Exclusive~ Netflix Inc. has purchased the domain name Netflix.tv for $1,000 USD from its past owner. .TV is the international country code domain for the country of Tuvalu. Many may think .TV would stand for "Television" but it is really a country code TLD.
Netflix used domain name buyer BrandCertified Inc., which is a sister company of MarkMonitor to purchase the domain name.
Andrew, the past owner of Netflix.tv did a domain search at GoDaddy.com for the domain name "Netflix.com", which is checking the availability of a domain name. Upon doing this, GoDaddy displays other TLD’s that may be available for registration. This is exactly what on March 8, 2011. Andrew was displayed that Netflix.tv was available for purchase on GoDaddy with a registration price of about $30 per year.
It was 2 AM, and Andrew already had a couple beers but he purchased the domain name. It was almost instantly after the purchase, he had buyers remorse due to potential trademark infringement. He listed the domain name for sale at GoDaddy’s domain market place.
A couple months had passed and no interest in the domain name on the GoDaddy listing, until an email came in from "BrandCertified" after using whois data and they were interested in purchasing the domain name.
The starting offer from BrandCertified was $500
Andrew counter offered with $1,000
BrandCertified accepted the offer!
From first email contact to the closing of the transaction all being done at GoDaddy was 1 week.
So why would Netflix spend $1,000 for a term that is the companies brand and they have a trademark for?
It cost $1,500 minimum to file a complaint to have a chance at getting the domain. The keyword was CHANCE at getting it, because using a 1 panel judge to hear the case, the time involved with legal issues all take time and money. If that 1 judge panel for whatever reason didn’t agree with Netflix that they had the right to the domain… Netflix just dropped $1,500 minimum and doesn’t end up with the domain. Netflix would have been looking at about $3,000 for a 3 panel judgement and again, it is a chance at getting the domain.
I think they would have won, but even if they did go that route, they would have overpaid by $500-$2K and it would have taken much longer than 1 week.
Is Andrew a "bad guy"?
Yes and no. It is a 10 way street really IMO! Why is it "OK" for a domain registrar to sell the domain in the first place at registration fee? Technically, they are profiting off of a trademark, so the registrar was the first bad guy, Andrew was the second.
Risk vs Reward! Andrew took a risk, even if it was enforced by a couple beers and an early morning viewing of Danica Patrick’s lovely face. This time it paid off in the tune of about $970 to spend in a crazy night at Las Vegas for Andrew.
Netflix fumbled and paid for it!
The domain was "available", so really, IMO, Netflix and its team should have been monitoring the domain name when it expired on 1/1/2011 and registered it when it fully expired and became available! Andrew just happened to be doing a better job at this, even though it was by accident.
My Advice
I wouldn’t advise you to purchase trademark termed domain names. If the domain name is generic, go ahead! Movie, Store, Candy, Money and really any generic term (including acronyms) should all be a first come, first serve situation. In this case, Andrew got lucky and I think Netflix learned a lesson as well. Hire a company that knows domain names and have them monitor their brand and related domain names to it. If this was the case, Netflix would have been buying Netflix.tv when it was released from the registry and not from Andrew.
Some companies are harsh and often overstep the land they own IMO. I lost the domain name RollScreens.com even though I thought it was a generic term domain name when I purchased it. A company owns the mark on "Rolscreen" and came after me for owning RollScreens.com. I wasn’t aware of the mark ROLSCREEN when I purchased the domain, plus I still think that Roll Screens come in many forms of products to this day. I lost the domain name because I couldn’t afford the minimum of $1,500 to defend myself in a domain name dispute case.
You win some and you lose some. Some things make better business decisions than it may look to the average person.
