I need to have my lawyer hit this church with a cease and desist. They may not comply but id like to get a court order to shut their site down. They need to know who their domain provider is. Does this tell me that? I don’t know what this stuff means. Thanks!
I definitely am not the guy to solve this. I am assuming you have the domain locked down somewhere else? When I bought a share in a newspaper one of the things I did was buy the competitions domains as we went into online territory. This is common practice.
I’m no IT guy, but when I googled up some /whois action, I find that audio-centric.com appears to be an audio studio in Christchurch, New Zealand, and not any kind of house of worship, as far as I can tell. Under their “Services” tab they list:
High quality sound production services.
The finest microphone collection to record voice-overs to full orchestra, and everything in between
Composition, arrangement and music production
Mixing and mastering
Everything from concept to publication
Not sure if you can C&D a firm in another country? Out of my depth on legal stuff for sure.
I did a /whois using the uniregistry.net site, it gave all of the info in your OP, but also included more, such as a name & contact info for “Registrant”, “Admin”, and “Tech”, and this info is identical for all three. Here’s the Registrant info:
Registrant Name: Domain Admin
Registrant Organization: Whoisprotection.cc
Registrant Street: Lot 2-1, Incubator 1, Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil
Registrant City: Kuala Lumpur
Registrant State/Province: Wilayah Persekutuan
Registrant Postal Code: 57000
Registrant Country: Malaysia
Registrant Phone: +60.389966788
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +60.389966788
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: reg_275358@whoisprotection.cc
Registry Admin ID: Not Available From Registry
I have went through the full registration process at the US patent and copyright office. They can’t use this name in the United states…
I did go and buy as many of the available domains as I could think of, like audiocentric.net or audiocentrik.com or audio-centric.com. I don’t know how we missed that one. I can’t do anything about them using the name, and quite frankly, I don’t care what they call themselves in New Zealand, but I should be able to stop them from using it anywhere its visible in the U.S.
Awwww! I didn’t realize that! haha. Good catch!
So the domain provider is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia? That’t not good.
I’m not sure that’s true; that’s just who is listed as Registrant, Admin, and Tech (whatever those terms actually imply, I don’t know). The actual ISP is likely local in NZ, but the registered owner could live anywhere. But with an address and phone number, you’d be able to contact the person and simply ask them if they are…
Edit: I just did a map search on the street address in the whois readout. It brings me to a Malaysian ISP alright. Go here:
The company is called Qinetics, and their website is here:
Does this mean I’m an IT guy now?? 
Another edit: Whoops, looks like the Qinetics people are part of the whole domain-registry industry, they’re the “webnic” and “WebCC” listed in both readouts. Not clear that they’re a retail ISP at all. Better revoke my “IT guy” status after all…
The domain provider is different than the ISP right?
If the domain provider is US based, then I can get that court order…that’s what I’m hoping (fingers crossed)
I’ve made a few edits right after my reply, so be sure to check it out–you may have been typing while I was posting.
I’m confused.
No, I certainly can not C&D a company in another country…well, I theoretically could, but they would have no reason to comply lol. It would do about as much good as Sony records serving the Pirate Bay a C&D…they posted it online for comic relief.
I was hoping there was a US based domain provider involved, because we CAN C&D them. It’s expensive and requires actual litigation (costs would be $1300-$2500 if they don’t fight it), but I’m willing to get that court order if I need to and if it would help.
There’s another AudioCentric (www.audiocentricmusic.com) that reviews indie music. They appear to be based out of Manchester (I think). But they’re a really small company and I aren’t in direct competition with my brand…that other god damn thing is.
Sorry for the confusion! Just noticed that your question about ISP versus domain provider came up just as I was editing my reply (twice), so wanted to make sure you’d seen everything I put up there.
Just got clarification from my web devs. So this is the domain provider:
Webnic is HQ’d in singapore. And…that sucks.
What is much more important, is that you have to overpower them in google ranking. If you can occupy most of the first page in google and push them below your business you’ll be doing as much as can be done. Not sure if you can stop them from using that name in the USA if they were already using it before you purchased the domain name.
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I realized this earlier this morning when I found out there I was not going to be able to hit the domain provider with a C&D.
There’s three other 'audio centric’s in besides the one in New Zealand. One in Germany, South Africa, and the UK that are that all using that name. The one in South Africa is the only other one I can find thats directly competing in the audio post space. I think there’s very little chance any of the them will attempt to form a company in the US. If they do, I’m pretty sure I can win that because it comes down to the first one using it. If one of the four incorporates in the US tomorrow, I’ll have been using it first one to have used it in the US as far as the US is concerned. I’m aware that registration with the USPTO doesn’t guarantee the trademark can’t be challenged, but it makes it far more difficult for someone to claim it, and it makes it easier for me to win a dispute with them if they try.
…the other thing is that none of the other four I’ve found so far are very big companies.
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A zillion times this. The analytical data are conclusive that the VAST majority of web searchers never go beyond the first page of hits, and a huge fraction don’t even bother to scroll down. Get yourself in the first 3 to 5 hits, and it won’t much matter what those other guys are doing…
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