The domain name Patterns.com is a stolen domain name and really needs to be returned to its owner. The domain name has a fairly lengthy history of being stolen, I personally helped the rightful owner of this domain name get the domain name back, and it was, yet again, stolen for a second time. I’m appealing to the public and the domain name industry to force the current registrant of the domain name to return it to its rightful owner.
A little history of this domain name:
The domain was stolen from Network Solutions around 2020, the original domain thief got into the NetSol account by using data that they got from the Network Solutions data breach. Around the same time, within days or a week or so, Perl.com and Piracy.com were also stolen. Perl was fairly quickly returned to its owner. I’m not sure about Piracy dot com, I believe that’s also still stolen.
I personally reached out to the real owner of Patterns, a software company in Florida, and they had no idea their domain was stolen because the name servers still pointed to their server at the time (the site was still up). However, after a little convincing and phone calls, I began to work with the owner to get the domain back. After “pulling out all the tricks” so to speak, without having to file a UDRP on the name, we ended up filing a UDRP on the domain (see https://domainnamewire.com/2022/03/01/epik-helps-patterns-com-owner-recover-domain-in-udrp/) and winning the UDRP. Sidenote: Even though that news article says “Epik” helped them, that’s not the case. Andrew got reported it wrong–I personally did all the leg work involved, and it was done through a separate brand/service that I ran and owned along with Mr. Monster. DNP paid a domain attorney to file the UDRP with the agreement that the domain would sit at Epik registrar until sold, with DNP getting 50 percent of the final sale price once the domain was sold. The domain was still owned by the Florida software company, and at no time did that owner give the domain or “sell it” to Epik, Inc.
By the way, to be clear, Epik Inc is different than the current Epik LLC that currently is operating on the Epik dot com domain name. Epik LLC has nothing to do with this at this point. Although, Epik LLC could still “do the right thing” and claw the domain back, as it is a stolen domain name that was transferred from ‘their’ registrar to another registrar without permission. All Epik LLC would need to do is file a TDRP with the gaining registrar. That is one possible solution.
The domain name (Patterns) was registered at Epik registrar at the conclusion of the UDRP, when the Florida software company won the UDRP. Part of that UDRP decision concluded that the domain name was acquired “in bad faith” (they stole it).
When Brian Royce was named CEO of Epik Inc., one of the things he did was to start liquidating. He sold a domain name “portfolio” of names in January 2023 that included the domain Patterns.com. Mr. Royce did not have permission from the registrant/owner of that domain name to sell the domain. So, it is my opinion that Mr. Royce essentially ‘stole’ the domain name on behalf of Epik Inc. in January 2023. Around that time, I made it a personal quest to recover that domain name for the Florida software company yet again, as I had put in SO much work to recover the domain name the first time–to have it, yet again, stolen for a second time.
At this point, over a year later, I’m pretty certain that the current registrant of the domain, which is part of a larger domain portfolio, is aware that the domain name is stolen–I can’t go into any specific details here, and it’s not appropriate for me to name names so don’t ask. The current registrant of the name has it parked, and what is rather annoying to me personally is that they are literally making money from clicks and traffic to that domain, and the parking companies are making money, as well, from stolen property. The parking companies are fully aware of the fact that the domain name is stolen, yet they don’t care. Where are the ethics in this industry?
I’m making this public, yet again, to plead to the current registrant of the domain Patterns dot com to return the domain name to its rightful owner. This, of course, can be done without knowing who you are–just return it. Any questions or want to contact me directly? I can easily be found.