Heavy metal legends Slipknot have used the domain address Slipknot1.com for the better part of two decades. Slipknot.com was registered in 2001 by someone other than the band.
According to Domain Name Wire, the band recently filed a patent infringement lawsuit for cybersquatting at the domain. “The domain name was registered in an effort to profit off of plaintiff’s goodwill and to trick unsuspecting visitors — under the impression they are visiting a website owned, operated or affiliated with plaintiff — into clicking on web searches and other sponsored links,” the band’s lawyer wrote in the lawsuit. “A fan of plaintiff or someone who otherwise wanted to purchase authorized Slipknot merchandise would undoubtedly visit the slipknot.com website assuming it belonged to plaintiff and then purchase the Slipknot merchandise linked to on the site, causing damages to plaintiff.”
The registrant of the domain is apparently located in the Cayman Islands. According to Blabbermouth: “The federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act allows individuals and companies to assume control of domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to their own, as long as they can prove that the domain name holder acted in bad faith.”
