OT: Partypoker owns me

[Jason Strasser]

So Josh, the kid who got second in Aruba, IMs me:

"Why does partypoker own jasonstrasser.com?"

I'm like, huh?

I type it in, and it links to Partypoker. What the! Someone bought this domain name and linked it to party? So I did some research:

The data contained in Go Daddy Software, Inc.'s WhoIs database,
while believed by the company to be reliable, is provided "as is"
with no guarantee or warranties regarding its accuracy. This
information is provided for the sole purpose of assisting you
in obtaining information about domain name registration records.
Any use of this data for any other purpose is expressly forbidden without the prior written
permission of Go Daddy Software, Inc. By submitting an inquiry,
you agree to these terms of usage and limitations of warranty. In particular,
you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible,
dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any
purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and
and solicitations of any kind, including spam. You further agree
not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic
processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose,
including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.

Please note: the registrant of the domain name is specified
in the "registrant" field. In most cases, Go Daddy Software, Inc.
is not the registrant of domain names listed in this database.


Registrant:
Domain Guy
11693 San Vicente Blvd 116
Los Angeles, California 90049
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: JASONSTRASSER.COM
Created on: 31-Jul-05
Expires on: 31-Jul-06
Last Updated on: 07-Nov-05

Administrative Contact:
Guy, Domain ezdeek@yahoo.com
11693 San Vicente Blvd 116
Los Angeles, California 90049
United States
3108200316 Fax --
Technical Contact:
Guy, Domain ezdeek@yahoo.com
11693 San Vicente Blvd 116
Los Angeles, California 90049
United States
3108200316 Fax --

Domain servers in listed order:
PARK15.SECURESERVER.NET
PARK16.SECURESERVER.NET


This is public information. What the hell is going on? This is hilarious. This has to be some affiliate, right? And why on earth jasonstrasser.com?

-Jason

[Exitonly]

lol. That is awesome.

And yea it's an affilliate, it has their 'code' in the URL..

http://www.partypoker.com/index.htm?wm=2676723

You could get party to tell you who that is.

[Jason Strasser]

Exit, I appoint you as the investigator!

[Exitonly]

heh, after a thorough investigation (and perhaps re-reading your post) i've noticed that contacting party isn't necesary to find out who it is, beecause .. you already said it.

but whoever this guuy is.. he's also looking for someone to write him a screenplay:

" Park Place Management

11693 San Vicente Blvd, #116
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Please submit a query letter if you have:

A film or screenwriting degree.
A major writing award.

OR

A documented past or present client relationship with a Literary Agent or Manager.

All genres are welcome. "

[Jason Strasser]

Great work, I need more info though.

Come on, someone out there has to be able to find out more about this champ. Why would he buy jasonstrasser.com? Is he linking to it from anywhere?

-Jason

[sirio11]

My name www.davidcossio.com (http://www.davidcossio.com) is also taken by the same affiliate

Domain Guy

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: DAVIDCOSSIO.COM

Domain servers in listed order:
PARK15.SECURESERVER.NET
PARK16.SECURESERVER.NET

[Jason Strasser]

Wow, a scandal! Who else!? El Diablo, speak up.

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, a scandal! Who else!? El Diablo, speak up.

[/ QUOTE ]


Uhhh... I am facing a similar situation, involving the same "Guy, Domain ezdeek@yahoo.com". The information I got from "Register.com" is similar to what Jason Strasser recounts above, however it says:

"Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.FABULOUS.COM
NS1.FABULOUS.COM"

Tiffany

[bawcerelli]

i seriously doubt party is the one who registered any of these domains. anyhow, i remember reading about some guy who registered venusandserenawillams.com, then was sued by the two sisters and got the domain switched to their control. nobody here is as famous as those two girls, but i'm sure if you wanted to, you could gain control of those domains.

[ChrisW]

If you're willing to pay the yearly maintenance costs, you're almost certainly entitled to ownership of the site which bears your name. The 1999 Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act was basically written to deal with scenarios like these.

[woodguy]

Nice. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

Next grainy pictures of you will appear on the cover of the "World Weekly News" with the headline :
"JASON STRASSER - THE TRUE STORY: I REALLY DON'T PLAY POKER, MY DEAD GREAT=GRANDFATHER'S GHOST TELLS ME WHAT TO DO"

Welcome to fame.

Regards,
Woodguy

[Chief911]

If someone is using a domain name that is your name, and you can prove they are attempting to capitalize on your "fame" you have a good case to take to icann to have the squatter have to give you the domain.

What he has done is a common practice. Domains are so cheap, that only one in 15 or 20 has to remotely pay off for this to be worth it.

Nick

I would also advise that you review the Party Poker affilliate guidelines. I'm fairly certain that this goes against Party's affiliate rules and may invalidate any claims this person has to benefits that derived from questionable practices. At the very least, I would file a complaint with Party's affiliate program based on this information and see where that leads.

People shouldn't be able to capitalize on your fame for their own financial benefits.

