Man beats Microsoft, becomes instant domain expert

Microsoft has backed down from suing the owner of www.xbox.ws, according to the man himself, Mike Chatha.

"Well they said it couldn't happen," begins Mike’s triumphant message, before explaining that a letter from MS four days earlier "appreciates the efforts" made and "considers the matter closed".

But there’s even better news - Mike’s brief run-in with the Beast of Redmond has overnight turned him into a domain name expert. "Having registered over 500 domains during the last 10 years and having being involved in more domain disputes than is healthy for one man, Mike knows his stuff," reads a sales pitch for his new Domain Doctor newsletter, available for just $49 for three months up to only $119 for 12 months.

This is a clever man, make no mistake, because he had us duped into believing he had no understanding of country-code domain rules or trademark law as it applies to domain names. And all the time he was an expert.

So just how do Mike pull it off? Did he apologise to Microsoft for trying to profit from the site by selling it for £1,795? Or did he just lay down the law? Well, you can find out now in the first issue of Domain Doctor. Remember, that’s just $49 for three months. Cheap at twice the price.

And if you still retain any doubts, have no fear because "Mike handles all his domain disputes personally and has never engaged the services of a lawyer, instead relying on a decade of experience of working with the internet on a daily basis."

Perhaps ICANN should hire Mike to sort out the VeriSign SiteFinder debacle. ®

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