In an interesting twist to the cyberquatting wranglings I thought you may want to know what the results are once WIPO brands you or your company as a cyberquatter.
In this instance, a company accused of cybersquatting [yet no proof exist] the state of Oregon delivers 'bill' web domain name register for selling stock without the proper license so the state alleges.
The local news agency that brought the story in regard to acusations of cybersquatting is "The Columbian" found online at
What's new: The state of Oregon alleges Schnauber owes $2.48 million for selling interest in the company without a proper license.
What's next: Schnauber intends to fight the allegations.
Local Web Entrepreneur in Hot Water
Oregon alleges shares of Zipee.com were sold without proper license By JOHNATHAN NELSON Columbian staff writer
Hans Wayne Schnauber, or the "Butterfly Guy" as he was once known, allegedly owes the state of Oregon $2.48 million for selling shares of a failed Internet company he formerly owned.
The "bill" arrived at Schnauber's Vancouver home Saturday, leaving the
46-year-old curious as to why Oregon, five years after revoking his corporation's license, is now taking action.It's another chapter in a peculiar trip that links Schnauber to the late '90s heyday of the dot.com craze. He has alternately been described as a champion of butterflies and a cybersquatter, someone who holds hostage domain names that are similar to legitimate Web addresses for large corporations.
Schnauber denies all allegations. He understood that he was licensed to sell interest in his Internet company, Zipee.com, and said the cybersquatter label is inaccurate because he never tried to sell domain names back to companies.
"I'd give them their name back for free," he said.
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business services sent Schnauber an order that demands he and two business associates stop selling securities in Oregon. The state also demands Schnauber pay $2.48 million in civil penalties.
The order alleges the Schnauber sold stock or "licenses" of Zipee.com to 500 people, most of whom live in Oregon and Washington. Schnauber told investors Zipee owned more than 2,000 Internet domain names that took legitimate site names and replaced the "com" suffix with "org," a designation normally used for nonprofit groups.
Schnauber told investors the companies would pay to get the names back, the order said.
The practice of cybersquatting made headlines in the 1990s as legitimate sounding domain names like whitehouse.com often took unsuspecting Web surfers to sites filled with pornographic content.
Others registered domain names similar to a corporation's correct address and offered to give up the site for exorbitant fees.
A 1999 federal law that linked cybersquatting with trademark infringement and increased vigilance by companies have dramatically reduced such aggressive takeovers.
Back when Schnauber was snapping up names like timewarner.org or espn.org, the founder of the International Federation of Butterfly Enthusiasts said he was merely trying to highlight how companies are helping or hurting the plight of butterflies.
He also said he was demonstrating that such Internet locations are valuable.
The Wall Street Journal and trade publications appeared amused with his tactic. Time Warner executives saw little humor in the action and demanded Schnauber release the names.
Schnauber denies he ever owned the names, just that he registered them.
He plans to fight Oregon and says if he loses, he doesn't have $2.48 million sitting in a bank.
"I'm a strange kind of person," Schnauber said. "I'm not weird, but my brain works differently."