Doh. Domain squatters snatched away the domain name GeorgeWBushLibrary.com and made an easy $34,990 profit on promptly selling it to back to Yuma Solutions, the web development company that let it expire. Yuma has been a contractor for the Bush family for quite some time, and the domain name they accidentally let expire belonged to the George W. Bush Library Foundation. It originally bought the domain in 2007 from another squatter for $3,000.
It looks like Yuma is going to have to eat the cost of not renewing the domain.
The Dallas Morning News reports:
Mark Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Library Foundation, said Tuesday that he didn’t know about the Web site being lost and recovered. But, he said, he would know if the library had been stuck with a surprise $35,000 expenditure.
The name of the squatter who so adeptly flipped the URL is, appropriately enough, Illuminati Karate (which is another Web design firm in Raleigh, North Carolina).
I know, it’s business… and it’s money, but it’s also just plain rude! Squatters stink up the net. (I’d say the same if it happened to Obama)
Please… this is how the Bush economy works. But on a micro-scale.
Hey, they were both squatters, that’s like saying there is no honor among thieves.
The crucial distinction you’re missing is that Obama is not (yet) a retarded spendthrift torturer.
Auto renew? LOL
I always find this odd; why not register for 10 years and extend that once a year ? It’s mot like the additional $120 expense will challenge their budgets.
That is totally cool!
Not that I’m really of an age where the word ‘cool’ should be used. But this kind of cyber Robin Hood experience necessitates such use of the word.
So here it is again.
COOL!
You are a moron, they are cyber scums not Robin Hoods.
No, you are the moron. They didn’t ‘force’ YUMA to pay for it, but YUMA did, to avoid embarrassment for being so naive not to renew it. You think if you don’t pay for the phone number you’ve had for years, you have a ‘right’ to it if it gets reassigned to someone else?? Good grief!
Guess they should have been paying attention!
since when is georgewbushlibrary a trademarked term which is required to be cyberssquatting. the losers are the ones that let it expire. worst president in our lifetime and you think people care about him or his library. instead of letting the worthless crumby long geriatric domain go they spend 35g on it to save face (account). the people that have sold this domain are investors not squatters. you can call them squatters as long as you call every investor in the stock market a “stock squatter.” title of this artile should read…… Lame Bush Presidental Library Committee loses Bush’s domain and to make matters worse they repurchase the worthless domain for 35,000.
DomainerLocator.com – position yourself
lolzz… very well said… heheheh….
if there was only 1 stock for each company, then your comparison would fit. But given that a domain is unique, comparing the two is like comparing apples and snowflakes.
The only domains that should be worth anything are 2-word or 3 syllable .coms and one word .nets.
That is a terrible domain name.
I own 3 letter domain name but I keep it as backup investment , just in case something happens I can sell it for at least 15K
lol good luck selling it for 15K in this economy
Heh, interesting to see that BarackObamaLibrary.com has already been taken…
Try BarackHObamalibrary.com and you’ll be redirected to the J. McCain farewell speech.
Same thing happens with Obama’s real name
barrysoetoro.com
CrappySiteLocator.com, your thought process on this is about as far off base as were your thoughts to create all of the Locator.com sites that you have put together. If they filed a complaint, they would have won it back. The $35k was just so they could do it and try to keep it from becoming a media frenzy, which doesn’t seem to have worked.
That’s a nice flip and kudos to the person who did it. If an asset like your domain is worth that much to your business there’s no way you should never allow that to happen. Definitely a costly mistake.
*ever allow that to happen
damn, someone already snatched GeorgeWBushLiebrary.com
George W Bush Library???? Isn’t that an oxymoron?
You’re right Bush famously declared that he isn’t a “bookish person”.
Amazing… things a squatter can do. Well, at least the domain was sold back to the rightful owners
Ah, domain squatters. The only thing you can put next to a blood-engorged leech to make it look more appealing.
It’s business, pal. Get over it.
No, you are scumbags.
I concur, you’re a scumbag.
yeah right. weak. just like that fake last name and link of yours. hang out here awhile im sure you will learn something. you can start by asking me how to choose a better last name and domain name for yourself. i sense your frustrations.
GovernmentLocator.com – ruling class
“hang out here awhile im sure you will learn something. you can start by asking me how to choose a better last name and domain name for yourself.”
This made me laugh. Your various “Locators” are among my least favorite self-promotional garbagespam out of all of the garbagespammers on TechCrunch. What’s your personal website, out of curiosity? SpammerLocator.com?
Oh and your opinions about who is and who is not a “great president” are so very interesting, factual, and nuanced. Can I expect a “Garbagespammer’s Comprehensive Guide to Presidential Policy” anytime soon?
@ Joel Strellar
My last name is made up? Wow, never been accused of that. Who would pick Strellner as a made up last name? You are the one making it up saying it is Strellar.
And http://twitturly.com is a pretty good name, considering it is a play on the things we do. We are based off of Twitter and deal with URLs, so I thought it was pretty clever.
Go “Locate” a different site that has people that want to see your spam. I think you be trying to locate it for a while, because it doesn’t exist.
Obviously, you should rebrand to TwitterUrlLocator.com. Then file the necessary paperwork to change your name to “Joel Locator.” You’re sitting on a goldmine of potential here.
interesting times indeed, people making a living out of reselling domains. I would never waste any cash buying back a domain, instead its far cheaper creating a whole new domain. i agree domains are hot property, how on earth do you let it expire when you’re aware its still within your future projects…
nice catch
It’s a shame that the Bush foundation didn’t absorb the cost of this purchase. It would be one of the few things they would actually have to pay for.
