Feeling Harmed, Slipknot Sues Domain Owner Slipknot.com

JAKARTA - Slipknot took firm legal action against the unknown party who controlled the domain of Slipknot.com. The Iowa metal band filed a lawsuit for patent and federal trademark violations of cybersquatting practices or unauthorized use of domains.

The lawsuit was filed based on a report from Domain Name Wire, listing allegations of violations under the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, given the domain has been registered since 2001 'several years after Slipknot was formed in the mid-1990s.

So far, Slipknot has been forced to use the Slipknot1.com address as their official website. The band's decision to drag this case to the court was based on the fact that the owner of the domain Slipknot.com whose identity is still mysterious for them is openly seeking profit from the big name of the band.

The domain allegedly provides pay-per-click ad links for concert ticket sales, Slipknot merchandise, and concert VIP packages.

The domain name is registered in an attempt to take advantage of the plaintiff's good intentions and to deceive non-suspected visitors under the impression that they visited the website they owned, operated, or affiliated with the plaintiff to click on web searches and other sponsored links. ," wrote Slipknot's attorney in the lawsuit, quoted by Blabbermouth, Monday, October 20.

The plaintiff's fans or anyone who wants to buy an official Slipknot merchandise will definitely visit the slipknot.com website with that assumption belonging to the plaintiff and then buy the Slipknot merchandise that is linked to the site, causing losses to the plaintiff," he continued.

The identity of the Slipknot.com domain registrant was deliberately hidden. According to the attorney, the name of the registrant was not identified in WHOIS or ICANN records. However, the note lists the address of the post box in the Cayman Islands.

On the other hand, technical and administrative contact information lists an organization called Slipknot Online Services, Ltd, with the same address in the Cayman Islands. However, further investigations show that this organization is not registered in any state in the United States.

Meanwhile, this legal move comes just two months after Billboard reported that Slipknot was close to finalizing a sales deal for their music catalog worth around $120 million.

The agreement between the band members and HarbourView Equity Partners includes the right to royalties for the issuance and recording of the Slipknot master. Reportedly, this deal includes a catalog of band archives but does not include future releases.