Interesting Issues about Gamecube.com

[JoeKing]

I was browsing through Standard Internet's forum tonight and I ran across somthing interesting in this thread.

Apparently some lucky guy registered gamecube.com 8 months before nintendo annouced the name of their new console GameCube. If you look at the site right now, you just see a blind advertising link.

Here's an interview done with the url owner.
http://www.maxoegames.com/alire/interviews/smoovekidd_eng.shtml

With a little digging one can come accross http://www.gamecube.com/main.php where it seems Chris Bayiokos (owner of url) is planning to launch a website about the GameCube.

Now here's where it gets interesting. Apparently the forums in his prelaunch website are active. And looking at this thread it seems as though he's angered the behemoth Nontendo, and the companies pulling the plug on the site.

Here's his post just incase the forum/site goes down.



<< hey gamecube.com team, sorry for not explaining whats going on earlier. Saturday my lawyer overnighted a letter he was faxed from Nintendo, they mean business. They refuse to even look at the site whatsoever, they really dont want us to launch and I'm afraid I wont only be taken to court for the name but sued as well. At first they gave me the impression that I had one chance to do it right but if they recieved complaints they would shut me down, which i thought was pretty fair considering the expectations I had for this site and the fans. But when I told them I was going to launch that was it, their whole nice friendly attitude changed in an instant. I totally respect their concerns for the possible confusion of surfers even though the site has a disclaimer and terms and conditions page. So for now it looks like were not going to launch, and I'm not sure about the future. Tomorrow I will speak with my lawyer and maybe Nintendo's and hopefully we come to some agreement. I would also like to apologize to you guys, the staff of gamecube.com, I feel especially bad knowing I let you guys down after I pumped you up so much. I was really looking forward to launching this site too, and now it seems we cant. Also, in case you were wondering, I have the enter button on the front page to help pay for hosting fees. Either way though, I still want to be friends with you guys even if the site doesnt work out, and I promise to keep you all posted as soon as I know what we can do. thanks for everything, Chris Bayiokos PS, for those of you who dont know, I bought the name gamecube.com in January of 2000 way before Nintendo even thought of the name Gamecube. So incase anyone thought I was a cybersquatter or domain hacker or whatever else, hopefully now thats cleared up. >>





So I wonder how this is going to go down, couldn't he argue that he cmae up with the name months before Nintendo, so shouldn't he own rights to the name? How does this whole trademarking thing work anyway? Isn't it if you thought up the name first and have proof the name is yours? and if true wouldn't the url gamecube.com be enough proof?

And if this a repost, well crap

 

[Looney]

It's not like he's one of those cybersquatters that buy names to only sell them back to the companies for a profit. He's had this before the GC was even announced. I say he keeps it, and if he wants to sell it to Nintendo, sell it to them for a huge sum.

Unfortunately, unless a non-profit organization helps him, he might not even be able to defend himself.

 

[Kelvrick]

<< It's not like he's one of those cybersquatters that buy names to only sell them back to the companies for a profit. He's had this before the GC was even announced. I say he keeps it, and if he wants to sell it to Nintendo, sell it to them for a huge sum.

Unfortunately, unless a non-profit organization helps him, he might not even be able to defend himself. >>


Wasn't there something similar with an english girl with a harry potter site? Too bad he isn't a little girl so the press will be on his side. I say let him keep his site though, screw nintendo over.

 

[Mitzi]

At the end of the day I guess it comes down the trade marks - Nintendo own GameCube (I guess) and this guy doesn't - I cannot see how he could win a court case.

I'd say sell it to highest bidder (Nintendo included) and walk before it turns into a battle he cannot win - at least this way he'll make some money.

 

[VirusDub]

<< Wasn't there something similar with an english girl with a harry potter site? >>

Yeah, a little girl (British, IIRC) registered a Harry Potter domain, and in the process pissed off Warner Brothers (who owns the rights to the name). They were getting right mad about it, but the press got all up in their face. Maybe the same thing will happen with this case, but I doubt it.

 

[Nefrodite]

and people bitch about microsoft being evil;P nintendo is just as bad

 

[MikeO]

<< Should the webmaster be able to keep Gamecube.com? >>



In my opinion, yes. He did register it 8 months before Nintendo's announcement. However, if Nintendo would be interested in buying, I would sell without shadow of a doubt.

 

[Aenygma]

F the N

 

[millsy]

definitely sell... he could make a lot of money.
tell them the price you want and wait for them to bend over

 

[CanOWorms]

He's probably going to lose it I used to read Yahoo! news on domain names, and it was pathetic.. celebrities suing to have their domain name which was owned by someone of the same name, etc. It seemed that the underdog always lost!

 

[hevnsnt]

The underdog doesn't ALWAYS lose

see: http://www.nissan.com/

 

[Sugadaddy]

I'd get a good lawyer, and he'll probably make nice money. If Nintendo is acting like this, it's because they want to scare him...

 

[crystal]

celebrities suing to have their domain name which was owned by someone of the same name, etc. It seemed that the underdog always lost!

That is one thing I don't understand, are they the only one in the world with that name?

 

[rudder]

I am sure the are some other similar cases that have already been heard. I remember hearing about the owner of porsche.com getting sued and having to turn over the name to the Porsche company. In this case, however, the kid registered the name before the was even a gamecube. To me it seems it would all boil down to when the domain was registered and when the term "gamecube" was trademarked and released to the public by nintendo. I don't think they can do jack about this one. They do however have virtually unlimited ability to sue the kid into submission. Even if they know they can't win, they know the person cannot afford any type of defense.

 

[JoeKing]

how does trademarking work exactly? Does someone have to go through a legal process? And if they do, wouldn't they have checked to see if the domain gamecube.com was taken? And since they already knew it was taken I wonder what Nintendo's plans were concerning this high profile url.