SiliconLabs.com - Billion dollar company loses key domain name
 

Austin, Texas-based Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) has lost control of a key domain name, SiliconLabs.com. The company has filed for arbitration with National Arbitration Forum to regain control of the domain.

Silicon Labs? main domain name is SiLabs.com. But I suspect most people trying to find the company?s web site for the first time type in SiliconLabs.com, and a lot of e-mails are accidentally addressed to [email protected].

So how does a company with a billion dollar market cap lose control of a critical domain name? A company spokesperson declined comment citing the ongoing arbitration, but a bit of research shows that the domain name expired. Records show the domain was due to expire December 21, 2008. After it expired it was purchased by a Utah man and pointed to a parked page. The domain was registered at Network Solutions and was likely auctioned off at NameJet when it expired.

It?s not unusual for companies without an adequate domain name management policy to have this happen. But Silicon Labs was doing some things right. For example, it created an email address specifically for domain registrations, [email protected]. Presumably this forwarded to the person in charge of the company?s domain names. (I?m currently helping a company in Austin that has several different employee e-mail addresses across its portfolio of domains, which is a recipe for disaster).

Hopefully this big mistake by a billion dollar company will draw attention to the importance of having a good corporate domain name policy.

---------------------------------------------------

Wow Somebody is sooo fired. :1orglaugh

microsoft several years ago lost passport.com i think

they should of just used some yahoo email and emailed the new owner and told him "hey my name is james id like to buy this name for my local small business in jersey, my offer is $2k, I can use escorw.com today call me..."

some real basic very non pro email and there is a good chance guy would of been sure here ya go

intead they make a big deal out of it

that would have been the smart thing to do :thumbsup

wow a billion dollar company, how can someone like that lose such a critical thing in this day and age? no one checked? All those people working for the company and no one saw anything?

Dumbbbbbbb

According to the Sedo page: Visitors to this domain’s website: 1,108 (previous 31 days)

Was it their trademark? Didn't congress pass a law regarding TRADEMARKED domain names?

anyone have the exact details on the namejet auction?

I doubt that it went too extremely cheap, probably 4 digits I expect, making the previous posters method of a $2k offer something that would have likely been laughed at by the current domain owner :2 cents:

Huh thats bad !

Hahah, oops.

They are morons on a few levels.

First, you always register key domains for 10 years out. That way, even if some employee gets sloppy for a year or two, it is no big deal.

Second, arbitration is a waste of time. There are much better ways of recovery.

Sounds like they may have pissed off and fired a tech guy who made sure it expired on them.

Would not be the first time.

lol somebody got fired for sure, thats jokes