back to article Guntree v Gumtree: Nominet orders gun ads site must lose domain

Gumtree has taken ownership of the Guntree web domain after dot-UK registry Nominet ruled that the classified ads webite for guns and ammunition was similar enough to Gumtree to constitute an “abusive registration”. Guntree, as its name strongly suggests, is a classified ads website that allows users to place adverts for …

  1. Semtex451
    Pint

    So if I register Mike.com can I have Nike done for cybersquatting?

    I obviously can't think of anything funny to say coz its been a long week so I'm off t'pub

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I think a better example would be fuck.com not to be confused with file system check dot com.

    2. robidy

      Nominet don't look after .com, I think you mean mike.org.uk though you don't have an N in the middle. Try nomimet.org.uk for your dating site instead.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        "Try nomimet.org.uk for your dating site instead."

        Sounds more like a dating site for fat bastards. Nom Nom Nom

        1. robidy

          UK cannibal site...couldn't possibly have an cross over with a domain registry ha ha!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "So if I register Mike.com can I have Nike done for cybersquatting?"

      Obviously yes, there's just that little matter of going back in time to register your domain and trademark 10 years before theirs.

      Should be trivial for somebody with your deep insight!

    4. TheVogon

      Let's hope that they already have "Guntree.uk" and the many other possible combinations registered and ready to go.

      It's ridiculous to suggest that anyone would confuse a business that sells guns with one that doesn't. Alternatively there is always PieceBay, PrayPal, etc. etc to be had....

  2. Zippy's Sausage Factory
    Trollface

    OK... cue the "what about the second amendment" comments on Twitter, Reddit, 4Chan...

    I would say they've been "triggered", but in this case it's actually the opposite...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      British site, domain was registered in South Africa. Second Amendment not applicable here.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    so is this a poplar decision?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I think you're barking up the wrong tree with that comment

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        It was a poor oak. A bit acorny.

        1. Martin
          Happy

          I have to admit it took me a few seconds to twig...

      2. Mark 85

        Some of us just pine for the good old days when things were peachy.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          I saw what you did. ;-/

          1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

            All of this will have larch consequences.

            1. Just Enough

              Wood yew people stop that. It's making me sycamore.

              1. MyffyW Silver badge

                Elm-less fun, I wood contend

    2. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

      so is this a poplar decision?

      It was a fir decision.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: so is this a poplar decision?

        Fir yes, but a bit of a beech

  4. chivo243 Silver badge
    Happy

    anybody remember

    Microsoft vs. MikeRoweSoft was a legal dispute between Microsoft and a Canadian Belmont High School student named Mike Rowe over the domain name "MikeRoweSoft.com".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_vs._MikeRoweSoft

    I laughed when I first read this, then I was pulling for the kid.

    David and Goliath... so on and so forth.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: anybody remember

      There are loads of these one-person companies, such as the bathroom fitter called Bonnie Tiler.

      I've always hoped to see a military procurement company called Joan Armour Trading.

      1. mark l 2 Silver badge

        Re: anybody remember

        Where I used to live used to be a car wash called 'Easyjet' even had an orange logo just to rub it in.

      2. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

        Re: anybody remember

        Will Cadburys be tempted to bring out "Gums n Roses", with the strapline "for the sweet child of mine".

  5. aidanstevens

    I think this is a tad unfair - anyone with any experience with dealing on Gumtree knows how useful a gun would be.

    1. Semtex451
      Facepalm

      ditto Schpock.

      Which catches us Vulcans out routinely btw, there is nothing logical about it.

  6. John H Woods Silver badge

    gBay

    n/t

  7. elawyn

    I made a machine gun out of wood once. Wooden barrel, wooden receivers, wooden ammunition.

    It wooden fire!

    1. BebopWeBop
      Facepalm

      Upvote because I like the 'joke' but why here?

      1. elawyn

        from the article :-"an artistic concept of a tree made of guns or wood ", turned around to 'a gun made from trees or wood".

        (I only posted it for a larch. I oak you liked it)

        1. Charles 9

          Well, if you expand your definition of a "gun" to include stuff we normally call "cannon", then yes you can make a gun out of a tree. Historical record supports this and the MythBusters proved it possible.

          1. Sixtysix
            Coat

            Gun gun gun fun

            Gun is typically only applied to a projectile weapon with a smooth bore (as opposed to rifled).

            So yeah, hollow out yer tree and call it a gun, but it'll be a muzzle loader - or trunk packer maybe (sorry).

            1. Charles 9

              Re: Gun gun gun fun

              The MythBusters' tree cannon was in fact a smooth-bore muzzle-loader, and it actually fired a ball (they never found it IIRC), so by your definition it qualified as a gun.

