Chicago Olympic Bid Team Suing Owner of Chicago2016.com

By Margaret Lyons in News on Sep 18, 2008 5:15PM

Who owns Chicago2016.com? