Lady Gaga from an older video capture.
Lady Gaga‘s performance during Super Bowl 50 and her singing of the National Anthem was outstanding.
Some domain opportunists make the assumption that due to her fame and success she can be extorted out of $1,000,000 dollars.
That was the asking price for the domain name, LadyGagaFoundation.com.
According to a UDRP that was filed by Stefani Germanotta and Ate My Heart Inc. v. Deborah Allen, the latter attempted to sell the domain to the famous celebrity, seeking “at least 1 million dollars.”
When the Respondent was sent a cease and desist letter, they changed the content of the web site into a basic blog, berating Lady Gaga:
“Meanwhile, at some point after receiving the December 1, 2015 cease-and-desist letter, Respondent altered her website and removed the USD 1,000,000 sale offer. Instead, the Domain Name now resolves to a “blog” site featuring several articles about Lady Gaga and the Born This Way Foundation. The blog articles include: “Lady Gaga Foundation Spends More on Lawyers, Publicity and Consultants than on Charity”; “Lady Gaga’s mom defends charges that Born This Way charity spent millions on overhead and donated only $5,000”; and the like.”
Lady Gaga holds a trademark for her stage name. Robert A. Badgley, sole panelist in this WIPO UDRP, delivered a finding of “cybersquatting” in this case:
“It is equally obvious, from the sale price of USD 1,000,000 appearing at Respondent’s website before she received Complainant’s cease-and-desist letter, that Respondent sought to sell the Domain Name for a price well in excess of her out-of-pocket costs directly related to the Domain Name. This is a clear case of cybersquatting within the meaning of Policy, paragraph 4(b)(i).”
The Respondent did not reply to Complainant’s contentions.
The day after receiving a notification of Respondent Default, Respondent sent to the WIPO an email stating: “I bought this domain for my blog legally through go daddy domains. No one has the right to take it away.”
The domain was thus ordered to be transferred to the Complainant. For the full text of the UDRP click here.
This article entirely misses that Lady Gaga’s foundation is already enjoying the benefits of an exact match domain – BornThisWay.Foundation – which makes the registration in question not only in bad faith, but also woefully uninformed. Did this cybersquatter really think Lady Gaga would pay $1 million for an address that is a clear downgrade from the foundation’s current URL?
AB – Most people, Lady Gaga fans included, have no idea what gTLDs are, so the .com registration capitalized on that lack of education. If it were a downgrade, they would not pursuit it in the first place.