Well-known IP attorney John Berryhill published an angry post on the NamePros forum for domain investors. The reason for his anger was an ad banner at NamePros that links to the Sedo auction, which is offering 007.BOND and James.BOND for sale at $100,000 each.
The .BOND domain was originally delegated to Australia’s private Bond University as a dot-brand, but the University couldn’t find a use for it and sold it to the ShortDot registry, which made it public, taking advantage of the fact that, as a common dictionary word, ‘bond’ is not a protected trademark. At the same time, the registry set a very high price – .BOND domains cost roughly $800 per year to register and renew.
It should be made clear that the trademarks for 007 and James Bond are managed by Danjaq LLC, the holding company responsible for all trademarks related to James Bond on screen, currently owned and managed by the Albert R. Broccoli family, a co-initiator of the popular franchise. They are very vigilant over their interests, and are unlikely to ignore the 007.BOND and James.BOND domains, as the very registration of these names is an obvious trademark infringement. So the respected lawyer pointed this out and expressed a few choice words on the matter. “So, some idiot paid $800 for this domain name, made a custom banner to advertise it in specific association with the movie franchise, and thinks someone is going to pay $100k for it? If this is something that strikes you as a good idea then, please, get out of domaining immediately,” Domain Gang quoted Berryhill.
