HOT! The Story of how RIM Got www.InsideBlackBerry.com for Their Official Blog

by Ronen Halevy on Jun 12th, 2009 at 3:00 pm EST

NOTE: This is some pretty scary news for companies which have “BlackBerry” anywhere in your domain name… “Berry” seems fine since RIM was denied all of those. I guess RIM thinks they own every “Berry”.

When RIM originally launched their blog, Inside BlackBerry, they did not actually own www.insideblackberry.com. Personally I thought they were crazy to call their blog by a name they did not control but I guess I was wrong. Turns out that RIM had something else in mind.

In a complaint RIM made to the World Intellectual Property Organization, RIM claimed that Georges Elias had registered over 111 domain names using the word BlackBerry in them using Godaddy. RIM filed the complaint and won 101 names that have BlackBerry in them and lost the 10 names that had just Berry according to DomainNameWire. Looks like RIM really does own the word BlackBerry.

Its actually kind of sleazy how RIM went about this. Elias claims that RIM used Tucows Yummy Names division to approach him about purchasing his domain name www.insideblackberry.com. They never told Tucows or Elias that they were actually gathering evidence for their case against Elias. The arbitrators did not seem to care about that.

I just love some of these domain names that Elias registered:

alwaysbetonblackberry.com
blackberryonice.com
onceyougoblackberryyouwillnevergobackberry.com

While I love the fact that a domain squatter got quashed I still think it is kind of sleazy on RIM’s part.
What do you think?

Check out the full list after the jump or you can read the full complaint at this link

1. <alwaysbetonblackberry.com>	2. <alwaysblackberry.com>
3. <babablackberry.com>	4. <backinblackberry.com>
5. <bolderblackberry.com>	6. <betonblackberry.com>
7. <intheblackberry.com>	8. <basicblackberry.com>
9. <blackberryandcoke.com>	10. <blackberryandroll.com>
11. <blackberrybeauties.com>	12. <blackberrybeauty.com>
13. <blackberrybootcamp.com>	14. <blackberrycardreader.com>
15. <blackberrychic.com>	16. <blackberrycouture.com>
17. <blackberrycreditcardswipe.com>	18. <blackberrydad.com>
19. <blackberrydads.com>	20. <blackberrydiscount.com>
21. <blackberrydog.com>	22. <blackberrydummy.com>
23. <blackberryfighter.com>	24. <blackberrygreen.com>
25. <blackberryinside.com>	26. <blackberryisbeautiful.com>
27. <blackberryisthenewgreen.com>	28. <blackberrykid.com>
29. <blackberrykids.com>	30. <blackberrylabel.com>
31. <blackberrymind.com>	32. <blackberrymoms.com>
33. <blackberryonice.com>	34. <blackberryphd.com>
35. <blackberryplatinum.com>	36. <blackberrypreorder.com>
37. <blackberryrising.com>	38. <blackberryshot.com>
39.<blackberryshots.com>	40. <blackberrystory.com>
41. <blackberryswipe.com>	42. <blackberrytimes.com>
43. <blackberryup.com>	44. <blackberryvogue.com>
45. <blackberrywoman.com>	46. <blackberryxg.com>
47. <busyblackberry.com>	48. <byblackberry.com>
49. <bzberry.com>	50. <bzblackberry.com>
51. <conblackberry.com>	52. <newidenblackberry.com>
53. <doyoublackberry.com>	54. <drinkblackberry.com>
55. <elblackberry.com>	56. <ezblackberry.com>
57. <foreverblackberry.com>	58. <fullcontactblackberry.com>
59. <happyblackberry.com>	60. <hechoenblackberry.com>
61. <hookedonblackberry.com>	62. <howdoyoublackberry.com>
63. <iamblackberry.com>	64. <idenblackberry.com>
65. <inablackberry.com>	66. <insideblackberry.com>
67. <isblackberry.com>	68. <jackblackberry.com>
69. <johnnywalkerblackberry.com>	70. <madeinblackberry.com>
71. <magicblackberry.com>	72. <mattblackberry.com>
73. <matteblackberry.com>	74. <meninblackberry.com>
75. <newnextelblackberry.com>	76. <professorblackberry.com>
77. <nextelblackberrydeals.com>	78. <nowblackberry.com>
79. <onceblackberry.com>	80.<onceyougoblackberryyouwillnevergobackberry.com>
81.<onceyouvehadblackberryyoullnevergobackberry.com>	82. <platinumblackberry.com>
83. <powerblackberry.com>	84. <poweredbyblackberry.com>
85. <smarterblackberry.com>	86. <sprintblackberrydeals.com>
87. <superblackberry.com>	88. <4gblackberry.com>
89. <whatisblackberry.com>	90. <withblackberry.com>
91. <blackberriesonblondes.com>	92. <hookedonblackberries.com>
93. <berrymom.com>	94. <berrynegro.com>
95. <berrydelsol.com>	96. <hisberry.com>
97. <iqberry.com>	98. <mommyberry.com>
99. <nextelberry.com>	100. <sheberry.com>
101. <verdeberry.com>	102. <copberry.com>
103. <berryverde.com>	104. <obamaberry.com>
105. <obamaberry.info>	106. <obamaberry.net>
107. <obamaberry.org>	108. <blackberrito.com>
109. <blackjackberry.com>	110. <neverbackberry.com>
111. <nevergobackberry.com>

Please Share With A Friend!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 and is filed under News.
Tags: Berry, BlackBerry, Domain Names, Inside BlackBerry, WIPO

If you enjoyed this article, make sure you subscribe to our RSS Feed to stay on top of the latest BlackBerry news you can use.

