Carlos Slim Helú Saves $55 Million (2nd Richest Man On 2008 Forbes List)
Posted on | January 15, 2009 | 4 Comments
Why does it matter that Carlos Slim Helú saved $55,000,000? It’s because some Indonessian dude threatened to forward his name with “.com” after it, (CarlosSlimHelu.com), to a hardcore porn site. What does the billionaire do instead? He sued the cyber-squatter (This is one of those times where I feel “WIPO” actually does something smart).
Ahmad Rusli of Jakarta, the “original” registrant of CarlosSlimHelu.com, told the courts that he only said that he’d forward the name to porn to get the attention of Helu that his name was available for purchase–at $55,000,000. What an excuse, buddy. Seriously… clear violation of cyber-squatting and trying to take advantage of the “squatted”. I bet this was an easy one with the panel–CLEARLY has “BAD FAITH” written all over it.
Respondent:
The Respondent also highlighted that he “feel[s] un-appreciated to this condition” and “the Respondent feel un-respected either[sic]” and also the redirection to a pornographic site was just a way another “method” to attract the Complainant’s attention.
According to the Respondent, in light of the addition of the word “Helu”, the Domain Name is not similar to the CARLOS SLIM trademark and “the confusions will not happen”.
The Respondent underlines that the Domain Name has never been used “in connection with goods or services marketing”. Commenting the redirection to the adult web site, the Respondent stated that “the RedTube.com has nothing valuable thing. The Claimant should consider this good-faith [sic].”
LOL. I needed a good laugh!
Well, needless to say: Carlos got his “name” back. CarlosSlimHelu.com now forwards to CarlosSlim.com, which is probably his originally created website. I did notice his last name is “Helú”, which means he could register his IDN as well.
For all the foregoing reasons, in accordance with paragraphs 4(i) of the Policy and 15 of the Rules, the Panel orders that the domain name, be transferred to the Complainant.
Ah well! For those that try to register names in bad faith and try to get millions out of it by threatning to forward the domain to a porn site, think twice! Hell, just think and don’t buy the name at all (unless it’s an obvious generic)!
You can view the details of the CarlosSlimHelu.com domain dispute here.
Tags: carlos slim > carlos slim helu > carlosslimhelu.com > cyber squatters > cyber squatting
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4 Responses to “Carlos Slim Helú Saves $55 Million (2nd Richest Man On 2008 Forbes List)”
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January 16th, 2009 @ 3:04 pm
Wow, not smart.
Not smart at all.
He should register the IDN to protect from phishing if for no other reason.
January 16th, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
Extremely, extremely stupid thing to do on his part.
I might e-mail and let them know it is available…
January 17th, 2009 @ 8:01 pm
Hey Sammy, Great info. but this Rusli of Jakarta must of thought this is the way one works to make money. If he was expecting to really (could we call it blackmail in a way?)get money out of this business man he was really in for a rude awakening wasn’t he? It makes you wonder if this is how this kid (wonder how old this guy is)thinks things work in the world today. Can’t say he’ll ever get to far if this is his work ethic. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Good post.
January 18th, 2009 @ 12:45 am
I definitely agree with the “work ethic” comment. The only thing: there are MANY people like this. I just don’t think they are stupid enough to ask for $55million!