So, it looks like the Sonics are moving to Oklahoma City . Fortunately, Bennett agreed to leave Seattle the “Sonics” moniker in case Seattle can either get an expansion team or another team to relocate to Seattle . Bennett claims that the team doesn’t have a name yet. If that’s true, his group made a serious mistake…far more damaging than the “smoking gun” emails that came out during the court proceedings.

Here’s how Sonics fans can exact revenge (besides vandalizing his Wikipedia page …funny stuff guys but that stuff doesn’t stick).

Buy up every possible dot com domain name that the team might think of using.

This is how to do it:

We think the team will be named the “ Oklahoma City team name”. They will likely be commonly referred to as the “OKC team name”. However, it is possible that Bennett could throw everybody a curve ball by calling his team the “ Oklahoma team name” (which makes the process more expensive).

To thwart Bennett, a Sonics Fan would have to create a spreadsheet listing the team names of every professional and most college franchises (could probably safely omit a few college names such as Minutemen) excluding the names already in use in the NBA. They would then buy all the dot com variations of “OklahomaCityteamname”, “OKCteamname” and “Oklahomateamname” that aren’t already taken (and domain name speculators are likely already buying them). They might also include variations of “Oilmen”, “Wildcatters”, “Tornados” and other words that might be associated specifically with Oklahoma.

Bennett can still name the team anything he wants…but you just might own the domain name he needs to market his franchise. Sure, he could buy a non dot com extension or buy a hyphenated version of the dot com. However, smart marketing folks know that the full name of the franchise is a necessary component of marketing the team online. Furthermore, Bennett couldn’t successfully claim infringement (though he might try) because you’d have speculated (nice oil term) on the new name of the franchise since the teams prospective name wasn’t public knowledge and couldn’t be known by you.

It would be the ultimate revenge to have Clayton Bennett’s representatives coming back to an unhappy Sonics fan trying in order to try to negotiate for the domain name of his new team. The domain name owner could either keep it for themselves or exact a pretty generous price for its sale (which will go a long way to make that particular Sonics fan feel better about what just happened).

Happy Domaining Sonics Fans!

5 thoughts on “How Sonics Fans Can Use Domaining To Exact Revenge On Clayton Bennett

  1. Sorry to rain on the parade, but this is nothing short of cybersquatting. Just because you registered it first doesn’t make it ok. You would be using it in bad faith and they will get it from you for the cost of writing a letter.

    The only thing you’ll accomplish is living up to the domainer stereotype that the rest of the world has of us.

  2. As a sports fan I always think its a travesty when a team leaves a location they’ve been associated with for so long. Obviously the Seattle market has value as David Stern says a team could be back in the city in five years. What sense does that make? Hopefully some Sonic fan will come up with the proper domain name and keep Bennett from obtaining it.

  3. Sorry Scott (not Salwolke),

    It’s absolutely not cybersquatting if you register a team name they want to use before they do if so long as they haven’t announced their intentions to the public.

  4. Coming from someone in the domaining industry, and one who is dead set against cybersquatting, I can tell you with great certainty that this would be cybersquatting. Domains are not “first come first serve.”

    Often you need to be guilty of just one of the following:

    -Registering multiple names similar to a trademark

    -Using the name in bad faith or without a bona fide intent

    -Parking the trademarked name and thus profiting

    -Offering the domain for sale to the trademark holder

    Any one of these would be cybersquatting (and these aren’t the only rules). You would be doing several of these.

    This is straight from the UDRP:

    “The trademark owner must prove three things: (1) that s/he has a trademark right that is identical or confusingly similar to your domain, (2) that you have no right or legitimate interest in the domain name, and (3) that you registered and used the domain in bad faith.”

    Sorry sir, but you would be guilty of all 3.

    Please read the following page:

    https://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-policy-24oct99.htm

    “It’s absolutely not cybersquatting if you register a team name they want to use before they do if so long as they haven’t announced their intentions to the public.”

    That is EXACTLY bad faith. And it will not cost them anything more than a half hour of lawyers fees to take it from you.

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