Been tracking this domain name that periodically gets registered by squatters in third world countries -- and then within a couple weeks gets deleted. It's something of a pattern that repeats itself every couple months. What's the deal here? Anyone have any ideas?
Maybe they register it without paying the bill. I dont know if domainnames get deleted when they're not payed for but thats what I guess.
Possibly... though all the reigistrars I've worked with get money on purchase. Maybe the transactions were fraudulent? Or maybe domain resellers work differently... I'm just wondering if there isn't something more sinister going on. The name has some commercial possibilty and I get the sense that the party who has rights to it has been taking steps in the past year or so to control their internet presence. My intention is to use it for fan purposes... so I guess I might just be best off contacting the party to see if I can get some kind of blessing to go ahead and use it.
Never heard of anything like this before. Can you pleae mention the name so that we can also keep an eye on it next time.
Haven't seen anything like that in a long time, but back in the day you could hold on to a domain for almost a month without paying for it.
Yeah, I remember that... maybe some registrars are still using that business model. I just went ahead and picked the domain up. I've made every effort to do right by them and it's only $8.
Yeah, it's a not-too-popular-anymore semi-celebrity. I'm just thinking that if they were really interested in clamping down on their name, they'd do more than just shut down people they don't like -- like actually take the domain and use it themselves. As it is, they're not even really doing anything with their own "official" domain.
There are a lot of companies with trademarks that don't go out and register every single TLD or domain to keep someone from taking it. Consumer Reports is a good example. They just wait until someone infringes upon the name and then take action. I own several Federally Registered marks and don't bother registering all possible variations or TLD's, but legally I am required to take action against anyone who infringes upon the name if I don't want to risk losing my rights. It's always some small-time operator who tries and it winds up always costing me money and it's usually not worth the hassle of trying to collect damages or legal fees from (even though I'm entitled to treble damages).
Okay, so after having had the domain a couple days now, I've come up with another theory why the domain is always available: it's a loss leader. This thing gets no traffic whatsoever (it was never developed) so just buying it up and parking it at a Sedo thing is pretty pointless.