Business Relationship Goes Sour, Make Sure You Own the Domain Name — When a

Another lawsuit shows that domain names are notable intellectual property.

I’ve written numerous times regarding web design firms holding a client’s domain name hostage. Here’s another cautionary tale regarding domain name ownership.

A Florida firm called StableTracker.com, Inc states that its former outsourced tech team has stolen its intellectual property and its domain name (pdf).

StableTracker.com, Inc. states it contracted with the (now) defendants to perform a number of technical tasks counting registering its domain name. But the defendant in charge of registering the domain name registered it in his personal name.

Following the business relationship went sour, the firm claims the defendants stole the intellectual property counting software code and domain name. To make matters worse, it alleges that one of the defendants sent an email to an notable business partner from StableTracker.com’s email account — using the email alias of the firm founder and plaintiff.

Remember, if you control the domain name you control the email.

I think many people overlook how your domain name is an notable piece of intellectual property. Make sure you own it.