What domain not to register #1

I was going through the Namejet backorders today and sorted domains by bidders. I saw that someone has backordered the domain gotmilks.info that is dropping in 2 days. So this gave me the idea of this post. Nobody except the California Milk Processor Board should register this domain. The California Milk Processor Board is a nonprofit marketing board funded by California dairy processors, and administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, most famous for its Got Milk? advertising campaign.

The California Milk Processor Board has 12 live trade marks registered (plus 4 that are not yet registered) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for:
GOT MILK?
GOT CHOCOLATE MILK?
GOT BREASTMILK?
GOT LICUADOS?
They even have 2 registered trademarks in the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), or OHIM.

The California Milk Processor Board has filed 29 UDRP complaints with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and 1 complaint with the National Arbitration Forum (NAF). The Board has won 18 of the cases while another 7 have been terminated probably because the Respondents gave the domain(s) to the Board before a decision was made. 3 of the complaints were denied while 2 of the cases are still active. So it is apparent that they are vigilant and actively enforcing their trademark rights.

They own several domain names including:
gotmilk.com
gotmilk.net
gotmilk.org
gotmilk.info
gotmilk.biz (won in WIPO)
gotmilk.us
gotmilk.me
gotmilk.co
gotmilk.tv
gotmilk.xxx displays this message as it is reserved by ICM Registry LLC: This domain has been reserved from registration.

Gotmilks.info was registered on 2010 and it’s owner let it expire of a reason. Maybe after a C&D letter. The Board owns the domain names gotmilks.com and gotmilks.net. The California Milk Processor Board filed a UDRP complaint at WIPO last year for the domain gotmilks.com and the case was terminated probably after the owner surrendered the domain to the Board.

Even from a cybersquatter’s point of view it doesn’t make any sense. Why pay $69 for gotmilks.info when the .org is free and available to register? Why get what seems to be a misspelling of the famous gotmilk.com domain in .info that will hardly get any type-in traffic? Why register a domain that nobody will ever want to buy?

So who would register gotmilks.info and why? If you do you are bound to get a C&D, a UDRP or even be sued. Unless it is the Board that has made the backorder but I highly doubt it. We will soon find out.

Update:
The domain name gotmilks.info dropped and it was caught by Snapnames. It seems that it is the California Milk Processor Board that registered the domain as whois shows Com Laude as the registrant. Com Laude is a domain name management company that registers, maintains and renews domain names for companies and law firms. Com Laude is also a domain name registrar. Many of the domain names won by the Board in UDRP are registered with Com Laude:
gotmilkband.com
egotmilk.com
1800gotmilk.net
yougotmilkmoney.com
1855gotmilk.com
momgotmilk.com

So it is a good thing that it was probably not a domainer that had the backorder at Namejet and the domain was not registered by a domainer.

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

2 comments

  1. This stuff happens almost everyday. TM domains are dropping and getting caught by people. Why? No idea. People are either bored and want to spice up their lives by getting hit with UDRP or just plain stupid.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.