  8. agurney

    Gun trees do exist, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBpTP4depWc

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    gnutree.co.uk

    Time for a recursive directory listing tool fan site anyone?

  10. GrapeBunch
    Mushroom

    Eucalyptus it ain't

    From the armchair peanut gallery, I don't always disagree with powers that be, but this time, yes, it is a bad decision which will have bad consequences if seen as a precedent. Internet space is not the same as trademark space.

    For chuckles, I googlooked up gun and tree in Afrikaans. It's geweer and boom. Probably too obscure for most English speakers to remember. The multi-lingual boomboom dot com gives this landing message:

    "BoomBoom.com ....

    Arriving 2016"

    I hope that didn't gun up my browser.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There's no magic Gun Tree

    [except in the USA]

  12. Jamie Jones Silver badge
    Happy

    Someone is just showing off now:

    "“The Complainant notes that the words 'gumtree' and 'guntree' are identical save for the letters 'm' and 'n', adding that this difference is found in the middle of each word and that both start with the same letters."

    Ok, Ok, give him his gold star already!

  13. Warm Braw

    The explanation is tenuous to say the least

    Given some of Nominet's recent decisions, the words "pot" and "kettle" spring to mind...

  14. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    "geweerboom" would've been a safer bet.....

  15. Mr Dogshit

    If I understand correctly

    Gumtree is where you buy gum

    Bumtree

  16. Spencer Tomlinson

    Where will it stop

    What about Banker.com. I always thought my Bank had been jerking me off.

  17. ariels-again

    I'll just leaf this here...

  18. Mr Han

    Nomonet.uk

    Dammit! And I was just about to register my anti-impressionist domain. If only I'd used a Dvorak keyboard...

  19. Tilde

    Gumtree

    This is interesting as an American I have heard of guntree but never gumtree.

    1. Huw D

      Re: Gumtree

      It's like craigslist, but without the guns and sexual services.

      1. fuzzie
        Childcatcher

        Re: Gumtree

        As opposed to C*mtree which, if I am to believe dig, exists.

        Though I suspect highly NSFW

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Gumtree

        "It's like craigslist"

        Never head if it.

  20. Justin Case

    Wrigley's spearmint anyone?

    I mean, when was the last time you asked for a packet of chewing gum and mistakenly received a mouthful of Colt 45?

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pick a fight with eBay??

    Of course the guy with the deepest pocket wins.

    Owners of any domain that includes an M or N is now at risk or else looking for who they can bust using the precedent. The decision should be based on whether the variant is being used in a manner to compete with the complainant or other indicators of ill-will like copying style and presentation of the site.

    Now to go a bit off topic:

    You may be familiar with the big department store off Red Square in Moscow

    It's called GUM (Glavny Universalny Magazin) - they don't sell trees so gumtree can stand down their lawyers.

    However there were rumors that they might go into partnership with eBay for a new project, effectively offering GUM surplus inventory over the internet, auction-style.

    They were looking to test the concept in a limited geographical region.

    South Yorkshire was once known colloquially as The Soviet Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire on account of the political leanings of the local authority and there remain strong links with Russia.

    That seemed like a promising test-bed.

    The project was to be called...

    ...

    ...

    Ebay Gum

    (apologies to readers not familiar with the Yorkshire dialect)

    1. GrapeBunch

      Re: Pick a fight with eBay??

      I still think it's a bad decision, even after all the hate. Here's a chance to downvote some more, lawyer-lovers.

      Yes, it would be ironic if GUM (which translates to State General Store), using this case as precedent, got gumtree to vacate its domain. GUMtree could actually mean something in Russian (GUM three), which would strengthen the Russians' putative (see what I did there?) case. IANAL, but it strikes me that the Russians' case, had it been launched in a timely manner, is stronger than the one that is the subject of this article.

  22. hoola Silver badge

    Hmm, unbiased then....

    As usual the big business, big money and big lawyers prevail.

    When did eBay and Gumtree become one? I had noticed the high number of eBay listings that appeared in a Gumtree search and just assumed it was doing generic eBay searches through a proxy,

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    never heard of either website

    and now i'll do my best to forget either site exists.

  24. Jtom

    I wanted to join in with the making of a bad pun, but fear I would only be making an ash of myself.

  25. Richard Cranium

    just imagine the scammers and lawyers field day...

    ...when the restriction on bare .uk domain names is lifted and everyone with a .co.uk who hasn't bought the variant finds some piece of **** has used the variant in a way disadvantageous to the .co.uk version.

    But of course quite ready to transfer it to you for ££ - or would you prefer to hire a lawyer £££££. Even just taking the dispute through Nominet DRS can reach £3k so you're better to pay the scammer half that.

    Meanwhile just off to buy mommynet, obviously a web site for moms and totally not remotely like any domain name registry that might have a similar sounding name.

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