt-by: MAINT-CNCGROUP-RR changed: 20060118 source: APNIC person: huang zheng nic-hdl: HZ19-AP e-mail: address: 76 NO, ShiZiLin Street ,HeBei district of Tianjin,China phone: +86-22-24459190 fax-no: +86-22-24454499 country: CN changed: 20050721 mnt-by: MAINT-CNCGROUP-TJ source: APNIC