Just came across an article on mybroadband news - MXit wins mixit.co.za battle.
Popular mobile chat operator MXit is the most recent winner of a domain dispute when the mixit.co.za domain name was awarded to it recently.
The case revolved around the fact that Steyn (defendant) had registered that domain, parked it, and was making money off it. Thing is, he registered it long before MXIT came on the scene - that should have counted in his defense. But it didn’t - the judge ruled that the date of domain registrations are irrelevant.
What this effectively means is that I could register a .co.za now, and if someone else creates a similar brand and it becomes popular, I no longer have a right to my own domain. How screwed up is that?
Stupid. That’s what all of this was. MXIT made themselves look like a bunch of bullies with big guns. If I wanted to get rid of mixit.co.za, I’d have contacted the owner and arranged to buy it. It’s got a LOT more PR value than simply bludgeoning someone out of their rightfully-acquired domain name, and it’s the right thing to do.
mixit.co.za was there first. The fact that the keywords were later altered to “chat” and “mxit” should also have been ruled irrelevant. There is no possible way that Steyn could have been making enough revenue off that domain to pose any real threat to MXIT. And if he was, it implies that he was receiving an enormous amount of traffic from people looking for (and finding) the address to MXIT.co.za. Either way, MXIT was winning.
Now they look like a bunch of bullies with clubs.
This is the sort of thing that discourages the local internet community from setting up fan sites, and expanding the influence of their brand. If they want to be like microsoft, then by all means. It’s not as if I even used MXIT anyway.
I agree completely with you - but the fact that he starting using keywords meant that he was deliberately using the mxit brand … if he hadn’t done that then I cannot see anything wrong
The fact that he was using the MXIT brand was actually helping MXIT.
Think about it. Between Microsoft, Google and Apple, which would you consider to be “major brands”? The truth is, Microsoft pockets more revenue than the latter two combined, but there are so many Google and Apple fansites and offshoot communities, that they have far greater impact in our daily lives.
That’s what mixit.co.za (parked page or not) was doing for MXIT. People that wanted to find MXIT and used keywords like “mxit” and “mobile chat” would either have arrived at MXIT HQ, or at Steyn’s site - from where they would undoubtedly find a link to MXIT.
Apart from the extra traffic, coverage and exposure that MXIT were getting (at no cost to themselves), they were also broadcasting a message of tolerance and community encouragement by allowing that parked site to exist.
When was the last time you saw a parked page feeding off Microsoft? Don’t you think it might have something to do with their outmoded and closed-door approach to marketing?
Now all that MXIT has done is proven that it won’t take nonsense from anybody, and is willing to haul out the guns to prove their point, making them just like any other major corporation out there.
All big corporates are the same. In the beginning they need our support to grow, but once they have reached mass market they turn and start stomping on the little people.
I wonder when firefox will sue and take on firefox.co.za
Mxit sis on you!
The only question I have though in Mxit’s defense. Did Steyn have any link to Mxit before they started. How did he come on choosing the domain Mxit? If he was clever he would have registered a trademark as well when he registered the domain..
@simonb It could have just been an honest mistake, but some whois searching uncovers something interesting:
mixit.co.za was registered a full 2 years after mxit.co.za. The mxit.co.za domain, on the 19th of March 2005, entered the IA index with this site:
http://href.co.za/68
mixit.co.za was registered one month later. (April 19, 2005).
It’s possible that Steyn was simply observant, and saw an opportunity. That, however, does nothing to rebut my case, that allowing other people to “feed off” (and consequently, contribute to) is a wiser course of action than simply blikseming them with huge legal clubs.
Thanks for stopping by ;)
Now that is some screwed up shit. Wonder what would have happened in the US?
@Phillip Styen’s house would probably have been repossessed or something. The US is merciless on copyrights and trademarks.
IANAL, but I have a suspicion that a registered trademark (e.g. mxit) has stronger rights than a registered domain (e.g. mxit.co.za or a similar-sounding mixit.co.za), whatever the date of registration. So it might be worthwhile also registering a trademark together with your domain, if it is important to your business or ego. AFK, a trademark costs R590 to register, and only needs to be renewed every 10 years (R290), which isn’t too expensive.
So although I have sympathy with Steyn for being elbowed out of the domain, I think the ruling has an important message: if something is important to you, get adequate statutory protection for it.
Dura lex, sed lex.
@G-J Agreed - enforceable protection is a must if it’s business-related, money-making, and important to you. Since Steyn didn’t just hand over the domain, I’m guessing it was pretty important to him - pity that the Uniforum records show he registered the domain long after mxit.co.za. That’s probably what won the case for MXIT.
Sad stuff, a friend and I once coded(out of curiosity) an mp3 player and called it Showtime. I remember my shock when Nero renamed their player Showtime…
We came up with the name in 2001 and had no idea that someone big will use the name in the future for a similar product..
Stuff happens..shame on Mxit :(
I can imagine how that felt, lol. Yes, MXIT could have handled the saga a little better. But maybe there’s more to this that we don’t know about?