Meg Whitman, former eBay chief and potential candidate for governor of California is still having problems reclaiming her own name as a domain name.The Associated Press says, “What began as an irritant has evolved into a distracting legal spat as she explores a run for California governor.”The problem has come about following Tom Hall from Santa Monica man registering at least five “domains with Whitman’s name, prompting her to sue him in federal court in an attempt to get them back before her anticipated 2010 campaign.”Hall, the registrant, told The AP he registered the domain names following newspaper reports Whitman was considering running for governor of California.A salutary lesson to register domain names for any prominent product or activity before announcing it.While Hall claims he might have given the domain names to Whitman for free if she asked, there are estimates it could cost anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 to claim the domain names.However a spokesman for Whitman says Whitman’s “attorneys initially contacted Hall ‘to try to work something out,’ but he never responded to e-mail or telephone messages.”In the lawsuit against Hall it is claimed he is a professional cybersquatter having “registered dozens of domain names related to famous people or institutions. He’s even registered at least three in case Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife, Maria Shriver, a Democrat, decides to run for governor in 2010.”To read this report from The Associated Press in full, see one of the following:
Whitman in Legal Spat to Reclaim Domains for California Govenor Bid
Meg Whitman, former eBay chief and potential candidate for governor of California is still having problems reclaiming her own name as a domain name. The Associated Press says, “What began as an irritant has evolved into a distracting legal spat as she explores a run for California governor.”