Seven forces Rafters fansite to shut
Network Seven lawyers have instructed a fan website for Packed to the Rafters to close down and hand over the domain. TV Tonight talks exclusively to a disappointed webmaster, who is all of 18 years old.
- Published by David Knox
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The Seven Network has muscled in on a website packedtotherafters.com.au run by an 18 year old fan, after it deemed his site would cause confusion with the show’s official website.
Seven’s own website is at the clunky address http://au.tv.yahoo.com/b/packed-to-the-rafters/
But now the network wants the webmaster, Michael, who started the site based on his love of the new Seven drama, to close down the site and hand over the domain.
Michael says he was shocked when he read the email from Seven lawyers.
“I couldn’t believe they required me to hand over the domain which means shutting down the entire site,” he told TV Tonight. “I had a feeling that one day they might require me to make it more obvious that it wasn’t the official website. I would get emails from other fans saying how much they loved the show and asked questions, I would always make sure I stated that we weren’t the official website and pointed them in the right direction.”
The site now tells readers: ‘Due to matters out of our hands packedtotherafters.com.au has been shut down & taken offline. We would like to thank everyone who helped get the site up and running & appreciate all those who visited the site and left comments. I hope you enjoy the final episode of the series on Tuesday night. I can’t wait for series two!’
Fans would always compliment him for updating the site, which added content more regularly than Seven’s.
But a disappointed Michael is complying with the request, saying he can’t afford to take Seven on legally. He says Seven has agreed to cover the cost of the initial registration fee but he is hoping the network may reconsider its demands.
Given the revenue Seven has generated from the number #1 series of 2008, it would certainly be nice if they could find it within their pockets to dig a little deeper, especially for a fan who was smart enough to register it.
“I’m left extremely disappointed that after all the time and effort I put into it the blog has gone to waste and all because I wanted to keep other fans informed about news, rumours & information about the show I fell in love with,” Michael said.
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62 Responses
Michael,
packedtotherafters.com is For Sale. Maybe Re-open there?+
Well, he can open up a new site or tranfer his files or something. The domain name is the name of there show…
I think its great that he made a fan site, but its not his show, its Sevens… and to have a .com.au address you need to have a registered business.
turns out big brother really is watching
The networks should work together with these sort of people opening fan sites. With the addition of simple disclaimers like “not an official ch7 site” or “not officially linked” and the like, they avoid any conflict of interest.
So long as registered trade marks are not used like to 7 logo, etc, who are they hurting by having fan sites? If anything, they are promoting the show for free.
In Australia you need to have an ABN to register a .com.au, which generally means you should be trading under that business name to acquire it. So I don’t know how this guy even got that domain name to begin with.
Seven still should have offered a substantial pay-out to the guy. Domains are like property. It’d be like Seven making someone hand over the keys to their house, because it might confuse people with another house with the same number and street name, but in another state.
Seven are becoming complete pr**s. First joining in on suing iiNet for god knows what reason (no other networks felt the need to), and now this. So freakin’ dodgy.
I forgot to add before though as soon as you see the “All Rights Reserved” aspect it basically knocks you out of obtaining the .com.au domain for the country that owns the rights.
I’m actually representing a company at the moment who just went through the same thing and the person who actually owns the Copyright has the right to do ask for the removal of the item even if they do not own the domain at the time.
Boy what a bunch of bullies seven are like others have previously mentioned Michael should go to ACA they would love a story like this go for it Michael I wish you every success mate
If I was Seven, I’d be more concerned with the fact that Michael had copies of the episodes streaming on his site than the content itself. That would have been the reason for them to shut it down more than anything else.
It was an awesome site, so for Michael’s sake I hope he manages to get it back up and running via a different domain, etc.
I haven’t seen one minute of the show, nor am interested in it. But what 7 have done, is lame.
Well, they are a pack of bullies … all he should need is a clear statement at the site that it is “Not Official” and give a link to the correct official …. and very hard to find … site …
They obviously “could not buy this sort of adversiting or support” and should take advantage of the power of fan obcession instead of being arrogant and narrow minded.
Jack!
No need to register a company name. Get a free ABN and/or register the domain under the requirement of a ‘similar’ product/service offering.
Hi Michael – if you where to register the company name ‘Packed To The Rafters’ for $79.00, you would legally own the rights to the name and therefore you would own the rights to the domain name.
I think your right craig I reckon ACA may be onto this!
Seems completely OTT..the site would have given the show great online exposure. Idiots!
Hey guys,
Michael from packedtotherafters.com.au here.
Thanks for the comments and support, had a few emails offering support on the matter, will make sure i get back to them all at some stage today.
I did a trademark search and could not find anything top do with packed to the rafters. I don’t know much about the cans and cants of trademarks but i would imagine registering the term ‘packed to the rafters’ would be extremely difficult as it is a commonly used term and likely to be used by others in every day use.
thanks
As sad as this is, I was put through the same thing with a website I registered a couple of years ago. Sadly, Michael must comply with Channel 7 – it’s not bullying from the Seven legal department, it’s claim of their copyright. If Michael had registered packedtotherafters.com he would be ok, as anyone can own a .com domain name. But a .com.au domain name must be registered by the company who owns the trademark or has registered the business name.
It would be a different scenario if Michael had registered the company name Packed To The Rafters and sold storage equipment. Then he would be entitled to the .com.au domain name. Register the .com Michael…if it’s still available.
or the TV shows that are on the other channels
I think Michael should use the domain for something unrelated as to show Seven have no right to it – maybe a page advertising roof products?
Such a shame that Seven has done this which would actually add to the publicity for the show.
Maybe Michael should reopen under a different name but that still mentions the show. Like how there’s a PerfectBlend website for Neighbours.
The same thing happened with the site I run – sea-patrol.com, however after a lengthy discussion and agreement with executive producers Hal and Di McElroy, an agreement was reached.
I’ll contact Michael and hopefully assist him in contacting some of the people connected with the program to perhaps find a middle ground. Fan sites are normally more enjoyable than official site’s, as they go deeper into things and allow fans to be more expressive than what is normally allowed on an official site – major forum discussion, fan fiction, fan art etc, to name just a few.
That’s pretty sad really. The least seven could have done is pay him out a reasonable sum considering he was smart enough to hook up the domain name.
Why didn’t 7 register the address as soon as the shows title was confirmed?
It would have only cost them $30-$40 and two minutes in time.
People typing in packedtotherafters.com.au could have then been redirected to the official site.
This is not going to win ch7 too many fans, it’s another case of a big company bullying the little guy into giving them something they didn’t even know they wanted before someone else was smart enough to do it. I wish they could fight them.
Wonder if TT will do a story on it, I can smell ACA sniffing around already 😆
if Seven were smart they’d have registered the domain name first
Wow.. The idiots should have thought about buying the domain name when they were filming the show.. If anything they should have to pay for it as any company would if someone else snatched up their domain name.
It’s just scare mongering and bullying.. I would keep the domain name and keep re-registering it just to piss them off, I would also plaster channel 9 and 10 logos over it and advertise the other shows on at that time.. but that’s just me lol
More arrogant bullying from the Seven legal department. Typical.
Seven’s who Yahoo co-branding is a joke, and the pathetic excuses for web sites they come up with are impenetrably hard to use and devoid of updates and useful information (ever tried to find proper info on City Homicide in that mire? And whatever happened to the weekly writers’ blog anyway?)
They should have been grateful for the free publicity. And last time I checked, “packed to the rafters” is a commonly used term, not a trademark.
Perhaps Michael should set the site back up with a US host and domain. Let’s see Seven’s big men try and shut him down then.