Am I a Cybersquatter?
A few months ago I was contacted by a representative of RIM in regards to www.blackberry8800.com. After a couple of weeks, an agreement was made and needless to say RIM now has complete ownership of the domain.
Fastforward.
I contacted one of my favorite bloggers Russ over at BBhub to break the story because he was the first one to show interest in the domain name. Following the blackberry blog world closely, I saw that BBCool as well as RIMarkable also picked up the piece.
What’s funny is how the story morphed along the way.
After reading the articles as well as the comments, what do you think? Am I a cybersquatter?
4 facts…
a. The site was always fowarded to discoverblackerry.com, as it is now.
b. RIM didn’t threaten to sue me. All conversations were always very pleasant.
c. As a huge blackberry supporter, the site would have never been used for malicious intent. It most likely would have turned into a blog or a forum.
d. The only thing I’ve gotten so far is 15 minutes of internet fame on three of my favorite blogs. How cool.
Technorati Tags: blackberry, domain, cybersquatter
January 12th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Your story was a good one. I have a feeling you weren’t a cybersquatter, but why would you invest in the domain just to direct it to BlackBerry? Just to support RIM and go that extra mile? If that’s the case, that’s incredible and I hope you got a free 8800 out of the deal. Even if this isn’t the case, good on you for picking up RIM’s slack and getting the domain before someone else.
Regards,
Steve
editor. blackberrycool.com
January 12th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Hey Steve,
Thanks for the feedback!
I’m certainly looking forward to the release of this unit and it made sense being in the domain business to go ahead and snatch it up… but not for ill intent. The lust for the domain came way before the concept so forwarding it to blackberry was the best solution at the time. I never guessed that the domain would cause such a curious stir. (usually an internet marketer’s dream)
My income comes from non-corporate domains. Cybersquatting and spending wasteful time getting sued by power lawyers will never be something I’ll get into.
Keep up the great stuff you’re doing at BBCool!
January 31st, 2007 at 3:55 pm
As a domainer myself, I’ve wondered the same. I think the crucial determining factor is your personal gain from the registration of the domain. In this case, it sounds as if you’ve never made a dime from the domain purchase and handed it over to RIM. If that’s the case, I think you’ve escaped the “cybersquatter” title. If you had it parked and were making a killing from the domain parking or held out for a large check from RIM, you would have had to color yourself guilty on this one.
FYI, if you’re interested in the secondary market at all, check out my recent post about a bunch of domains I’m dumping for $75 each.
January 31st, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Also… After reading your reply above, I thought I’d tell you about one i registered just to see if I could get one of those evil power-attorney letters. I registered Mycrosoft.net a long time ago and held it for a couple years, but Microsoft never noticed, so I ended up letting it drop. I would have handed the domain over with no complaints, but I really wanted the letter.
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Good blog! Fank you.