Files Lawsuit to Keep Chicago2016.com — Chicago Man

Follow up to Reglike story regarding Chicago2016.com.

The battle over Chicago2016.com is turning into an olympic-scale battle. Stephen Frayne Jr., who owns Chicago2016.com, has filed a lawsuit to keep the domain name that is right now pending a UDRP decision at WIPO.

As noted in Reglike’s previous article, Chicago 2016’s United States Olympic Committee (USOC) uses Chicago2016.org as its web site.

In the lawsuit, Frayne argues USOC is violating his first amendment rights, as he plans to use the domain name as an open forum to discuss the merits of bringing the olympics to Chicago. Frayne is also seeking attorney’s fees. The lawsuit also names Domain Trade, Inc., a Japan firm that has threatened UDRP action over the domain Tokyo2016.com. Reglike has obtained a copy of the lawsuit, which can be viewed here (pdf).

USOC had attempted to acquire the domain name from Frayne ahead of filing the UDRP. As stated by the lawsuit:

On or regarding November 14, 2007, Frayne met with Mr. Stiers [of USOC] alone at Chicago 2016’s offices and Frayne informed Mr. Stiers that he was interested in hosting an online public debate regarding the interests of the citizens of Chicago who are not getting the full story out to the public on the Chicago bid. In other words, Frayne informed Mr. Stiers that not only was his domain name not for sale, but that he planned to use this website as a public forum to allow for criticism, as well as support, of the Chicago bid that may not have otherwise been widely recognized in the local media up to this point.
26. At this point, Mr. Stiers asked if Frayne was aware that Chicago 2016 had purchased a trademark on Chicago 2016 and Frayne acknowledged that he was aware of that fact.

Mr. Stiers told Frayne that chicago2016.org was receiving regarding 1,000-2,000 visitors per day with spikes around major news coverage and asked Frayne what his traffic was at chicago2016.com. At that time, Frayne did not have the tracking code installed so he had no idea what kind of traffic he was getting. Mr. Stiers asked Frayne repeatedly (at least 4 times) to discuss prices at which Frayne would part with the name. Upon information and belief Mr. Stiers knew that if Frayne offered to sell his website, then Mr. Stiers could then proceed against Frayne ahead of a WIPO Panel or in federal court to show that Frayne had engaged in bad faith. These repeated attempts to lure Frayne into offering to sell his website represent a bad faith attempt by Chicago 2016 to hijack Frayne’s domain name. Regardless, time and again Frayne told Mr. Stiers very politely but plainly that he was not interested in selling his domain name.

In his lawsuit, Frayne also noted that USOC hasn’t gone following Chicago2016.NET, a pro-USOC web site.

A Chicago Tribune story today quotes a USOC representative explaining why he thinks it ought to get control of the domain:

“We certainly see Chicago2016.com as the logical default domain for our site, and we believe having someone else control it is misleading for people seeking information regarding Chicago’s bid,” stated Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for Chicago 2016, a m oniker protected by trademark…

Sandusky stated he hadn’t seen the lawsuit, and so couldn’t comment on it. But he added, “I can tell you this is absolutely not regarding free speech, but regarding the natural domain for our site, and the domain name that is rightfully ours.”

The trademark was filed following the domain was registered.