September 30, 2009 – (AN)

I guess you could say this is the first of my own “Corporate Bully” articles. As having been personally threatened and attacked by media giant, Associated Newspapers Ltd. I have found a new journalism purpose – to expose Corporate Bullies wherever they are.

What is a Corporate Bully. A Corporate Bully in my opinion is not an organization itself, though it may seem like it, it is always a person or persons within a big organization or corporation who use their position might and money to unfairly pick on or push around a small individual or individuals, either within their own organization or outside of it, to sully their name, etc., or otherwise disrespect their human rights, So here is the first example of a Corporate Bully getting its “up commence”.

Big and mighty, Associated Newspapers Limited was not satisfied with owning two major paid-for national newspaper titles in the UK as well as a free nationally available newspaper in the UK, it decided it wanted to invade the US and wanted to steal our domain names, AssociatedNews.info and AssociatedNews.us from me.

First they tired to “bully” me into giving up my domain name by attacking me with a large UK solicitor firm sending me “Cease and Desist” notices and then trying to “bribe” me into taking money to give up my domain name. Now my web site, AssociatedNews.info is a free service and   I have nothing to do with the UK and I am certainly not competing with the UK’s Associated Newspapers Limited.

So threatening and bribing tactics not working, On Friday August 21, 2009 Associated Newspapers Limited filed a Complaint with an ICANN-approved dispute resolution service provider, the National Arbitration Forum (Forum), concerning our domain AssociatedNews.Info.

How big is Associated Newspapers Ltd? Well according to the complaint:

“Complainant is the management company and publisher of a range of well-known newspapers and periodicals including two UK national newspapers, the Daily Mail (launched 1896) and The Mail on Sunday (launched 1982)…a recent report from Audited Bureau of Circulations covering the period January to June 2009 showing the Daily Mail as the second largest UK daily newspaper and The Mail on Sunday as the second largest Sunday newspaper with circulation over that period of approximately 2.2 million and 2.1 million per issue respectively. Other publications of the Complainant include the free weekday commuter newspaper Metro (launched 1999) with a circulation 1.3 million per issue, making it the world’s largest free newspaper.
…. The Complainant’s turnover was £797 million for year ended 2006 and £822 million for year ended 2007.”

This not being enough, here is what they wanted from little old me. They wanted to steal my domain name. In some fifty plus pages of their complaint they requested:

The Complainant requests that the Panel issue a decision that the domain name registration be transferred to the Complainant. ICANN Rule 3(b)(x); ICANN Policy ¶ 4(i).

In order to win such a dispute the Complainant must prove:

…the Complainant must prove each of the following three elements to obtain an order that a domain name should be cancelled or transferred:

(1) the domain name registered by the Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights;

(2) the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and

(3) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

But even though I did not have a fifty solicitor budget (I couldn’t afford even one, honestly, so I have to answer the complaint myself as honestly as I could.) on September 29th, 2009, the arbitration panel rendered its decision:

In view of the Panel’s determination that all three elements required under the ICANN Policy have not been established, the Panel concludes that relief shall be DENIED.

So there you go, one small victory for the oppressed, one giant loss for the Corporate Bullies of the world….Who was the exact Corporate Bully within Associated Newspapers Ltd who used their position and power to attack a small website in the US. Well we may never know. But whomever it was, after spending gads of money to no end, might be just a little less likely to do it again.