Evan
http://www.beyondrace.com
Anyone interested in buying my RodRBlagojevichLibrary.com? Who knows what will happen eight years from now? Great deal!
whatever, the fact is somehow this is going to end up costing the tax payers before he ever steps out of office. Hell half is online being was in one way or another footed by us. I will just say this they were dumb enough to do then oh well
If I am not mistaken, Presidential libraries are funded privately.
domain squatters…scum of the earth. very similar to patent trolls, who patent ideas that they never had any intentions of building an actual product out of.
the world would be a better place without lawyers, domain squatters, patent trolls, democrats, etc.
Now now, you’re allowing 99% of them to give all the rest a bad name!
What ‘web solutions’ company is dumb enough to let a domain expire?!?!
cool
And how is this George W Bush’s fault? Judging by the picture used, it appears your just going to blame another one on g.w.
I am the owner of Illuminati Karate, I am the one who bought and sold the domain.
There’s a lot of harsh things said here but I’ll say this – I literally laughed all the way to the bank.
Thrilled to be on TechCrunch, thanks for picking up the story Mike. If you need any more info, my email is george@ill-k.com
Cheers!
Well I’m not Mike, but thanks for the comment anyway.
D’oh! My apologies Robin! Thanks to you for your coverage.
Got a little excited.
all I will say is – KUDOS!!!!
Job well done sir
Good job on taking that kind of profit.
But I must say, with that 35K maybe you could hire a real web dev person to finish your site, like under portfolio to have coming soon just looks well like a White Belt not a Black belt Mr. Karate.
@eric – thanks man, very much appreciated.
@envy – touche. I wasn’t planning on launching this redesign until 2009, but with the added traffic and how badly the site needed a facelift I decided to go with what was done. Portfolio should be online sometime tomorrow.
I like the site and the use of Jquery, I am suprised to see you are using cakephp over ZendFramework…. Cake seams like a sort of dead project, same version number for along time… the “just baked” has had the same list for 6+ months….
Why sold it back so cheap…?
after expiration domains wait for 3 months for original owner to prolong registrations.
if the original owners were dumb enough not to prolong the registrations for 3 months then they deserve it, domain goes away.
Hey Robin,
Who hired you to write blog posts like that? is Mike running out of talented writers?
The domain name expired. It was bought. Where is squatting involved?
Morons like you give the domain name industry a bad name.
You’re an idiot.
http://en.wikip.../Cybersquatting
” registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else”
What you quoted is pretty much the “definition” of cybersquatting, although obviously no one’s forced to agree with Wikipedia’s entry. But why is Illuminati Karate called a “squatter” here, which is probably what Chris maybe angrily commented about?
Indeed, where is squatting involved? Unless we seek to redefine it to what we want it to be?
Dave, please, Illuminati Karate doesn’t even deny it.
“Morons like you give the domain name industry a bad name.”
Funniest comment ever.
Because obviously without coverage like this the domain name industry would have a stellar reputation.
Everyone LOVES domainers! Why are tech writers, blog authors and others always picking on them?
It’s just so… so… unfair!
(wipes tears from eyes)
Sorry but http://www.bara...bamalibrary.com is already Registered.
Loving the drama on the comment boxes!
It is cybersquatting because the phrase “George W Bush” is trademarked, and at the time Illuminati Karate bought the domain it was obvious what that domain should be used for the planned George W Bush library, so them using that domain or trying to sell it would be cybersquatting.
Is it, indeed? Unlike Hillary Clinton who has because she sold books under her name, politicians don’t necessarily have trademark rights to their namesakes.
If George himself made money using his name, then perhaps he might have one. But that means he himself would’ve to argue, not his library foundation who bought the domain name back and not him personally.
So unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily cybersquatting. Not this time, anyway.
Dont get it ? they could of got this name back free via UDRP or WIPO………talk about wasting 35K as well as being dumb.
Not really free as it costs around $1300 to $1500 (I think) to file a dispute, much more get a favorable decision.
Well everyone is trying to make a buck or two from the internet, Many follow the long hard slog of creating a website full of content and continue to work on it day after day, others (Squatters) are opportunists, however it is a business after all. I hope that the taxes are paid on this sale.
Neither did Illuminati Karate admit it, didn’t they? Although George did say “I literally laughed all the way to the bank”, I guess one can take that to mean, in their own convenient belief, that one doesn’t deny being a squatter.
But…you still haven’t said what a squatter is, outside of the generally-accepted dictionary definition and Wikipedia’s entry. Not that everyone’s forced to agree with you or me, anyway, but name-calling without any necessarily factual or authoritative basis isn’t exactly productive.
I’m sure, though, you know how to use your time productively.
sell your domains and websites for free at http://www.zoomwam.com stop wasting your money on listing fees and final value fees
i am jealous of that guy who snatched the domain and flipped it
Speaking of George W. Bush:
George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism (indicated in my blog).
George W. Bush did in fact commit innumerable hate crimes.
And I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed other hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention.
Many people know what Bush did.
And many people will know what Bush did—even to the end of the world.
Bush was absolute evil.
Bush is now like a fugitive from justice.
Bush is a psychological prisoner.
Bush has a lot to worry about.
Bush can technically be prosecuted for hate crimes at any time.
In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
______________________
I am not sure where I had read it before, but anyway, it is a linguistically excellent statement, and it goes kind of like this: “If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memory so it never got stale and faded.” Oh wait—off the top of my head—I think the quotation came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.
Smart and fast domain flipper.My idol :0
Thanks for the info – don’t forget to post about the Australian domain name industry – it’s really starting to take off… Thanks again