the webthinking blog

This might be old news to some of you or it can come just as a surprise: ever look-up for the latest Nissan SUV at www.nissan.com? You won’t find the Murano here, but you might wanna stay away from it, as well.

So this lucky guy, Uzi Nissan, who seems to be an entrepreneur, started his small shop computer business back in 1991 in North Carolina. Later on in 1994 he registers nissan.com and two years later nissan.net. Just to make sure he’s got all domain name variations. All good until 1999, when the former Datsun car company, more recently known as Nissan Motor sues him, seeking $10,000,000 in damages.

Watch this CNBC video, dated December 2005: “They’ve ruined every aspect of my life” says Uzi Nissan, who claims to have spent $2.2 million fighting the lawsuit. Did he have any chance to negotiate? Did Nissan Motor Co. make him an offer? Hard to guess, but sever years later Nissan Motor Co. still uses the lousy nissanusa.com and the little guy is broke :(

Question is: how much for a domain name or how far would you go in keeping yours, if you’re a small biz and somebody knocks at your door?

As for Nissan Motor Co., yes they missed the boat and now they shifted directly to 2.0. Anybody else wants to try their luck? nissan20.com it’s up for grabs!