Not another one...

BBC

When are they going to realise that they will never win over these cases?That they can't claim squatter's rights forever...

[Stuart]

In fairness to the guy, he DID register it a long time before Apple even showed an interest in online music.

[Paul K]

Think the guy in question does have a case from what I have been reading, he registered his domain in 2000 and I-Tunes didn't launch till 2004 during all which time he used the site redirect traffic to a music search engine. It's not as though he bought the domain, didn't use it and then tried to sell it to Apple after it had sat dormant for 4 years.
From El Reg

Cohen, the 22-year old founder of SoJewish.com, registered the address in November 2000 after he was unable to register tunes.co.uk. Apple did not launch its iTunes service in the US until April 2003. Apple's lawyers got in touch and offered him $5,000 but Cohen was holding out for £50,000 . He uses the site to redirect traffic to one of his properties - quickquid.com.

Apple's lawyers stopped talking when Cohen made clear how much cash he wanted, according to the Guardian newspaper. Cohen is asking the High Court for a judicial review because he believes Nominet's procedures are biased in favour of big companies at the expense of smaller competitors

I think the bit in red is what is causing the problem and why he was forced to hand it over to Apple.
More info Here
To be honest though I don't have a lot of sympathy for him since he was only using it as a redirect and wasn't hosting a full blown site on it.

So where did he get Itunes from as an idea?These things don't come from nowhere especially as it was just a redirect site to something that apparently had no connection with music..I just can't think it is just a coincidence...

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Incognitas

So where did he get Itunes from as an idea?These things don't come from nowhere especially as it was just a redirect site to something that apparently had no connection with music..I just can't think it is just a coincidence...

If it was registered in 2000, either it was a co-incidence, or he went through a dictionary registering all sorts of random words, with "i" in front of them (a reasonable assumption - Apple have been adding the letter "i" to names for a while now).

[Paul K]

Originally Posted by scastle

If it was registered in 2000, either it was a co-incidence, or he went through a dictionary registering all sorts of random words, with "i" in front of them (a reasonable assumption - Apple have been adding the letter "i" to names for a while now).

By what he is reported to have said, he wanted to register tunes.co.uk but someone already had it. So he tried i-tunes.co.uk instead.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Paul

By what he is reported to have said, he wanted to register tunes.co.uk but someone already had it. So he tried i-tunes.co.uk instead.

He possibly did, I was just speculating..

[MetaWraith]

Originally Posted by Paul

Think the guy in question does have a case from what I have been reading, he registered his domain in 2000 and I-Tunes didn't launch till 2004 during all which time he used the site redirect traffic to a music search engine. It's not as though he bought the domain, didn't use it and then tried to sell it to Apple after it had sat dormant for 4 years.
From El Reg

I think the bit in red is what is causing the problem and why he was forced to hand it over to Apple.
More info Here
To be honest though I don't have a lot of sympathy for him since he was only using it as a redirect and wasn't hosting a full blown site on it.

He originally had a music search engine on there, wanted the name "tunes.co.uk" which was already taken so it didnt take much effort to think of internet tunes and then abbreviate that to i-tunes". Having run the domain for at least 3 years before Apple wanted it, I tend to think he's got a very good case for keeping it. Sadly but unfortunately most domain name hosters seem to side with the big guns in these cases. Hope he wins though.

[jrhnewark]

But it's his, and he has a contract for it. Stuff what Apple want, he had it long before, and has first pickings on it.

[Paul K]

Originally Posted by jrhnewark

But it's his, and he has a contract for it. Stuff what Apple want, he had it long before, and has first pickings on it.

But unfortunately Apple has a lot of money and weight to throw around and this wouldn't be the first time someone has been forced to hand over a domain that they have a legtimate claim to.

[jrhnewark]

Originally Posted by Paul

But unfortunately Apple has a lot of money and weight to throw around and this wouldn't be the first time someone has been forced to hand over a domain that they have a legtimate claim to.

I just think it's wrong. It appears to be that the owner has set his price at £50,000 , and Apple should (and could) meet it.

[cookie_365]

Well, he was the one who took the risk and registered the domain, not Apple. If they're so dumb that they couldn't be bothered to check which sites were available before launching their product then that's their tough luck.

If £50k is too much for Apple to pay then the simple answer is for them to do without the domain name.

[Paulie]

He should get in touch with Bill Gates. I bet there would be some interest there lol

[kronas]

im siding with the owner (cohen) on this one, he registered it and even though its redirecting traffic its his, if he still made the necessary
renewals to the domain name then apple should pay him if they want it.

if you dont get their first then tough on you, its a business out there, if someone owns a domain name you want to register then offer to buy it if the amount is too high then use something else!

This not what everyone said when a former CF member sold a site they had registered to a certain company we all love so well...and No I'm not referring to Frank.