Forum:Microsoft interested in Halopedia

Or at least, 343 Industries is... both halopedia.net and halopedia.com have been redirected to Xbox's marketplace for promoting Halo 4. Cybersquatting anyone? :P — subtank   20:51, 4 July 2012 (EDT)
 * First they release the Halo Encyclopedia, then they take our name? I, Natalie Mikkelborg, declare our independence on July the 4th from Halo.

For those interested in the technical stuff: whois for halopedia.net and for halopedia.com.— subtank   21:19, 4 July 2012 (EDT)


 * Does this mean that you guys are going to have to change the name of the wiki to something like "Halopædia"?
 * Or would you only do that if Microsoft decides to do something petty like issuing a Cease and Desist order over the intellectual property rights to the name? Seems like a pretty crummy thing for them to do, especially given that you guys have been using the name a LOT longer than they have. I assumed that the reason you have the "n" on the end of your URL is because, at some point in the past, Microsoft bought (or were awarded the rights to) all available domains with the name "Halopedia". DJenser 12:24, 5 July 2012 (EDT)


 * Halopedia is a mark of service by the Halo wiki community that was established in 2004 and it is not owned by Microsoft (since they didn't create such thing prior to this establishment). It is possible that their legal team did consider legal actions that could be taken against the wiki before/during the publication of the Halo Encyclopaedia, but I guess the odds were against them.
 * In my eyes, what you're seeing right now is a simple issue of cybersquatting.— subtank   12:48, 5 July 2012 (EDT)


 * I read the definition. So basically does that mean someone sold the two domains to microsoft/343? -- Killamint   KillaEX  13:35, 5 July 2012 (EDT)


 * If they didn't buy them outright, themselves, that would be the likely answer, yeah. Whatever the case, it appears that the "Halopedia.com" domain name was already taken in 2004, which is why this wiki's url reads "Halopedian.com." As for the wiki's name (more specifically, the mark of service), from what I can tell of the information surrounding current cybersquatting regulations, it would appear that possession is 9/10ths of the law, given that this community: 1) had the name first... and 2) didn't adopt the name with the intention of using the Halo label with an eye toward any sort of monetary gain, whether through branding or with the intention of selling the name to Microsoft. For now it doesn't look like they intend to do anything more than redirecting "Halopedia.com/net" traffic to their website to promote the game(s). If they actually intend to put up a site on those domains, and call it "Halopedia", then there might be more of an issue... My guess is that their legal dept has weighed the pros & cons & determined that this course of action is sustainable for them as is. Technically, they own the domains & can redirect any traffic to them without much fear of this community being able to bring sufficient legal resources to bear in order to get them to stop. This is a much more feasible option for them at this time than, say, actually attempting to usurp this wiki's mark of service by setting up a web page in those domains and actually calling it "Halopedia", which might get Wikia.com involved. To be honest, this wiki represents an unknown quality to them because they don't really know how much of their potential player base uses it &, to be honest, this community has always taken great care to try and present as much factual information as possible about their games, books & other media concerning Halo so, aside from being perceived in poor taste, it wouldn't be a great move on Microsoft's part from a PR standpoint to screw with such a comprehensive source of essentially free advertising DJenser 15:44, 5 July 2012 (EDT)


 * Uh... Halopedia was first established as "halopedia.org" in late 2004 whereas "halopedia.com" and ".net" was created in 2006 (presumably by Microsoft when the site became popular; would love to access more data but that requires funds). Not sure where you got that information on "halopedia.com" taken in 2004.— subtank   10:47, 6 July 2012 (EDT)

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