Quote from: Ninja_FreakGuys,
For a small fee can we grab this domain? It shouldn't cost much but could pay dividends.
NF
No problems with buying it, but would there be problems?
Can't hurt for the sake of £5.98 I guess for two years.
No problems from me.
I'll ask Ninja what he wants to do with it. If it is to point at something then it needs to be something for which we have content!
In the mean time, Gandalf would you mind grabbing it for us please and sending us the bill? Thanks.
Too late.
Whois Info - battlefieldthree.co.uk
[Querying whois.nic.uk]
[whois.nic.uk]
Domain name:
battlefieldthree.co.uk
Registrant:
Arithon
Registrant type:
UK Individual
Registrar:
Webfusion Ltd t/a 123-reg [Tag = 123-REG]
URL: http://www.123-reg.co.uk
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 21-Jul-2011
Renewal date: 21-Jul-2013
Last updated: 21-Jul-2011
Registration status:
Registration request being processed.
Name servers:
ns.123-reg.co.uk
ns2.123-reg.co.uk
WHOIS lookup made at 10:57:18 21-Jul-2011
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This WHOIS information is provided for free by Nominet UK the central registry
for .uk domain names. This information and the .uk WHOIS are:
Copyright Nominet UK 1996 - 2011.
You may not access the .uk WHOIS or use any data from it except as permitted
by the terms of use available in full at http://www.nominet.org.uk/whois, which
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bugger. That was close.
Seems we do have this domain. And I have a concern that we may be seen as domain squatters. The owner of battle field 3 might quite understandably see us as paid subscription site attempting to cash in on their intellectual property. The internet is awash with stories of big companies setting lawyers onto little sites like ours. I can't see any reason for us to take this site other than to drive traffic away from BF 3 to us. I'm surprised that they didn't think to secure the domain themselves. When EA (notoriously litigious) find out a gaming site has it I imagine they won't be that impressed
We should IMHO drop any association with the domain and save ourselves a world of legal pain.
Interesting point.
Worse case we could easily transfer ownership of it should it come to that?
Besides, *we're* not the owners. it's owned privately by Arithon who points it at our address. I fail to see how we could be in any way liable for that. If anything, I imagine they'd ask Arithon to transfer ownership.
Otherwise I could go buy any company's domain which is free and point it at GDTphotography .... would that make *you* liable??
Very fair point but that wouldn't help Arithon and I wonder if he's considered the possible outcome of buying the site. I'm looking at this very much in the same way we decided we need to get people to sign a disclaimer when they come to the LAN's. It daft but while there's a small chance we could find ourselves sued by someone who broke their leg when the fell over a PC in a late night drunken stupor or got their Laptop nicked because someone forgot to lock the LAN room door, we still felt the effort of getting people to sign a form was worth it. Just in case.
Having the battlefieldthree.co.uk domain might bring us some traffic and might make us look a bit cool. And most likely that will be that. But there's a chance (IMHO quite a good chance) EA might go looking for people they feel are using their products names etc to feather their nests or drive traffic away from their 'official sites'. If we do come to their attention then we're all going to find out what the consequences are.
What we're doing is technically "name-jacking" with the wikipedia definition being
QuoteYet another approach is "namejacking" (also "name-jacking" or "name jacking") which is accomplished by purchasing an individual's name as a top-level domain name, for example John Jones = JohnJones.com, JohnJones.org, etc. Setting up a website allows the purchaser to capitalize on any searches done for that name. For example, if John Jones has a thriving professional practice (perhaps he is a doctor, a lawyer, a financial professional, or real estate agent - or any other profession which interacts with the public on a regular basis), there is a high likelihood that potential clients will do some research on the internet before doing business with Mr. Jones. If Mr. Jones has been "name jacked",[2][3] then someone else owns johnjones.com and that website will appear at or near the top of any searches for the name "John Jones." These "name jacked" sites are typically set up to sell high-profit items like ebooks and/or various business opportunities and require few purchases to be profitable. As the name-jacked domains are set up using non-trademarked names and they have a purpose other than selling the domain name back to an individual, they circumvent the "Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act" (ACPA) laws U.S.C. § 1125 and U.S.C. § 1129. Since people frequently search the web to find out information, name jacking provides low-cost web traffic to the name-jacked website.
To illustrate the point this actual thread is now the first search result in Google for 'batlefieldthree co uk'
Now we're not actively selling anything but we are a community that offers a paid subscription and that is my main concern. We're accused of using a domain to drive search traffic to our site and away from EA's in the hope of gaining additional subscriptions and making money. Our defence would be....?
- That wasn't our intention?
- We don't personally make money?
- We don't insist on a subscription, it's voluntary?
Yes I'm being a doom and gloom merchant
yet again :rolleyes: but I think it's something we should at least discuss.
That was kind of in the back of my mind when i started this thread, but looking back I did not make it at all obvious what I was thinking, sorry. Still thinking some.
Seems to be gaining some traction on the main forum and people are being to link back to the domain, which is exactly what I was suggesting would be a problem. I think we either need to decide there's no harm in proceeding or kill the idea quickly. My thoughts are obviously already known.
I think the least we should do is let Arithon know what the possible downside of registering the domain might be and the basic conversation we've been having here.
Ok, I'm planning on moving this thread directly into the BC2 section for further discussion, I see no point in leaving it here when I think we all have concerns and we probably do not know enough about any penalties that might apply. The addition of more people to the discussion might help guide us all.
Unless anyone objects I'll move it across tonight so that the BC2 peeps can see our thought process and join the debate.
Good call.
