Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Domain Name Wire reports that Slipknot has voluntarily dropped the patent infringement action it brought against the Slipknot.com domain last year for trademark infringement and cybersquatting under the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, as per Blabbermouth. According to the lawsuit, Slipknot.com was registered in 2001, a few years after the band’s mid-1990s founding. Since then, Slipknot has used Slipknot1.com as its official website, stating that the lawsuit was required because pay-per-click ad links for “concert tickets,” “Slipknot merchandise,” and “concert VIP packages” were being used to profit from the band’s name using the Slipknot.com domain name, whose owner was unknown to Slipknot.
The domain owner’s attorneys filed a move to dismiss earlier this week, claiming that Slipknot failed to serve the registrant within the court-mandated time frame. The band submitted a notice of voluntary dismissal the following day. Slipknot’s claims may be revived in the future because the dismissal is without prejudice.
As long as they can demonstrate that the domain name holder acted in bad faith, people and businesses may take control of domain names that are confusingly close to or identical to their own under the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.
Two months after Slipknot finalized an agreement to sell their music collection for almost $120 million, the dismissal took place. The rights to Slipknot’s publishing and recording masters royalties are part of the agreement between members of the long-running metal band and HarbourView Equity Partners. The band’s archival catalog is purportedly included, although future albums are not included.
Since their debut album in 1999, Slipknot has received 11 nominations, a Grammy Award, several platinum and gold album certifications worldwide, and billions of streams and video views worldwide.
“The End, So Far,” Slipknot’s most recent full-length album, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200, making it their sixth album to rank in the Top 10.
