Domain Capital goes following Prince’s estate for reverse domain name hijacking

Musician’s estate sued financing firm over Prince.com domain name. Domain Capital is fighting back.

Domain name financing firm Domain Capital has responded (pdf) to a cybersquatting lawsuit brought by the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson. That’s the musician Prince, who later changed his stage name to a symbol.

The estate sued Domain Capital over its ownership of the Prince.com domain name, claiming it was cybersquatting.

Domain Capital loaned money to the previous owner of Prince.com. That owner defaulted and Domain Capital took over the name.

Of course, it’s silly for any one entity to claim exclusive rights to the dictionary word “Prince”, and Domain Capital calls out the estate in its response. The financing firm is asking for the estate’s trademark for Prince to be canceled and is also asking for penalties under reverse domain name hijacking.

Domain Capital is represented by Jason Schaeffer of ESQwire.com.