We might want to blank out Arithon personal details in Gandy's post about the domains new owner. It's public information available on the net but it might not be better to to republish it in an open forum?
Agreed.
Edited out the personal info.
Dear BC2 Game Admins.
Council would like some input on this as we have some concerns over the website. We decided to transfer the entire thread so that you can all participate.
Your thoughts please!
As long as battlefieldthree isn't a registered trademark I don't think we need to worry. Heres a quote from the Wikilink :
As the name-jacked domains are set up using non-trademarked names and they have a purpose other than selling the domain name back to an individual, they circumvent the "Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act"
'circumvent' being the operative word. I just remember some horror stories about fans of Harry Potter (some as young as fifteen) finding themselves on the receiving end of some really frightening legal threats from Warner Brothers. My only concern is that as we receive paid subscriptions we could be considered to be a commercial entity. While we might not be guilty of an offence of cyber squatting we could quite conceivably be sued in a civil action by EA for copyright infringement i.e. we are driving traffic away from EA and to us for the purpose of increasing our subscription base and making more money by using a name that is associated with their trademarked property i.e. the Battlefield 3 game. While this might not be likely do we or more importantly does Arithon want to take a chance?
I'm not sure we do.
I will email DICE and EA and if they have any objections to our registration of the domain, they can have it for the fee I paid.
I'm not a domain squatter and the reasons for registrations were to attract fans of the game to dMw who are also fans of of the game.
Since joining our forum and playing our server is free and we have no commercial advertising on the domain, or our site and make no outlandish claims or defamatory comments, I cannot see what legal action they could or would take.
Battlefield is a word in the English language, not a registered trademark and we are not using copyrighted materials. In fact the screenshots and background on the domain are from DICE's own fan kit for BF3.
I'll keep you posted on DICE/EA's response.
18:00 EA support dude says there is no policy on this, so he is escalating me to tier 2 (is this support, or MOH)???
I think the bottom line is we're grateful for the help Arithon, but just want to make sure we're not getting anyone in trouble!
QuoteMy query, is what is EA's policy on clan / fan websites? I have registered www.battlefieldthree.co.uk (http://www.battlefieldthree.co.uk/) as a landing page for bf3 fans, for news of the game on our forums and to promote our gaming community which will be running a bf3 server once the game is out.
Our forums and game servers are free and we carry no advertising and there is nothing derogatory about EA, DICE or BF3 on the page.
My forum admins are just concerned that we are not accused of domain camping or anything else, so I am seeking clarification from yourselves whether you have any issue with my website and its link to our clan page.
If you DO have issues, I'm sure these can be worked out. If need be I can redirect the domain to your site, or you can buy the domain from me for the fee I paid (a little over £7).
I am a big fan of the BattleField series and my intention here is to promote the game and support the gaming community, not upset anyone at EA or DICE, hence my enquiry.
Regards
Anthony Hunt
EA are "coming back to me". I think that by taking this approach they'll either say "we don't care" or "take it down". Either way, not a problem.
QuoteDear Anthony,
Thank you for providing us the valuable information.
Due to the nature of your issue, more time is required for investigation. I apologize for any prolonged delays this might cause, but please rest assured that we are trying to handle your issue in a timely manner. During this time, you may still update your incident with additional information that might help us resolve your issue without causing any additional delay. To update your incident click the link that says, “To view or update your question from our support site, click here."
I can definitely understand the frustration. Hopefully, you'll hear back from our higher level team within 24-72 hours.
Best Regards,
Bob
EA Support Centre, UK and Ireland
http://electronicarts.co.uk (http://electronicarts.co.uk/)
http://electronicarts.ie (http://electronicarts.ie/)
Also of note, //www.battefieldthree.com is a Croatian website which is a battlefield 3 fansite, online since may 2010 and is still online, despite having leaked Alpha stuff on there.
Here's hoping they don't mind at all. Frankly it would be the sensible thing to leave us to promote the game and drive purchasers and subscriptions etc their way and then back to us for our community support and social fun, but when are large corporations ever sensible.
Sorry I'm a bit late to this thread. Been in the woods camping...
My thoughts are that unless EA or DICE or someone official complains, we keep the the URL. Look at the success with BC2 in growing our ranks. BF3 could easily be the same or better (as long as the beta looks good) and by driving traffic through the URL we can't lose.
I'm sure if we're pushed we can roll over and play nicely. We're not after the money after all..
NF
Quote from: Ninja_Freak;330332Sorry I'm a bit late to this thread. Been in the woods camping...
My thoughts are that unless EA or DICE or someone official complains, we keep the the URL. Look at the success with BC2 in growing our ranks. BF3 could easily be the same or better (as long as the beta looks good) and by driving traffic through the URL we can't lose.
I'm sure if we're pushed we can roll over and play nicely. We're not after the money after all..
NF
I agree :)
well done on all the work Ari :dmw:
It was always an option to just not worry and see if EA / Dice complained. However as it was Arithon who kindly secured the domain, the worry was that it would be him as an individual that would have to deal with the consequences rather than us as a community. As it is they have been made aware off the situation and so personally I think we can carry on using the domain without concern until and unless EA come back to us.
EA Sent me another template-generated Dear John email basically saying they didn't have menu option for my enquiry (Kit Kat anyone?) and I could talk to public relations if I wanted any other assistance...
I'm going to email them to see if I can get a response - anything along the lines of "we looked at it and we're okay with that" so I can wave it around at a later date if they change their mind.
Hopefully they will treat it as a promotional platform, which might get us early news, or a cardboard cutout soldier for us to play with!
I think if you get no joy from public relations then I'd leave it at that, if you're happy. At least we're covered if EA do ever come back to us.