When Taylor Ragg made some public postings with the intention to harass an undocumented student in Transylvania University he never thought he would be the trolled at the end.
There is a website under his name called taylorragg.com but Taylor himself did not create it. The website is intended to harass Taylor and embarrass him.
ICANN, a global non-profit organization, controls all the information about web domains and outsources the registration of websites domain names. What can a trolled troll do? Is it free speech or violation of privacy and ownership of your own brand?
It is illegal to register a web domain under someone’s personal name without their consent. Ragg’s rights are protected by the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and a number of other statutes. Even if Ragg’s name is not registered as a trademark under federal law he can argue that it is well known to the public and that it represents him, therefore he should be the only one that can control it.
Ragg’s options include filing a lawsuit against those who created the web site under his name and ask the violators to compensate him for any damages which Ragg could have experienced. An alternative to filing a potentially expensive lawsuit is to file a complaint under ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). The UDRP is less costly and takes a shorter amount of time, around forty-five days, to be resolved unlike lawsuits which can last up to a year or more. With UDRP, you cannot recover any damages only the domain name the website is under. Another advantage is that URDP can be done online, in comparison to a formal lawsuit that requires physical presence in a court room. Contact an attorney if you think somebody is using a domain name that you believe belongs to you. Domain name , company name and federal trademark registrations are key elements of your strategy to protect your business assets.
Thank you Bhavini Mistry for your contribution with this article.
There is a website under his name called taylorragg.com but Taylor himself did not create it. The website is intended to harass Taylor and embarrass him.
ICANN, a global non-profit organization, controls all the information about web domains and outsources the registration of websites domain names. What can a trolled troll do? Is it free speech or violation of privacy and ownership of your own brand?
It is illegal to register a web domain under someone’s personal name without their consent. Ragg’s rights are protected by the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and a number of other statutes. Even if Ragg’s name is not registered as a trademark under federal law he can argue that it is well known to the public and that it represents him, therefore he should be the only one that can control it.
Ragg’s options include filing a lawsuit against those who created the web site under his name and ask the violators to compensate him for any damages which Ragg could have experienced. An alternative to filing a potentially expensive lawsuit is to file a complaint under ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). The UDRP is less costly and takes a shorter amount of time, around forty-five days, to be resolved unlike lawsuits which can last up to a year or more. With UDRP, you cannot recover any damages only the domain name the website is under. Another advantage is that URDP can be done online, in comparison to a formal lawsuit that requires physical presence in a court room. Contact an attorney if you think somebody is using a domain name that you believe belongs to you. Domain name , company name and federal trademark registrations are key elements of your strategy to protect your business assets.
Thank you Bhavini Mistry for your contribution with this article.