Domain name registrar OnlineNic — Facebook sues

Social media firm alleges that the registrar, or people using its Whois privacy service, is cybersquatting.

Facebook has filed a lawsuit (pdf) against domain name registrar OnlineNic and its Whois privacy service, Domain ID Shield, along with John Doe defendants.

The social media giant alleges that the defendants are cybersquatting on Facebook’s brands, counting with domain names used for nefarious purposes.

Some of the domains listed in the lawsuit are www-facebook-login(.)com, login-lnstargram(.)com and hackingfacebook(.)net.

It’s a common strategy for plaintiffs in cybersquatting disputes to name the registrar in a lawsuit to try to get them to uncover the identity of the registrant. In this case, it seems that Facebook is questioning if OnlineNic is one of the actual users of the domains.

The firm states it attempted to get OnlineNic to reveal the identity of the domain owners but was unsuccessful.

Attorney David J. Steele is representing Facebook. Steele previously sued OnlineNic on behalf of Verizon and won a $33 million default judgment.

Microsoft and Yahoo have also filed trademark infringement lawsuits against OnlineNic.