Update: COWBOYS Lose Domain Name in OT
A week after the Dallas Cowboys football organization bid on, won, then backed out of purchasing the domain name cowboys.com, the domain was sold on silent auction for $370,000. A group of investors stepped in to pick up the option on the free agent domain name. Most domain experts agree that the Cowboys were foolish to let this gem go. The resale price of the newly purchased name is expected to go into six figures. The Cowboys won the domain name through a Moniker auction on Oct. 12th with a phone in bid of “275,” a number which lawyers later said represented $275 dollars, not the actual $275,000 sales price. I guess the organization should stick to pigskin, when it comes to the buck, they are rookies for sure.
When it came time to pay up for their recent purchase of cowboys.com, attorneys for the legendary football empire, the Dallas Cowboys, balked. $275,000? Oops, they thought is was $275.00! That was the lousy excuse offered by America’s team. It seems the Cowboys franchise won the domain in a live auction sponsored by Moniker on Friday, Oct. 12th at the Traffic Domain Name Conference in Hollywood, Florida.
Playing Games
According to Monte Cahn, the head of Moniker, a phone in bid was reported to have come in from a representative of the organization. About a week later when the bill came in, the attorney claimed there was a misunderstanding about the words “Two hundred and seventy-five,” claiming the team would never have bid on such a pricey moniker. This claim seems ridiculous in light of the fact that the minimum bid for the name was listed at $250,000, and the expected sales price was estimated to go as high as $500,000.
There may be more to the story than meets the eye, however. Apparently, the cowboys.com domain may come with some strings attached. The previous owner of the domain claimed to have received the first trademark ever given a domain name on May 15, 1995. Certificate #27303 issued by the Office of the Secretary of State for the state of Oklahoma may present legal issues for the football organization. Under current law, trademark owners are allowed to lay some claim to domains that include their trademark.
Maybe the football dynasty should just do what any respectable Texan would do… Cowboy up and pay the bill. Then let the battle over trademark be settled in a good old fashioned shoot out.
