Some sneaky little bugger somewhere decided to get the domain name ModernWarfare3.com, and instead of it being used for a game in Activision’s FPS series, it was used to promote Battlefield instead. Cybersquatting and trolling at its finest.
Activision however has had enough about it, and filed a domain name dispute with the National Arbitritation Forum. In case you didn’t know, anyone can buy any domain name with impunity provided it’s not already taken. Because of that, many sites, especially phishing sites and spam sites, will take a common mispelling of a domain name and use it to promote their agenda.
However, the “rightful” owner of the domain name can file a claim to sieze the domain name if it’s being used in a way that infringes on their copyright or is being used to mislead others. An easy enough process once they’re discovered.
Activision had filed an 11 page complaint that included, outside of the standard legal banter, reasons why the owner of the domain had no right or interest to the name whatsoever. Activision stated “It appears that the Respondent supports the game Battlefield from the game developer Electronic Arts. EA is one of Complainant’s principal competitors in the video game industry, and Battlefield game competes in the marketplace with Complainant’s Modern Warfare games and its other military-themed shooter games in the Call of Duty series.”
Activision filed the complaint around a week after ModernWarfare3.com started to redirect itself to EA’s Battlefield.com, which caused a major stir in the news and gamer community. EA is not affiliated with the site in any way and are not responsible for the troll under the bridge.
For a time, the owner of ModernWarfare3.com had a copy of the letter sent by Activison on the site, but as of writing, the site appears to be offline. He’s also going to be out $2600 in legal fees according to the overly long document. You can read the full complaint here as a PDF. If you lack a PDF reader, try Sumatra.
