Marc Randazza v. Crystal Cox, Round 1

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A while back, I advised you to buy yourname.com so someone else doesn’t. Case in point: when Marc Randazza got in extortionist blogger Crystal Cox’s way, that’s what she did. And the domains of his wife and child. Then, she posted all sorts of horrible stuff. And then, she offered to “fix” Randazza’s online reputation — for a fee, of course.

Randazza wants his name back, so he brought a WIPO arbitration to get it back. And he just won. The arbitrator called Cox’s actions “an artifice intended to extort funds from the Complainant and thus a pretext for a rather egregious variant of cybersquatting.” “Extort” seems like exactly the right word. Actually, maybe not strong enough.

What is somewhat surprising is that Cox has won similar arbitrations in the past. I’ve written before about Randazza’s excellent legal writing. Maybe Cox finally screwed with the wrong lawyer.

I still think it’s a good idea to register your own domain name, but if someone gets there first, and tries to use it against you, it’s nice to know you have recourse.

UPDATE: Looks like Randazza is going after the other domain names, as well (pdf), and is looking for some serious damages.

Sam Glover has been writing about law practice technology, management, marketing, and other stuff on Lawyerist since 2007. He consults on appeals and motion practice in his solo practice. When he isn't blogging or lawyering, Sam drinks espresso and plays with fountain pens.