The domain owner of "France.com" is trying to deprive the French government of the domain

byPatrick S.

On March 12, 2018, the "France.com" site suddenly got offline. France.com has been operated as a tourist reservation site for 24 years, but at the time of writing the articleFrench government official English versionIt is designed to be redirected to. The redirected site is a site managed by the French government, behind this redirect there is a fierce legal struggle by the owner of "France.com" and the French government.

This man is fighting the French government for control of France.com - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/30/17302000/france-website-domain-name-lawsuit-french-government

Jean Noel Friedman, who is the owner of the domain "France.com" and who is a trademarker of "France.com", suddenly found a unique and profitable domain "France.com I can not use it. While looking back at the time, Mr. Friedman says, "All the domains have disappeared, they all disappeared in the moment." "France.com", a reservation site for sightseeing trips operated by Friedman, will be redirected to the English version of "France.fr" which is one of the French government's official websites from one day onwards I will.

At the time of article creation, when you access "France.com", you will be redirected to the following page.

France.fr - Unexpected France by those who make it it is is
https://www.france.fr/en


Suddenly his site became unusable, Mr. Friedman is currently filing a lawsuit against the French government and hosting provider in federal court, and when accessing "France.com" the French government official I am struggling to cancel the setting that is redirected to the site and make it possible to use the sightseeing tour site operated by himself again.

Mr. Friedman, owner of the domain "France.com"


Mr. FriedmanWorld Wide WebIn 1994 I registered my domain for the first time in less than 3 years since it became available. Mr. Friedman seemed to have felt possibilities on the BBS and the website which he was able to do, "I understood that the Web is a new frontier, and this frontier is a place where it is possible to claim so much right that as soon as it is entered I also knew that it was "I explained the reason why I got the domain" France.com "immediately on the internet I just made.

"France.com" goes through several sites, eventually becoming a tourist travel site. You can view the past websites saved by the internet archiveLooking at "France.com" on a way back machine, It is clear that it is a thing which is completely different from the site currently displayed.


"France.com" operated by Friedman sells package plans for sightseeing trips, as well as providing travel advice. It is said that about 100,000 people visited "France.com" every month. Mr. Friedman seems to have acquired other domains, but he sells them all many years ago, and he seems to operate "France.com" at the time of writing the article.

The French tourism office highly appreciated Mr. Friedman and "France.com", and in 2009 it has awarded the Best Website Award. However, in 2016, there was some kind of change in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claiming that "the domain" France.com "is the legitimate property of the government" and caused a lawsuit. And in July 2016, the High Court in Paris, France approved that "France.com" is the legitimate property of the country and ordered Mr. Friedman to let go of the domain, but objected to the judgment Mr. Friedman has appealed, and at the time of writing the article is waiting for judgment of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Friedman seemed to believe that he could maintain the "France.com" domain at least until the trial ended. However, the French government uses Friedman at "France.com"RegistrarPress on Web.com and set it to redirect to "France.fr" in English when accessing "France.com". To make matters worse, registrars dealing with the domain "France.com" have been changed from the US Web.com to the French-based registrar OVH.

Mr. Friedman's lawyer, David Ludwig says, "Domain names are products available on a first-come-first-served basis, which is the truth of the world."


There are few cases where the ".com" domain has been forfeited by the country so far. The ".com" domain is clearly distinguished from the country code and ".gov" among the top level domains. Because "com" means "commercial" and ". Com" itself is also recognized as a commercial domain. It is rare for the government to own the ".com" domain, "USA.com", "Canada.com", "Germany.com" are all privately owned domains. "Japan.com" is a tourist site based in Hong Kong as well as "France.com" operated by Friedman. In addition, it is extremely rare for the government to legally claim ownership, rather than trying to purchase a domain from an existing domain owner.

In the modern era where search engines and social media became mainstream, it is not possible to earn huge traffic as in the past, but still the single word domain is still popular and regularly over $ 1 million (about 100 million yen) It is sold at. In fact, "Super.com" sold in 2018 was sold for $ 1.2 million (about 130 million yen).

"France.com" has been actively updated until redirect processing, and since blog articles were posted that included tour package, "customer's voice", "tips to hike the French National Park", etc. It is considered to be itself a legitimate business. On LinkedIn Mr. Friedman stated "CEO of France.com" and boasts that the site is "the oldest online travel agency managed by the same management team" However, I am not interested in finally deciding which side will win the "France.com" domain.