That is really fascinating. Thanks very much for sharing, Ayden.

It seems quite predatory, if it's taking place as described. But
presumably any of the restaurants which have a trademark over their
name would have a good shot at filing a UDRP claim, no? I guess
GrubHub might be able to make a colourable argument that they're
making use of the pages for a commercial purpose, but given the
broader context, this seems like straight-up cybersquatting.

On Sun, Jun 30, 2019 at 11:21 AM Ayden Férdeline <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> This article makes for an interesting read:
> https://newfoodeconomy.org/grubhub-domain-purchases-thousands-shadow-sites/
>
> GrubHub has bought up more than 23,000 domain names. Most seem to match the names of the restaurants on its own platform.
>
> New York City restaurant owner Shivane M. says she was ready to leave GrubHub.
>
> ... Shivane started exploring other options. She says she thought about bulking up her restaurant’s web presence and offering orders on her own site through a different service, one that offered a flat monthly rate and no commission fee. There was just one problem: Someone already owned the web domain that matched her restaurant’s name. She looked up the buyer. It was GrubHub.
>
> ... GrubHub has set up generic, templated pages that look like real restaurant websites but in fact link only to GrubHub. These pages also display phone numbers that GrubHub controls. The calls are forwarded to the restaurant, but the platform records each one and charges the restaurant a commission fee for every order...