Gaming

Dell: Master of 4,264 Domain Names

Nathan J. Hole, the Loeb & Loeb attorney representing MGM in the effort to grab Wargames.Com, has won four more UDRP arbitrations the past eight weeks: Dell Inc. v. Gail Wright for the domains dellcart.com and dellpccart.com The National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Namia Limited for the domain frozenfour.com Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. fslc wf-b for the domain thepinkpanther.com Dell Inc. v. Oguz Ozdemir for the domain dellpc.net In all four cases, domain owners didn't file a ... (read more)

Wargames.Com UDRP Dispute Goes to Arbitrators

MGM's effort to grab Wargames.Com is now in the hands of a three-member panel of arbitrators for the National Arbitration Forum, who will read the filings of both sides and decide the matter in the next two weeks. Under the forum's rules, each side got two chances to make its case: Dec. 19, 2006: MGM challenged my ownership of the domain in its original complaint, paying a $2,600 fee and requesting a three-member panel of arbitrators. Jan. 8, 2007: I made my response, which attorney Wade ... (read more)

UDRP Response Filed to Save Wargames.Com

My attorney Wade Duchene has filed our response to the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution (UDRP) complaint made by MGM Studios over Wargames.Com. We're getting closer to the day where a panel of three arbitrators decides whether to give the domain to MGM, which owns a trademark registered in 2003 for the 1983 film WarGames. UDRP arbitration is an increasingly popular tool for intellectual property lawyers trying to acquire domains for clients, as MGM's firm is attempting here. If they lose, ... (read more)

Top 10 Wargames of 2006

After hearing about the battle over Wargames.Com, the Los Angeles weblog LAist asked me for a list of the top 10 wargames of 2006. Since this could be the last year I'm legally allowed to use the word "wargames" in a sentence, I jumped at the opportunity. 10. Naruto CCG: Every time I play a seven-year-old kicks my ninja's ass and tells me I bring shame to my family. 9. Advanced Squad Leader Armies of Oblivion: Published by Curt Schilling, who spends his time between pitches calculating how to ... (read more)

Red Herring: The War Over Wargames.Com

Red Herring interviewed me for a news article on the war over Wargames.Com. The story's pretty fair, though I was never uncertain about what I wanted to do with the domain. I've been playing wargames since Dungeons & Dragons was still considered a wargame in the late '70s. She covers my background in the article: Two years ago, Mr. Cadenhead registered www.BenedictXVI.com. When the new pope announced his new name, the website saw 500,000 hits in two days. Mr. Cadenhead decided to donate the ... (read more)

'The Deck is Stacked Against Cadenhead'

Jim Ledbetter, writing for the Business 2.0/Fortune blog The Browser, covers MGM's effort to grab Wargames.Com: Over at Techdirt, they're pretty pessimistic about the little guy's chances: "Given the history of the domain name arbitration game, where the big company almost always wins, the deck is stacked against Cadenhead". But wait! The Browser is not an attorney, and does not play one on television. But we noticed something curious about MGM's trademark of the term. Although the movie came ... (read more)

My Battle with MGM Over Wargames.Com

For the past three months I've been privately engaged in a time-consuming dispute with Nathan J. Hole, a lawyer representing MGM Studios who claims that Wargames.Com, a domain that I've owned since April 16, 1998, is the rightful property of the film company because it produced the 1983 movie WarGames and registered it as a trademark. I received an e-mail this morning indicating that MGM has filed a legal complaint with the National Arbitration Forum to take the domain name away from me. I ... (read more)

I Was a Teen-Age Dungeon Master

A 1983 Dungeons & Dragons commercial has found its way to YouTube. Back then, I couldn't watch that commercial without rousing my D&D jones, though it was false advertising to suggest that Jami Gertz might join your gaming group. But watching it again, I'm reminded of what huge geeks those players were. A lightning bolt cast by a magic user is five feet wide and 80 feet long in a straight line. Though it does 1d6 of damage per spellcaster level to the red dragon, half if a saving throw vs. ... (read more)

Stephen Colbert on D&D: 'Enjoy Your Magnificent Isolation!'

Stephen Colbert was once an 11th-level paladin who explored Barrier Peaks: I had an eleventh-level paladin (it took me years to advance those levels) whom I took on Expedition, and he got the Power Armor, which was the big thing to get in that module. But he also went a little power mad. On the next campaign we saw merchant caravans crossing the desert, and my character flew down and landed next to a merchant and tore off the guy's head. The DM informed me that I was not a paladin anymore. I ... (read more)

Child Dies While Parent Plays EverQuest

EverQuest is an addictive and time-consuming game that has attracted thousands of players who devote 10-20 hours a week or more to the game -- hence the nickname "EverCrack." Support groups have started on the Web for the families of players, such as the Spouses Against EverQuest mailing list. One of the members of that list is Christina Cordell, a woman who faces a felony charge of manslaughter related to the Aug. 8 death of her 3-year-old daughter. Brianna Cordell became trapped in the family ... (read more)