Graduate Student Defends Right To Own Chicago2016.com 461
An anonymous reader points to a story in the Chicago Tribune about another domain-name battle. Quoting the article: "As Chicago wages its battle to host the 2016 Olympics, it also finds itself scrapping over a valuable piece of cyberspace: the domain name of Chicago2016.com. The bid team along with the U.S. Olympic Committee are trying to wrest that online address from Stephen Frayne Jr., a 29-year-old MBA student. Frayne snagged it back in 2004, about two years before the bid was launched. ... 'We certainly see Chicago2016.com as the logical default domain for our site, and we believe having someone else control it is misleading for people seeking information about Chicago's bid,' said Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for Chicago 2016, a moniker protected by trademark."
Sandusky? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Add a Hyphen (Score:5, Funny)
It's an under-appreciated punctuation mark anyway.
Fixed. Sorry, I just couldn't resist. ;-)
Re:this is nothing more than cyber bullying (Score:4, Funny)
What's next, grant the patent to the large organizations simply because they're large?
Watch yourself, son. You're dangerously close to infringing my patent on "a method for granting patents to entities using a relative comparison of the size of entities."
Here's Some Pure Gold, Gratis (Score:2, Funny)
ChicagOlympics.com
Re:guess they should have investigated the tradema (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Looks Legit (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Looks Legit (Score:4, Funny)
Or even worse, what could happen if he were to lose his domain name?
Re:Looks Legit (Score:3, Funny)
I got two possible solutions! (Score:5, Funny)
b) Chicago gets a new name!
Re:Looks Legit (Score:5, Funny)
McDowell's [wikipedia.org], maybe?
Re:Looks Legit (Score:5, Funny)
It looks semi-legit. While it's a discussion site on the Olympics, it appears that he intentionally intercepted the domain by registering a bunch of <city><year> combos that happen to match Olympic years. Coincidence? I think not
Great idea, I just picked up Baghdad2018. I'm going to be rich when hell freezes over and they get the Winter Olympics.
To the City of Chicago (Score:5, Funny)
Dear City of Chicago,
We regret to inform you that we have voted our 2016 Olympic Games be held at the fine city of Amsterdam, and not Chicago, IL.
Our decision was based on many factors, and your city scored quite well on all criteria of the selection process.
But when it came down to it, Amsterdam2016.com was actually registered to the right people.
Sincereley,
The Olympic Planning Task Force
Re:Looks Legit (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Looks Legit (Score:2, Funny)
This is quite different than someone like MikeRoweSoft.com; a domain registered with the guy's actual name to perform his own business.
What did he sell, softs?
Re:Looks Legit (Score:2, Funny)
Great idea, I just picked up Baghdad2018. I'm going to be rich when hell freezes over and they get the Winter Olympics.
I'm sure people laughed at the guys that registered Berlin1936 and Beijing2008 too.
Re:Looks Legit (Score:5, Funny)
no sympathy for either side (Score:3, Funny)
I've got no sympathy for either side in this one. The guy is clearly an asshat who is a hair's-breadth short of being a pure domain-squatting subhuman scum. The fact that he went out and registered a bunch of {city}{olympic-year} domains makes that clear. His only minor possible redeeming feature is that he doesn't appear to be in this for the money. But if he gets away with this crap, the next one will be!
And in this corner, weighing in at the proverbial 2000 pounds, we have the extremely offensive, litigious bastards at the IOC who deserve to lose every trademark they can for dumping all over the Special Oly^H^H^HGames, among many, many other things. If they win, it's going to be a tragedy for everyone who has a legitimate, established domain that happens to conflict with some brand-new just-imagined trademark.
I only see one way out. We have to kill everyone involved. The IOC, the Chicago bidders, the guy with the domain, ICANN, the rest of the population of Chicago, everyone who lives in a city that has or will ever bid on the Olympics, everyone with a computer, everyone with a trademark, everyone with a name...kill 'em all! It's the only way to be sure! :)
Looks 2legit 2quit (Score:3, Funny)
STOP!
you know the next line
Re:Looks Legit (Score:5, Funny)
Look... Me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds.
Re:Sandusky? (Score:3, Funny)
Pedantry on slashdot is a bit like collateral damage in war or lying in politics. It's not exactly regarded as being ok but everything is forgotten so long as you win.
Re:Looks Legit (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Looks Legit (Score:3, Funny)
What if MC Chocolate Cake is the name of my new Hip Hop alter ego?
I'd suggest McRIAA for extra media exposure.
Re:Looks Legit (Score:4, Funny)
Its Chicago, they should make him an offer that he can't refuse.
Re:Looks Legit (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Looks Legit (Score:5, Funny)
Nope. MC Hammer's lawyers would be on the case right away. They'd tell McDonalds that he is the rightful owner of the domain, and that they CAN'T TOUCH THIS!
Re:Looks Legit (Score:1, Funny)
They have "secret sauce", you use Thousand Island. Clearly 2 totally different burgers.
Re:Looks Legit (Score:2, Funny)
Then, in the course of the court trial between MC Hammer and McDonalds, things get a little heated. The McD's lawyer makes a crack about MC Hammer's pants, who then stands up and starts making threats.
Then the judge steps in to calm things down and says (hold on to your seats, here):
"Please, Hammer, don't hurt them."
Re:Looks Legit (Score:3, Funny)
I don't think that's true. My own surname is McIntosh, and all the family I know of come from around the Inverness area, in the Scottish Highlands, along with thousands of other McIntoshs.
Apple called. They want their trademark back.
Agreed! (Score:2, Funny)