[davehwm]

[ QUOTE ]
People shouldn't be able to capitalize on your fame for their own financial benefits.

[/ QUOTE ]

But they're smart to at least give it a shot.

[Lloyd]

Yikes. Like others have said, you (and the others) certainly have a strong (I would say even easy) case against this outfit and should prevail in regaining your identity. There's no question that the domain was registered in an attempt to profit off of your visibility. But I would recommend doing something about this quickly. Waiting too long could perhaps be considered acquiescing and work against you.

You can read a brief article about your options here. (http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/2000-all/kubiszyn-2000-02-all.html) There are a couple of legal remedies available including a process through the domain registration people (ICANN) or through federal court where you could receive damages. And certainly whatever profits they have made off of your name could be up for grabs. The easiest option is just through ICANN but you'll have to pay about $1,000 and will receive nothing but the name in return. The first step, of course, would be to hire a lawyer to write them a letter claiming your right under the law, demanding that they transfer the name to you immediately or face whatever remedies are available. The few of you affected could just share the costs and probably take care of this quickly.

Good luck.

[Lloyd]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
People shouldn't be able to capitalize on your fame for their own financial benefits.

[/ QUOTE ]

But they're smart to at least give it a shot.

[/ QUOTE ]
No, not so much. At least when it's a clear violation of the law and subject to penalities of $100,000 and up.

[EverettKings]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
People shouldn't be able to capitalize on your fame for their own financial benefits.

[/ QUOTE ]

But they're smart to at least give it a shot.

[/ QUOTE ]
No, not so much. At least when it's a clear violation of the law and subject to penalities of $100,000 and up.

[/ QUOTE ]

So if someone wanted to buy your domain name and make a site about how much you suck, why cant they again?

Correct me if I'm wrong but this seems to only apply to TRADEMARKED names.

Everett

[IHateKeithSmart]

[ QUOTE ]

Correct me if I'm wrong but this seems to only apply to TRADEMARKED names.


[/ QUOTE ]

The 1999 anticybersquatting act actually applies to identical/similar use of a distinctive mark whether or not its registered. This includes names. Sting and Madonna have had issues with domains related to their names.

[KneeCo]

Steve Dannenmann
Tex Barch
and all the other FTists I tried take me to party poker.
Even www.JoeHachem.com (http://www.JoeHachem.com) goes there (Lee is going to be pissed!)

[Lloyd]

Personal names are obviously trickier to deal with then unique corporate names. But in this case, given the somewhat public recognition of the names involved and their obvious connection to poker, this company has clearly infringed upon their rights. Interestingly, I believe if there was no redirect to Party at all it would be tough (and perhaps impossible) to get the name back. With that said if I were any of these people I would try to capture some type of information that proves these names link to the affiliate at Party.

[ QUOTE ]
lol. That is awesome.

And yea it's an affilliate, it has their 'code' in the URL..

http://www.partypoker.com/index.htm?wm=2676723

You could get party to tell you who that is.

[/ QUOTE ]

it seems they're connected to this site:
http://lovefreegames.aavalue.com/processflow.cfm

anybody else up for some Worm Galore or Egyptris? i've been known to play some mean Egyptris

-disco

[Dave D]

[ QUOTE ]
Personal names are obviously trickier to deal with then unique corporate names. But in this case, given the somewhat public recognition of the names involved and their obvious connection to poker, this company has clearly infringed upon their rights. Interestingly, I believe if there was no redirect to Party at all it would be tough (and perhaps impossible) to get the name back. With that said if I were any of these people I would try to capture some type of information that proves these names link to the affiliate at Party.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, and even though party is a bunch of idiots, couldn't you claim that any revenue generated by that affiliate under that tracker is rightfully yours and you should have claim to at least some of it. That's the whole intent of that law anyway. If some dude got a bunch of people to sign up using your name, I don't see how you don't have a right to claim at least some of that money.

But party is a bunch of idiots so they probably couldn't understand what you're talking about after the word "money".

[Lloyd]

You wouldn't have a claim against Party, but you could certainly make one against the squatter. Of course, that's an expensive proposition and the easiest thing to do is just have an attorney send a letter on behalf of all of these people saying to sign this transfer form or deal with the consequences under the law. I could certainly see Party revoking their affiliate agreement though.

[tdarko]

...but in a different way. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
...but in a different way. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I was going to say that about Poker Stars. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

And shockingly, they didn't bother buying up www.scottarmstrong.com (http://www.scottarmstrong.com)! Those bastards, how dare they!

[Dave D]

[ QUOTE ]
You wouldn't have a claim against Party, but you could certainly make one against the squatter. Of course, that's an expensive proposition and the easiest thing to do is just have an attorney send a letter on behalf of all of these people saying to sign this transfer form or deal with the consequences under the law. I could certainly see Party revoking their affiliate agreement though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I wasn't thinking of it in a court sense as much of a "party pays the affiliate", so party should pay me sense.