- Owner of Lambo.com loses lawsuit and domain to Lamborghini after findings of bad faith
- He tried to claim that Lambo was created as a pun on Lamb and not on the automaker.
- The property was purchased for $10,000 and was for sale for up to $75 million.
History shows that if you buy the right domain name at the right time, you can resell it at a good profit, but apparently it’s not without risk.
Richard Blair of Arizona thought he had found a promising digital asset when he bought Lambo.com for $10,000 in 2018. Lambo is a well-known nickname for a Lamborghini and therefore enjoys some prestige.
IF Road and rail He then reportedly put it up for sale for $1,129,298 in 2020, which would have been a good salary, but then raised the asking price to $1.5 million. In early 2021, the price rose to $3.3 million. That same year, it reached $12 million. In 2022, its market value was around $58 million. By 2023, that amount is expected to reach $75 million. Interested parties reportedly submitted bids, but Blair declined.
My name is Lambo!
To gain legitimacy, Blair began calling himself “Lambo” online after purchasing the domain. He said it came from a pun on Lamb and had absolutely nothing to do with the famous sports car manufacturer.
He directed Lambo.com to a personal website there Road and rail He wrote: “I AM LAMBO from LAMBO.com and I will defend, defeat and humiliate those who try to steal my domain names, including my nickname.”
Unimpressed by Blair’s activities, Lamborghini took the matter to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Arbitration and Conciliation Center in 2022. It requested a reassignment of the name under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, the framework for resolving domain ownership disputes.
The committee concluded that Blair had acted in bad faith and ordered that the estate be returned to the car company. Blair took the case to federal court in an attempt to overturn the result, but a US district judge sided with Lamborghini and dismissed the case.
The court ruled that Blair had no rights to the name and adopted the nickname only after purchasing the domain. It is said that he did not develop the website, attacked the company several times and tried to take advantage of his reputation.
You can definitely make money buying and selling domains. Voice.com was sold for $30 million in 2019, 360.com was sold for $17 million in 2015, and Chat.com was sold for $15.5 million in 2023. NFTs.com, Rocket.com, Sex.com, and Icon.com were also sold for eight figures.
Richard Blair was undoubtedly inspired by these deals when he bought Lambo.com, but his attempt to get rich ended not only with the loss of the $10,000 domain, but also with a hefty legal bill.