Craigslist demands surrender of URL

INTERNET CLASSIFIEDS network Craigslist has served a takedown notice on the fan website Craigslist Blog.

Craigslist fan Tim White launched his Blog last month but is not employed there. At that time, Craigslist did not have a blog site of its own. That's since changed, as Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster now writes an official Craigslist blog. Now he wants White to surrender his fan website domain name.

White posted an email he received from Buckmaster that claims White's domain name "craigslistblog.org" is "infringing" and "needlessly confusing to members of the media and the general public, and must be changed."

Buckmaster did not request that White cease blogging about Craigslist, but he demanded that White turn his domain name over to Craigslist and stop posting excerpts of Craigslist content.

White did agree to stop excerpting Craigslist postings and started labeling his Craigslist Blog "(the unofficial one)". But he wants to retain his domain name.

Craigslist will likely win this domain name dispute, and it should. White's use of Craigslist's name for his fan blog makes this practically an open-and-shut case.

Since White's a fan, maybe Buckmaster should simply hire him to help write the official Craigslist blog. µ

L'Inq
News.com