Cisco's copyright complaint killed Marc La Porte's CCIE Hall of Fame
Cisco's complaint of copyright violations took down one of the most useful, well-known and respected websites dedicated to the worldwide community of CCIEs.
Earlier this month, I received the following email message from a Triple CCIE:
"Brad,
"I read your stuff frequently. Was disturbed when I found out that the CCIE Hall of Fame website is no longer available. Do you know if Cisco took this down too? If this is true it is completely ridiculous!"
Well, I'm very sad to report that I received the following email confirmation by CCIE Hall of Fame owner Marc La Porte:
"Hi Brad,
"Yes, I have been taken offline due to a complaint of copyright violations."
According to a Dispute Resolution for Domain Names document, page 10, Cisco has to pay a minimum of a $1,300 fee as a Complainant in order to initiate a domain name complaint.
Interestingly though in 2002, Cisco famously lost its complaint against the owner of the domain name:
