SLIPKNOT Is Suing The Owners Of Slipknot.com After 20+ Years

Slipknot is finally attempting to take control of Slipknot.com after 20+ years via a brand new lawsuit. Slipknot‘s website is currently Slipknot1.com, as Slipknot.com was registered to someone else sometime in 2001.

“The domain name was registered in an effort to profit off of plaintiff’s goodwill and to trick unsuspecting visitors — under the impression they are visiting a website owned, operated or affiliated with plaintiff — into clicking on web searches and other sponsored links,” the band’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit, as obtained by Domain Name Wire.

“A fan of plaintiff or someone who otherwise wanted to purchase authorized Slipknot merchandise would undoubtedly visit the slipknot.com website assuming it belonged to plaintiff and then purchase the Slipknot merchandise linked to on the site, causing damages to plaintiff.”

The band is suing the entities that own Slipknot.com for cybersquatting under the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and trademark infringement. Though who actually owns the domain name is a little more difficult than that: “The name of the registrant of the Slipknot.com domain is not identified in WHOIS or ICANN records, but these records list a post office box address for registrant in the Cayman Islands.

“Elsewhere in these records, ‘technical’ and ‘administrative’ contact information is given. 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.”

So why now? I’m guessing this has something to do with the potential sale of Slipknot‘s catalog. Maybe whoever’s buying it wants Slipknot.com to be part of the deal?