Woman sues GoDaddy following buying domain from someone whose account is locked

Woman alleges she bought and paid for a domain that the seller can’t transfer to him.

Picture of gavel with the words "lawsuit"

A Chinese woman who states she bought 968 .com is suing GoDaddy following the seller was unable to transfer the domain to him.

In the lawsuit (pdf), Yuming Hao states that she purchased the domain name from Chu Chu for ￥800,000 (regarding $120,000 at the time) on July 1, 2022. Chu Chu tried to transfer the domain name to the plaintiff but Chu Chu found that GoDaddy had locked his account, the lawsuit alleges.

The plaintiff believes that Chu Chu allegedly violated GoDaddy’s policy, so his account was locked on July 2. Chu Chu has apparently told the Plaintiff that was due to a hack, but it was related to the domain iceqx .com, not 968 .com.

As stated by the lawsuit, GoDaddy removed 968 .com from Chu Chu’s account on July 6 and the plaintiff hasn’t been able to obtain the domain name.

Yuming Hao is asking for declaratory judgment that she is the rightful owner of the domain, conversion, and intentional interference with contractual relations.

Timothy Wang of Ni, Wang & Massand PLLC is representing the plaintiff. The firm has previously represented plaintiffs in stolen domain cases.

If I had to bet, GoDaddy has frozen the domain due to concerns over its ownership.

This story has been updated to reflect the correct gender of the plaintiff.