4 ms·

How to Steal a Domain

19 points by sytelus 4y ago

atlgator 4y ago
Can you sue Binance in a US court?
ftyhbhyjnjk 4y ago
Can't you file harassment case against Binance for same? Why just defend yourself? Attack them back so they should fear before using similar tactic(s) again.
Doyce 4y ago
Is he a friend or at least someone you can communicate with? I ask because I have zero issue with contributing to his Canadian Legal Team fund. He doesn't have to make the court appearance so long as his lawyer answers for him.
notadev 4y ago
He tried to hide the domain name, but leaked it mid thread. He bought binance.ca to squat and wait for a big payout. When he was unreasonable they sued in Canada because it’s .ca.
- SahAssar 4y ago
  He bought it on 2017-10-27, binance was launched on 2017-07-14 (and for example binance.com was registered on 2017-04-01). I think it's fairly reasonable to assume that he bought it because of the binance launch considering the timeline, his interest in crypto and that the term binance has basically 0 mentions on for example google trends before 2017.
MerelyMortal 4y ago
This is the second time I've read on HN about a company reaching out to someone to offer to buy a domain name, offering an unreasonably-low (disingenuous) offer, and then using that exchange as evidence that the domain owner is attempting to extort the company. Moral of the story: Don't entertain offers to sell unless that was your real intention all along.
kavrick 4y ago
I have dealt with a lot of domain squatters and see a pretty common pattern here. 1. Regardless of when it was purchased, there is always a "project" behind it that has never materialized. 2. There will be some dated fragments of said "project" like a Internet Archive page showing it was once going to be something but it usually never was anything but a ploy to avoid looking like a squatter. UDRP rules are pretty clear about bad faith registrations and most country TLD's (including CIRA, the .ca domain) use the UDRP to solve disputes. If you own a domain, regardless of when it was registered, each year you renew you are 're-signing' under the terms of the UDRP. It should be obvious to the registrant, that the domain will cause confusion with a clearly held trademark. If you are in Crypto, you know Binance. Them making an offer and someone countering demonstrates they are willing to sell the domain. Filing a UDRP dispute by the trademark holder will cost approx $5k+ USD. They made an offer worth roughly that to avoid a lengthy battle, but if the registrant won't go for it and demands a ridiculously high price for something they clearly aren't using, it's cheaper to just hire a firm and just go through the UDRP process to seize the domain. Many companies don't do that, but it's an option. I was involved in something similar where we just paid the squatter $7k vs. going through the UDRP process. It sucked, but it was definitely faster and less complicated. When it's all over, I predict taking the $6500 they offered will have been easier and less expensive for this individual. Their out of pocket costs are in the (hundreds) so that could have been a tidy profit.
- nikolay 4y ago
  $6,500 was a good price, I agree.
amingilani 4y ago
At what point did he leak the domain name? How does everyone know it's binance.ca?
- LocalH 4y ago
  He forgot to redact it in one of the screenshots

19 points by sytelus 4y ago

Can you sue Binance in a US court?

Can't you file harassment case against Binance for same? Why just defend yourself? Attack them back so they should fear before using similar tactic(s) again.

Doyce 4y ago

Is he a friend or at least someone you can communicate with? I ask because I have zero issue with contributing to his Canadian Legal Team fund. He doesn't have to make the court appearance so long as his lawyer answers for him.

notadev 4y ago

He tried to hide the domain name, but leaked it mid thread. He bought binance.ca to squat and wait for a big payout. When he was unreasonable they sued in Canada because it’s .ca.

SahAssar 4y ago
He bought it on 2017-10-27, binance was launched on 2017-07-14 (and for example binance.com was registered on 2017-04-01). I think it's fairly reasonable to assume that he bought it because of the binance launch considering the timeline, his interest in crypto and that the term binance has basically 0 mentions on for example google trends before 2017.

MerelyMortal 4y ago

This is the second time I've read on HN about a company reaching out to someone to offer to buy a domain name, offering an unreasonably-low (disingenuous) offer, and then using that exchange as evidence that the domain owner is attempting to extort the company. Moral of the story: Don't entertain offers to sell unless that was your real intention all along.

kavrick 4y ago

I have dealt with a lot of domain squatters and see a pretty common pattern here. 1. Regardless of when it was purchased, there is always a "project" behind it that has never materialized. 2. There will be some dated fragments of said "project" like a Internet Archive page showing it was once going to be something but it usually never was anything but a ploy to avoid looking like a squatter. UDRP rules are pretty clear about bad faith registrations and most country TLD's (including CIRA, the .ca domain) use the UDRP to solve disputes. If you own a domain, regardless of when it was registered, each year you renew you are 're-signing' under the terms of the UDRP. It should be obvious to the registrant, that the domain will cause confusion with a clearly held trademark. If you are in Crypto, you know Binance. Them making an offer and someone countering demonstrates they are willing to sell the domain. Filing a UDRP dispute by the trademark holder will cost approx $5k+ USD. They made an offer worth roughly that to avoid a lengthy battle, but if the registrant won't go for it and demands a ridiculously high price for something they clearly aren't using, it's cheaper to just hire a firm and just go through the UDRP process to seize the domain. Many companies don't do that, but it's an option. I was involved in something similar where we just paid the squatter $7k vs. going through the UDRP process. It sucked, but it was definitely faster and less complicated. When it's all over, I predict taking the $6500 they offered will have been easier and less expensive for this individual. Their out of pocket costs are in the (hundreds) so that could have been a tidy profit.

nikolay 4y ago
$6,500 was a good price, I agree.

amingilani 4y ago

At what point did he leak the domain name? How does everyone know it's binance.ca?

LocalH 4y ago
He forgot to redact it in one of the screenshots