Morning Folks!!
You just can't make this stuff up! Are they clueless? Are they out of touch? How do you excuse this colossal screw up? For $30,000, somebody or some department or departments PLUS their attorneys made a decision to put the reputation of Procter and Gamble on the line. For $30,000!!!!!!!!!!
You guys fill in the adjectives. I am off the rails on this. I just can't believe what I just read. Besides that, they were getting a BARGAIN for a domain like that. $30k??!! GEEZ! How do you not call the folks involved MORONS?? And worse!?
So Mr. McDonald, what say you TODAY?? Who is responsible for this DISASTER?? Bet he makes over $30k a year! Your company has been soiled and stained FOREVER and NONE of your own products can fix this. No reputation management software can fix this. It's all on record in an official proceeding.
However you can start to fix it! What say you?? Isn't it worth the attempt? It can only get worse as the news spreads and it is spreading.
Ok, not me, then how about Cavuto? Go on his show. EXPLAIN who and why. You don't think heads should roll? Do you really think you can ignore this? What IDIOT is responsible?
This is outrageous and if I were you I would be fuming at this! 172 years came and went and a stellar brand has now been branded a REVERSE DOMAIN NAME HIJACKER! If you IGNORE this then I would interpret that as nothing learned.
Procter and Gamble (P&G) has been found GUILTY of trying to REVERSE HIJACK a domain that they did not own via an ABUSE of the governing body and LIED during the process. Saying they did $40 Million in business n the swash product when in FACT it was $60,000. That ain't just a little fib. That is misleading the governing body to influence them with a LIE! And if it were not for the attorney, Mr. Berryhill, it may never have come to light. (You can read some of his comments about the case here)
That is now around the neck of Procter and Gamble until they use their influence to PROTECT domain owners not ABUSE domain owners! To do business the right way and not THAT way! They have been doing this a long time. They KNOW the rules. But they decided to abuse those rules instead of abiding by those rules.
My question and yours now should be, HOW MANY OTHER TIMES AND TO OTHER PEOPLE DID PROCTER AND GAMBLE DO THIS TO?? HOW MANY DID NOT OR COULD NOT DEFEND THEMSELVES? How many of your 8000+ domain names have been gotten through less than honorable means?
Don't like those questions? TOO BAD! They are coming and they will continue to come. This MAY be the tip of the iceberg and I think we have a right to find out. Especially if the company does not address this directly. It's their reputation and right now and for the first time in 172 years, they don't control it.
Procter and Gamble has been a beacon of marketing for generations! It's one of America's finest companies. It HAD a stellar name. It hurts to go after a company I have admired and learned from all my life. This is not fun. Painful in fact. But I know a vaccine when I see one. I know this will be a HUGE lesson for the next guy. That's what this is about for me. An Inoculation to protect me and you and all domain owners big and small. Let them watch what happens when you get tagged with being a REVERSE DOMAIN NAME HIJACKER (RDNH).
I am upset and I have nothing to do with your company and don't own any stock in it. So if the folks that work there are not 100x as outraged as I am, that the name of a GREAT company has been FOREVER SOILED, then they are just CHUMPS that don't get it and there are 2 MEN rolling in their graves who would not be proud of this day or them. That's my opinion and I think the facts support that opinion.
ON THE RECORD FOR THE RECORD!!
Rick Schwartz
Scott Alliy
Sadly we are a victim of timing. Most of us your age and mine view the world from a manufacturing standpoint where during and following the industrial revolution folks saw products and services as tangible items and placed value on them accordingly.
Enter Intellectual Property sans tangibility and confusion sets in.
People will one day see the intrinsic value of domain names and those of us visionaries willing to take action and patient enough to hold onto our assets will reap the rewards of our vision and patience IMO
BTW this lack of understanding of how to value I.P. by key execs is in part attributed from our inverted education system that pumps out students who day by day become less not more valuable from retaining the antiquated non relevant education and information they received years ago which has little or no relation to whats is going on today and yet that earns them ever increasing wages even as their leadership value and practical business knowledge skills continues to decrease.
This case is a prime reason for mandatory continuing (actual relevant) education IMO.
Jack Hammer
I love it! Turn up the heat on these pigs!
Puckerhuddle
P&G obviously feels they are above the law.
Its really bad when a business as significant as P&G ignores what every kindergarden student knows.
!!!!YOU DON’T TAKE OTHER PEOPLES STUFF!!!!!
nux
I’m guessing this won’t affect their reputation at all outside of the domaining industry.
Aaron
This act of PG is absolutely disgraceful. We need to focus our attention to ethics and morality. Decisions are easy when you do whats right. I wish more understood this. Rick, Thanks again for holding the liars responsible for their despiccable acts.
henry
You are absolutely right, no one will care. How many people actually look at consumer products and see if they are buying Proctor and Gamble or Johnson and Johnson or the 100 other big corporations that make products. Rick we don’t buy corporations we buy Brands and the brand is the only thing we look at when buying something. This will have 0 affect on anything so don’t waste your time.
Ryan
Why is there not a $100k damage penalty awarded for rdnh.
Essentially it is a tag, but without financial consequences who really cares, at the end of the day this is cheese tray money for these guys. There needs to be a new term developed to describe these corporate criminals, that law firm probably won’t be on retainer long.
Josh
It’s one thing to win on the basis of the facts. It’s another thing to show the facts are fabricated, just lies built to get an asset that they are otherwise not entitled to. I’m very surprised. This sounds an ethical issue for a law license.
Collabo
Wow, what a bunch of goof balls. I guess they didn’t want to dish out the 30K, since they’re sales were only 60K over a few years. Either way, for a company of their stature, they really mucked it up.
Leon
We should not wait for the mainstream media to pickup this story – they will not at this stage. This is the age of the Internet and we (domainers) are a very vital part of this space and should use all of its resources to present our case. What we should do is to email this”record in an official proceeding” to all the Fortune 500 companies plus many more. THIS story will than become newsworthy and the mainstream media will not have a problem with reporting.
P&G
Well, I guess the G in Gamble means just that. As for the P, well given the case was rammed so far up their jacksie they’ll need the services of a Proctologist to retrieve it.
30k for the .com on a brand roll out.. lol.
Leon
(Reuters) – Germany’s cartel office said it would fine a number of consumer goods companies 39 million euros ($51 million), including Procter & Gamble in Germany, for taking part in anti-competitive sharing of information.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/18/germany-consumerproducts-fine-idUSL6N0CAFTD20130318
UFO
‘A P&G spokeswoman said one of the company’s key principles was to work within the letter of the law wherever it operated.’
Well, you might want to start having some staff training because they don’t seem to be!
Procter & Gamble's Biggest Management Shakeup in 100 Years? - The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog RicksBlog.com | Home of the "Domain King"
[…] Let's not minimize or maximize the Reverse Domain Name hijacking (RDNH) decision that came down against Procter and Gamble (P&G) over Swash.com back in March. But for a stellar company like P&G it is a black eye they should have never gotten. […]