With the articles coming up fast and the comments coming even faster, this has to be the hottest topic of discussion in the domaining industry right now.

It’s so like a corporate soap in fact that I thought I’d piece together the main events and see if it makes for a half-decent script. I’d say it’s come out quite well. :)

Statutory Disclaimer: Bear in mind that the content below is purely second-hand information and assumptions/interpretations, created from the various articles and the numerous comments (including this, this and this) on the issue. It makes no implications on any party whatsoever and despite it being termed as a “true story”, only the actual people/companies know the real story and I’m not one of them.

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Auctions, Adrenalin & Arbitrations

The true story of ad.com

Starring:

Divyank Turakhia: President and Co-Founder of Directi, Divyank represents Skenzo >> The Lead Character.

Marcos Guillen: Owner of www.Ad.com since 1997. >> The Seller (or the heroine’s khadoos father à la Bollywood)

AOL: Big (deluded) Corporate that claims that they own the trademark Ad.com. >> The Villain?

Moniker: It hosts the Traffic conf. where they organize live domain name auctions. >> The Facilitator/Deal Maker

Episode 1: Background story/Flashback

Marcos Guillen decided that he wanted to sell his domain Ad.com at Traffic scheduled for September 25, 2008. The ad.com auction was announced by Moniker on September 5, 2008.

AOL, believing that it should own the rights to Ad.com, files a trademark application on September 24, 2008 – one day before the auction for ad.com is scheduled. Whether the date of filing the application is a co-incidence or not, we’ll never know.

The domain doesn’t sell because it seems that it didn’t reach its reserve price in the auction.

Episode 2: The Scene of the Auction

It’s April 2009 and Marcos Guillen decides that he wants to try selling his domain Ad.com again at Traffic scheduled for the end of April, 2009.

This time, the auction attracts considerable attention and is sold in a heated bidding war to Divyank for US$ 1.4 Million. It’s a big purchase (not that he can’t afford it), making up for the chunk of the entire auctions’ proceeds. Unsurprisingly it gets a lot of media attention and even creates 2 high-drama must watch YouTube videos, viz.

and

Despite the number of zeros in the sale amount, the sale is generally regarded as a pretty good deal and Divyank has big plans for the name.

Moniker makes a cool US$ 210,000 as commission for the auction.

Episode 3: The Twist

Its one week post the auction and before Skenzo/Divyank can pay, they gets an email from AOL stating that AOL owns the trademark ad.com. This development causes Divyank some serious concerns, to say the least. AOL looks positioned to sue the owner of ad.com, viz. Skenzo/Divyank.

In reality, it seems AOL’s claim of trademark rights to Ad.com is dubious at best. The company is struggling to get approval for the trademark with the USPTO. AOL has never owned the domain name Ad.com, but has called its Advertising.com unit Ad.com in the past. It’s unclear if everyone involved knows this. Even if they know, a lawsuit from AOL, irrespective of the result, causes unwarranted damage, not to mention the huge investment of time, effort and money.

Episode 4: Damned if they do, Super-damned if they don’t

Both Marcos Guillen and Moniker expect Skenzo/Divyank to move forward with the sale. Marcos Guillen is also considering legal action and Moniker considers joining in. For them, the sale must go through.

On the other hand, Skenzo/Divyank runs the risk of being sued by AOL, which, arguably, represents a bigger threat.

Episode 5: Damned since they didn’t

Things finally reach a breaking point and the lawsuits are about to hit the fan.

Marcos Guillen sues Skenzo and Oversee (which owns Moniker) joins in.

AOL’s already in a legal wrangle with the current owner of Advertise.com because it claims it infringes on its trademark. AOL thinks it owns every domain name that is some variation of “Advertising” and it’s willing to sue, because it can. That being said, with recent legal precedents such as that of Hotels.com, things might not be so positive after all.

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What happens next… …Stay tuned for new episodes of...

Auctions, Adrenalin & Arbitrations – The true story of ad.com

Until then, let’s just all agree that it’s a good time to be a lawyer in this industry.