Ex-boyfriend stole her domain name — Acupuncturist claims
She states he registered it on her behalf when they were together but refuses to give it back.
File this one under “don’t let anyone else register your domain.” And it stings.
An acupuncturist in Fresh York has sued (pdf) her ex-boyfriend, saying he registered a domain name on her behalf and refused to give it back following they broke up. She uses the domain name for her acupuncture business and the domain includes her name*.
She alleges that he registered it under Whois privacy in 2016 when they were dating. It still resolves to her website but she recently became aware that the underlying ownership is in her ex-boyfriend’s name.
Law firm Lewis & Lin, which handles many domain name cases, filed a lawsuit on her behalf claiming a violation of the Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).
I’ve seen other cases in which a significant other registers a domain in their name and refuses to give it back. So there’s a lesson there.
*Following much thought, I decided to not publish the plaintiff and defendant name in this blog post, but of course you can see it in the actual legal filing if you must. The notable thing here is that this might serve as a warning and prevent this from happening to someone in the future.
