Slipknot has filed a lawsuit to reclaim the domain name for their official website, slipknot.com. The band is suing the anonymous owner of the domain, who is currently selling counterfeit merchandise.
According to the website Domain Name Wire , Slipknot claims that slipknot.com was registered in 2001, 25 years after the band's formation in 1995. Since then, they have used slipknot1.com as their official website. The lawsuit arose because the domain slipknot.com, whose owner is unknown, is being used to profit from the band's name. The website provides links to advertisements for "concert tickets," "Slipknot merchandise," and "VIP concert packages."
The band's lawyer wrote in the lawsuit that "the domain name was registered to profit from the author's goodwill and deceive unsuspecting visitors." Furthermore, "a fan or someone wanting to buy authorized band merchandise would undoubtedly visit the slipknot.com website assuming it belonged to the author. And then, they would buy the products linked on the site, causing harm to the author."
The U.S. Federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act allows individuals and businesses to take control of domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to their own, provided they can prove that the domain name holder acted in bad faith.
The lawsuit comes two months after news broke that the band is negotiating a deal to sell its music catalog for approximately US$120 million (R$650 million at the current exchange rate).
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