Ron Paul goes to the UN for help in civil matter

[Jim Johnson]

...because he is really just a government stooge.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/11/ron-paul-files-suit-for-domain-name-leaving-supporters-bummed-but-fighting/

[KBCraig]

I don't think it's any suprise that he's not an anarchist.

[Jim Johnson]

He doesn't have to be an anarchist.
Going to the UN disqualifies him as a minarchist.
Even a republican would have enough self respect to handle a civil suit in a civil court.

If the UN is supposed to handle something that trivial, why has he been railing against UN all these years?

[Tom Sawyer]

The owners are remaining anonymous, that is a little suspect to me. They say they offered to give Ron Paul the domain name, but then add that they wanted a deal that involved 250k for a mailing list.

When you go to the website, they are selling Ron Paul stuff... it looks like it represents "Ron Paul". In essence they are doing business as "Ron Paul".

Perhaps a civil suit would be "cleaner"... however it would be expensive and require certain legal exposure... counter suits etc. It would also not cover all the jurisdictions involved.

The expenditure of a life's investment in establishing a name in the market place should not be "taken" by Johnny-come-lately's. Profit for or damage by anyone that happens to come along isn't right either.

One of my complaints about some "Anarchist" theory is that the reasons that people have come to establish some forms of rules should not be ignored... perhaps there is a better way to achieve the results. But we live in the here and now, not the theoretical perfect future.

[Jim Johnson]

Am I the only one who has noticed that he has turned to the UN to answer his problems?

[Raineyrocks]

Am I the only one who has noticed that he has turned to the UN to answer his problems?

I don't know, maybe. 

[Tom Sawyer]

Am I the only one who has noticed that he has turned to the UN to answer his problems?

It does come off as somewhat hypocritical. Although I think that is the international legal entity for such matters.

Although the unnamed folks that say they were willing to give him the domain, really were holding out for the 250k for a mailing list that he apparently doesn't want/need. For people that claimed to be on his team to advance his message, they are now attempting to coerce money out of him and creating fodder for Fox News to damage him. Of course I'm not that surprised.

[Tom Sawyer]

More conversation on the matter

http://www.dailypaul.com/274221/fox-news-ron-paul-has-no-legal-right-to-ronpaulcom

[Tom Sawyer]

A commenter on this site left an interesting piece of information.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130210/01422321932/ron-paul-un-hater-asks-un-to-take-ronpaulcom-forcefully-ron-pauls-biggest-supporters.shtml#comments

RonPaul.com is not a real grassroots support site for Ron Paul. It never was.

It's a scam site setup to milk Paul's supporters for money by selling merchandise (T-shirts, mugs, etc.) while implying to the casual surfer who doesn't read the site carefully that profits go to Paul's campaign.

Someone in my family got suckered by them & bought two "$100 Grassoots Mugs" from them (two $100 coffee mugs), thinking that it was a way of donating $200 to Paul's campaign. But the campaign didn't get a penny.

I pointed it out and they quickly refunded the money - they walk the fine line between deception and legal fraud.

They're scammers who have no interest in Paul or his ideas other than to divert donations to themselves.

[KBCraig]

Am I the only one who has noticed that he has turned to the UN to answer his problems?

Who do you go to when someone is squatting on a domain?

[Jim Johnson]

Am I the only one who has noticed that he has turned to the UN to answer his problems?

Who do you go to when someone is squatting on a domain?

Well?  I would go to the guy that owns it and ask if it's for sale.

If he doesn't want to sell it, that's just tough shit.

Ron Paul, in affect, is going to the NLDC(the New London Development Corporation, because people seem to have forgotten) and asking for the keys to a web domain; supposedly because Ron Paul can make better use of it.

[KBCraig]

Depending on who you believe, the people who registered it either want $250k, or $833k. The only thing they offered for free was the .ORG name, but they won't separate the .COM name from the mailing list that they want to charge big bucks for. I'm pretty sure Ron Paul has his own mailing list and doesn't need theirs.

WIPO is a non-government arbitration service. Sounds more libertarian than going to the courts, to me.

They look to ensure compliance with terms of use, including the terms that everyone agrees to when they register a TLD -- namely, that they're entitled to use or represent the name, and their registration doesn't harm a third party.

[MaineShark]

"Intellectual property" is government-invented nonsense.  And so is any claim by Paul that he owns a "trademark" on his name.

Fraud, on the other hand, is not.  I've spent years dilligently building a reputation within the heating/cooling community, to the point that I'm occasionally even contacted by folks in other countries to consult on their projects.  If someone represents himself as being me, or endorsed by me, or any such thing, then he is committing an act of fraud.  Not because I my name is some sort of trademark that I own, or somesuch, but because it's a fraudulent statement.

If Paul was making a legitimate claim in a relatively-legitimate court, the whole thing might make sense.  Going to the UN and making ludicrous claims?  Not so much.

[KBCraig]

If Paul was making a legitimate claim in a relatively-legitimate court, the whole thing might make sense.  Going to the UN and making ludicrous claims?  Not so much.

You own a .com domain name for your business. If someone registered a soundalike and led the public to believe it was part of your business, your recourse is to follow the exact same ICANN dispute resolution process. If you don't, the registrars aren't going to make them give it up.

[MaineShark]

No, I could sue them for fraud in court, if I wanted to.  There's no need to involve the UN.