Can you believe this?

[DanceMentor]

Take a look at www.danceforums.com
not to be confused with www.dance-forums.com

Especially take a look at the forum names. What do you think of that?

[youngsta]

That's really shady DM!

[SDsalsaguy]

I'll do you one better Youngsta, DM and I had both posted on this under out typical aliases (he as DanceMentor and me as SDsalsaguy) all of which were deleted on their end. Actually, my entire registration there was wiped clean!

I personally participate in several dance BBs (although none come close to the DF!) and think there's room for all of them. I just really detest the slimy and unethical manner in which this other site is choosing to conduct itself.

Out of curiosity, do we have any lawyers in our midst that can comment on this? Note, for instance, the disclaimer at the bottom of every DF page:

All Rights Reserved - Dance Forums 2002, 2003 - Do Not Copy Content Without Express Written Permission

[jon]

IANAL but I do know how to use the domain name system.

danceforums.com is registered through a Korean registrar and has the following contacts listed:


Domain Name: DANCEFORUMS.COM
Domain Status: ACTIVE
Registrar: Korea Information Certificate Authority, Inc. dba DomainCA.com
Referral URL: http://www.DomainCA.com

Registrant:
Adam Dicker
9251-8 Yonge Street Suite 413

Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C9T3
CA

Administrative Contact:
Adam Dicker sales@dnforum.com
9251-8 Yonge Street Suite 413

Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C9T3
CA
(TEL) 416-884-0535 , (FAX) 905-415-9695

Technical Contact:
Adam Dicker sales@dnforum.com
9251-8 Yonge Street Suite 413

Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C9T3
CA
(TEL) 416-884-0535 , (FAX) 905-415-9695

Billing Contact:
Adam Dicker sales@dnforum.com
9251-8 Yonge Street Suite 413

Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C9T3
CA
(TEL) 416-884-0535 , (FAX) 905-415-9695

Domain Registration Date....: 2003-11-24 GMT.
Domain Expiration Date......: 2004-11-24 GMT.
Domain Last Updated Date....: 2003-11-26 00:20:03 GMT.

Domain Name Servers in listed order:
DNS1.ISPSERVER.CX
DNS2.ISPSERVER.CX


The contacts are at dnforum.com, which is a very similar looking site claiming to be a domain name sales site. There is a bunch of talk about "affiliates" which sounds more like pyramid scams, er, "multi-level marketing", to me. Whether "Adam Dicker" is the same guy involved in pirate settop boxes (http://www.cab-acr.ca/english/media/news/03/nr_jul1103.pdf) in Ontario Canada, I couldn't say. If you feed the street address into Google it turns up a large number of similarly weird little "businesses" (I strongly suspect the "suite #" to be irrelevant, they are probably all the same sad, lonely guy).

You can form your own opinion looking through the dnforums.com forums, but I'd say dnforums is too suspicious looking to be a credible business. OTOH there probably isn't anything you can do about it unless you own a trademark on "dance forums" and pursue it under the UDRP. Probably best to just ignore it, although you might want to make sure you have evidence of the prior registration of dance-forums.com in case of some future dispute over it.

[pygmalion]

Like you, Jon, I am not a lawyer. But I'm guessing that there's probably very little we can do, since dance-forums is the only domain name that is actually registered.

LOL. I'm going to go over there and post some harassing statement or the other. I'm sure I'll get deleted, too, but what the heck! :lol: I think the most we can do to combat this is to keep dance-forums going strong and with high quality. Oh yeah, and advertise. I wonder if DF members could/would help get the word out?

[SDsalsaguy]

Well, as far as their site name, etc., they certainly have a rite to it (even if it is a bit slimy). It is the verbatim forum names and descriptions that I think may actually be legally defensible given the "All Rights Reserved . . . " at the bottom of every DF page, no?

[pygmalion]

That's certainly reasonable grounds for threatening them, SD. :twisted: :lol:

[SDsalsaguy]

Well, they deleted my post to that effect . . . thus leading to my question of if we have any lawyers lurking about . . . :?:

[peachexploration]

The nerve of these people!!!! :evil:

[SDsalsaguy]

The nerve of these people!!!! :evil:

*GRRRRRRRRRR*

[suek]

I thought you guys knew about this...I found it when trying to log on to DF from my parents' house. It's slimy. I just checked them again and they haven't deleted this one: Dance Forums 12-21-2003 04:47 AM I would say this site seems to have forum names and forum descriptions that are EXACTLY like www.dance-forums.com. Many of the members at www.dance-forums.com seem to think this is unethical, and they intend to post messages protesting this until the problem is resolved.
In a word: yuck!

[pygmalion]

Yup, sue. I've been checking them out a few times a day, just to see if there's any traffic over there. Not much, to say the least. I wonder what they hope to accomplish by trying to copy us. Don't they know that we're a force to be reckoned with? dance-forums in the house! Sorry. That just slipped out. :lol:

[SDsalsaguy]

Jenn -- and everyone else here -- let's please not try to visit them *too* much as that just improves their numbers for visits, right?