Slipknot Files Lawsuit to Get Slipknot.com Website From Cyber-Squatter

Slipknot says a cyber-squatter has been using the URL slipknot.com to advertise counterfeit merchandise for more than two decades — and the heavy metal band is now waging a legal battle in pursuit of the domain name.

A federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday (Oct. 15) alleges that an anonymous web operator has held the domain slipknot.com since 2001. Unable to use this domain for Slipknot’s official website, the famously masked metal band hosts its store on the clunkier URL slipknot1.com.

Little is known about the slipknot.com cyber-squatter, other than the fact that they own a post office box in the Cayman Islands. The band, which has been recording music and touring since the 1990s, says this individual clearly had bad intentions from the outset.

“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,” writes Slipknot’s lawyer Craig Reilly.

The lawsuit claims slipknot.com hosts pay-for-click advertising that directs users to counterfeit Slipknot merchandise, including versions of the band’s signature masks, t-shirts and sweatshirts emblazoned with the band’s trademarks. These sponsored links hurt sales of official Slipknot merch, the band alleges.

“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,” writes Reilly.

Slipknot is now bringing claims under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, a 1999 federal statute that created a pathway for individuals to reclaim domain names through litigation. They’re asking a judge to enter an injunction giving them ownership of slipknot.com.

The case also accuses slipknot.com’s unknown site operator of trademark infringement and unfair competition. Slipknot is seeking unspecified financial damages in addition to an injunction.

A Slipknot rep did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday (Oct. 17).