Trainer Heidi Powell loses cybersquatting claim (still tries to steal the domain HeidiPowell.com)

One Heidi Powell, a trainer, is trying to steal the domain name HeidiPowell.com from another Heidi Powell that has had it and have been using it since 2005.

You may have heard this story before. The trainer (that is using the .net domain) couldn’t accept that the other Heidi Powell would not sell her the .com so she filed a cybersquatting claim. As one would expect she lost but that didn’t stop her.

She is now trying to steal the domain name through bankruptcy court offering the trustee $20,000 to buy the domain name.

Trainer Heidi Powell claims to be “a trainer and transformation specialist on ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss”. Shame on you trainer Heidi Powell!!!

So the saga continues. Grandma Heidi is running a fundraiser here and has managed to raise $1,140 to pay a small portion of the legal fees.

Here is the update from yesterday as given by Heidi Powell, the current and lawful owner of HeidiPowell.com:

Feb. 23, 2017 UPDATE
There is some good news to report and some upsetting news.

The good news is that last night the Arizona federal court dismissed with prejudice Arizona Heidi’s cybersquatting claims against us, which means that they cannot be asserted again in the future. This is the outcome we expected to happen within the first few weeks after she filed the suit against us.  I have to say, it’s been an exhausting and emotional seven months trying to make this happen.  We are very relieved that it’s over.

The bad news is, we are having to continue fighting for my name as Arizona Heidi is continuing the attempt to steal it though the bankruptcy court.  As you know she caused our released bankruptcy from 2012 to be reopened by offering the trustee $10,000 if he would re-open it, take my name and sell it to her.

After attending the first bankruptcy hearing we had great news that the trustee had filed a motion with the court and we would be retaining my name. That motion is public & can be looked up (dated Dec. 30th) …in a nutshell the trustee said  “it is unclear whether the domain name is an asset of the bankruptcy estate.  It is unclear whether Debtors properly claimed the exemption in the domain name”.  Even so, we filed an amended schedule and he allowed us to use $7,953 of unclaimed exemptions and make up the difference (of the $10,000) by giving him $2,047, the so called non-exempt portion.  I delivered the money to our attorney’s office that day and we celebrated this the next day on New Years Eve.

The next hearing which we believed would sign & seal that motion was set for Jan. 25th.  Sometime between Dec. 30th and Jan. 13th, on finding out the trustee was not selling her the name, Arizona Heidi’s attorney, called the trustee and said she would now pay him $20,000 instead of $10,000.  The trustee then moved the next hearing date to March 11th to give himself time.  The  bad news happened yesterday as the trustee has yet again changed his mind by striking his own motion allowing us to keep my name and has filed a new motion saying he is now selling it to Arizona Heidi instead, for $20,000 this time.

My continued ownership of the domain name heidipowell.com, which is my name, I AM Heidi Powell,  will come down to the bankruptcy court’s ruling.

We thank all of you who have supported and are still supporting us with kind words, prayers and donations.  We have been able to apply $1,042.77 of what’s been donated so far to our bill with Tom Lester and are very grateful for this.  We are still seeking monetary help as there remains a very large balance and that continues to grow until we no longer need to be defended.

**************************************************

My name is Heidi Powell and has been so since my marriage to Kent Powell in 1979.  In 2005 my husband gave me the http://www.HeidiPowell.com domain name as an anniversary present, to use as my email address.

Another “Heidi Powell,” who didn’t become “Heidi Powell” until a few years ago, has tried to buy my domain name, several times over the last few years.  Each time she was told the same thing “no the domain isn’t for sale”.  When she was unable to purchase the domain she filed a cybersquatting lawsuit against us, making false claims regarding my usage of my name.

The cybersquatting claim has no merit and we believe the suit was filed as a way to bully and intimidate us into transferring ownership of my name to her, in order to avoid legal action.  The action has a few names “Reverse Cybersquatting” or “Domain Name Hijacking”.

We are being defended in the cybersquatting case pro bono by David Weslow and Ari Meltzer of the “Wiley Rein Law Firm” of Washington DC.  These are wonder people who care about justice and the rights of domain owners.  The case is still in litigation.

It is bad enough that she would sue us under baseless claims, trying to bully me into giving it to her but what happened next is unconscionable!  Before the cybersquatting case has even been decided, now she is attempting to steal it by taking advantage of a 2012 misfortune of ours, trying to use our old bankruptcy as a way to take the domain name.  I’m afraid to ask what she will do next.

Her mean spirited and unjust actions have created a negative impact on our financial situation and will continue as long as this goes on.  Although Wiley Rein is standing up for us pro bono, meaning we do not have to pay the tens of thousands of dollars their defense is costing, we now have acquired the ongoing cost of fighting her actions in the bankruptcy court, here in Washington State.   We are in need of funds now to pay our bankruptcy attorney’s fees as well as court fees arising from the case.

Any amount of money donated that is over and beyond what we need to cover our bankruptcy costs and travel expenses to the Arizona court, will be donated to the ICA “Internet Commerce Association”, a non-profit advocating for the rights and interests of domain name owners and related service providers. http://www.internetcommerce.org/