Turns to courts to stop game of domain whac-a-mole — Citizen journalist

Following winning UDRP, respondent registered more domains related to the complainant.

A citizen journalist who won a UDRP against a porn studio earlier this year has turned to the courts following the firm allegedly continued targeting him with defamatory articles and domain names similar to his personal name.

In March, I wrote regarding Paul Mulholland’s short-lived victory in a UDRP dispute against the studio.

Mulholland published an exposé regarding the firm, and it allegedly retaliated by publishing defamatory articles regarding him on domain names that incorporated variations of his name.

Mulholland won the UDRP, forcing the studio to hand over the disputed domains.

But the victory didn’t last long. The firm quickly registered fresh variations of his name and published more content regarding him.

This is a limitation of the UDRP: while it can force the transfer of specific domain names, it can’t prevent someone from registering fresh ones and continuing the same behavior.

So Mulholland is taking the fight to court.

On Monday, he filed a lawsuit (pdf) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Fresh Jersey. He’s asking the court to rule in his favor on defamation claims, order the transfer of the newly registered domains, and issue an injunction preventing the studio from registering additional domains similar to his name.

Brett Lewis of Lewis & Lin, who represented Mulholland in the UDRP, is also representing him in the lawsuit.