Famed heavy metal rock band Slipknot has filed a lawsuit against the owners of the website Slipknot.com.
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According to Metal Injection, the owners have had possession of the domain since 2001. The band has to use the domain “Slipknot1.com” instead.
“The domain name was registered in an effort to profit off of plaintiff’s goodwill and to trick unsuspecting visitors,” the band’s complaint reads. “Under the impression they are visiting a website owned, operated or affiliated with plaintiff — into clicking on web searches and other sponsored links.”
The complaint also stated that the domain could continue to confuse Slipknot fans. “A fan of plaintiff or someone who otherwise wanted to purchase authorized Slipknot merchandise would undoubtedly visit the slipknot.com website,” the complaint continues. “Assuming it belonged to plaintiff and then purchase the Slipknot merchandise linked to on the site, causing damages to plaintiff.”
Slipknot Faces Some Obstacles in the Web Domain Lawsuit
Slipknot has filed the lawsuit under the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and trademark infringement. However, the band is facing some legal hurdles because the registrant’s address is in the Cayman Islands.
“Elsewhere in these records, ‘technical’ and ‘administrative’ contact information is given,” the band’s complaint continued. “Here, an organization named ‘Slipknot Online Services, Ltd’ is listed along with the same address in the Cayman Islands. A search for this organization name however, shows that it is not registered in any state in the United States.”
The lawsuit was filed just after Slipknot’s “Duality” house in West Des Moines, Iowa, was put up for foreclosure auction.
USA Today reported that the residence appeared in the 2004 music video. In the video, fans trashed the home by smashing videos, jumping from the garage roof onto parked vehicles, and turning the living room into a mosh pit.
The Bank of New York reportedly foreclosed on the residence after the owners failed to pay the $141,403.82 balance. The owners have had possession of the house since 2005.