Previous Post: Review: BEIKS Woman Calendar »
Next Post: iSkin Vibes: The Skin that just Screams “Look At Me!” »

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

Latest Articles:

15 Comments to “HOT! The Story of how RIM Got www.InsideBlackBerry.com for Their Official Blog”

Posted by: garys11
June 12, 2009 at 3:10 pm EST

I guess I will get a letter soon, my domain is listed…lol

Reply
Posted by: TTune
June 12, 2009 at 3:15 pm EST

My opinion, for what it’s worth: A domain squatter used whatever tools he could to try and milk the system and steal traffic from a copyright holder.

The Copyright holder used whatever methods (the same tools) to get their property back.

Seems fair to me.

I hate the squatters that steal my browser because I typed in a name incorrectly.

Reply
- Posted by: Paul
  June 12, 2009 at 3:46 pm EST
  
  TTune is right. I hate squaters and besides domains mean nothing anymore. It’s all about google. Ask yourself the last time you used a companie’s domain name rather than googling them? I even google domains I know because google gives me the sitemap so I can go into it.
  
  AND it’s hard to win domains against these A-Holes so GOOD for you RIM. They must have a crack legal team!
  
  Reply
Posted by: Michael Jones
June 12, 2009 at 4:02 pm EST

These guys are just like the patent trolls that patent obvious things like “walking on two legs”, and then go and sue people who walk.

Why don’t they simply get a real job?

Besides, it is not as easy as that. For example, people get mad at Apple, when they shut down a site called Apple.org. But if they don’t shut the site down, and other similar legal things, they can lose the right to the word ‘Apple’ as referring to a computer.

Later, Apple.org could sue Apple, and it would drag everybody into court, and then Apple would pay $25,000 to shut them up and buy the rights or something like that. So for the price of a domain name (what? $8), the Apple.org people make $25,000.

Stuff like that. You have to protect your name.

Reply
Posted by: Corinne
June 12, 2009 at 4:05 pm EST

Nevertheless, onceyougoblackberryyounevergobackberry.com is a great domain name.

Too long though.

Reply
Posted by: Ichabod Crane
June 12, 2009 at 4:37 pm EST

It’s not that creepy Ronen. Was he using them for any legitimate purpose? Why else would someone register 100+ names with “blackberry” in it if not to cyber squat?

Reply
Posted by: Steve
June 12, 2009 at 5:18 pm EST

RIM won the case for blackberrito.com wow..

Reply
Posted by: nah.uhh
June 12, 2009 at 5:58 pm EST

hey.. if they come head hunting for berryreview or crackberry blackberryfaq etc, im going to throw tomatoes at ballsillie’s hockey team…
im not worried about buddy, rim was just cheesed someone made it their goal to buy all the good blackberry urls.
what if blackberry came out with a new phone called “inside”
its clear they werent talking about blacks or berries or blackberries, they were talking about BlackBerry smartphones

Reply
Posted by: Richard
June 12, 2009 at 6:02 pm EST

I have zero sympathy for squatters. RIM is providing a valuable service to a lot of people, unlike Georges who’s apparently just trying to make a lazy buck off someone else’s work.

Reply
Posted by: Ronen Halevy
June 12, 2009 at 6:59 pm EST

I hate cybersquatters just as much as the next guy but I just find it crazy that RIM now owns the word blackberry. It is a regular english word. I don’t know if rim won the case because George was a squatter or because they essentially own anything that has blackberry. Kind of like when apple sued the education company that had an apple in their logo…
I obviously have a vested interest here which is pretty safe since Berry was denied but its kind of crazy that rim thinks they own that too.
The funniest part is that insideblackberry was not even one of the best domains in the list…

Reply
- Posted by: RedNightHawk
  June 12, 2009 at 10:04 pm EST
  
  I sort of understand what you’re saying, but I don’t find this particular instance all that worrisome.
  
  A few years back a corporate chain called Jersey City filed a suit against a mom and pop type shop called Jersey Joe’s. From what I recall the mom and pop shop had been in existence long before the chain started up, but the chain had trademarked their name and a judge somehow ruled that the word Jersey belonged to the chain and other stores couldn’t use it (the theory being it was confusing to customers and would net the mom and pop shop business from Jersey City’s advertising). I found it weird then that a corporation could own rights to a word, especially when that word was in existence long before they came around. I think that’s what your concern is, Ronen, since blackberry similarly was in use before RIM came around, and if I understand your concern it’s how far do their rights extend into our lives.
  
  It would be nice if trademark laws were a little more friendly in that regard – it’s one thing to own a made up name like Coca-Cola, another to own words like Apple, etc.
  
  That said, I have no sympathy for cybersquatters, and don’t find the evidence gathering method they used particularly sleazy (it’s the way things work in investigations). I’m not familiar with the sites you mentioned, but if they were just parked sites the last thing RIM would want to do is tip him off and give him time to put a real site together on them).
  
  P.S. if they ever picked on you they’d have a revolt on their hands from PO’ed BB users. A lot of us like this site and would have your back.
  
  Reply
Posted by: DonGato
June 13, 2009 at 12:37 am EST

I don’t think this is bad. If they own the name and find someone registering literally hundreds of domains with it then go ahead and recover them. It would be different if you own a domain and you use it properly.

Reply
Posted by: Josep Maria
June 13, 2009 at 5:51 pm EST

Thanks Ronen for the advice, so now i am awaiting news from RIM

Reply
- Posted by: dario betancourt
  June 14, 2009 at 10:47 pm EST
  
  tks ronen..even when you are safe using “berry” word, some others are being a little worry about this case. I think that the “bad faith” thing was so important, then I wait that domain like miblackberry.com or blackberrylatino.com that are publishing articles or reviews improving the experience for users maybe could be saw as a “good faith”
  at least… I hope…
  Dario
  
  Reply