Adrian Peterson needs a fresh lawyer

Mistake ridden domain name complaints cost the player his online identity.

Minnesota Vikings player Adrian Peterson needs to get a fresh lawyer — and not for his criminal issues.

He needs fresh intellectual property lawyers.

If your lawyers make a mistake once, perhaps you overlook it.

But twice?

Back in April Adrian Peterson won a UDRP for the domain name AdrianPetersonOnline.com. But his attorneys at Gant & Hicks asked for the domain name registration to be canceled rather than transferred.

So the domain name registrar dutifully deleted the domain name and it was picked up by someone in Japan.

The same law firm filed a case in August for the domain name AdrianPeterson.com. It screwed up at least twice in this fresh complaint.

First, it again asked the panel to cancel the domain rather than transfer it. It realized its mistake later and asked the panel to change the request to a transfer. (I’m amazed it would make this same mistake again following what happened last time!)

Second, it turned in a weak case that didn’t even get past the first element; his lawyers failed to provide even the basic information required to show that Peterson had rights in the “Adrian Peterson” name.

The panelist on the case even wrote that the entire case was poorly formulated:

Although Complainant is professionally represented and the Complaint was prepared by those representatives, there is very little in the Complaint to link it to the requirements of paragraph 4(a) of the Policy.

Peterson lost a case he ought to have won. It’s time for him to hire a fresh lawyer.