Ron Paul Loses WIPO Battle Over RonPaul.com Ownership
Ron Paul doesn’t own RonPaul.com, and he really wants to obtain the web property. Unfortunately for Paul, the website’s owner doesn’t want to give up the prime domain.
Paul attempted to win the RonPaul.com domain, but his petition was recently denied by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The RonPaul.com domain is run by a group of Ron Paul supporters who offered to sell him the domain for $250,000. The website’s owners then offered the domain for free to RonPaul.org. Ron Paul didn’t like those offers and instead continued to push out content via CampaignForLiberty.org.
According to WIPO, the RonPaul.com website owners have valid reasons for owning the domain. WIPO notes that Ron Paul didn’t trademark his name, and, second, the RonPaul.com website is actually providing useful information to the community of Ron Paul supporters.
WIPO also notes that RonPaul.com is not a product of cybersquatting, a practice that relies on buying up domains and sitting on them in order to essentially exhort money from other people and businesses in the future.
Ron Paul also tried to claim that RonPaul.com was engaging in “reverse domain name hijacking.”
In a final decision regarding the RonPaul.com domain filing, WIPO writes:
“Instead of accepting the Domain Name, Complainant brought this proceeding. A finding of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking seems to this Panel to be appropriate in the circumstances.”
Ron Paul’s legal representation has not yet responded to the official decision of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
On their website, the owners of RonPaul.com write:
“In his complaint, Ron Paul mischaracterized his supporters’ efforts, alleging that the website was a sham created only to sell merchandise. That claim was easily disproved by the thank-you notes the supporters had received from Ron Paul’s associates. Ron Paul also claimed that the supporters had only bought RonPaul.com so they could one day sell it to him at an exorbitant price. The evidence showed the opposite: The supporters had sacrificed everything and put five years of hard work into the website out of admiration and support of Ron Paul.”
Do you think Ron Paul should be given the rights to RonPaul.com?
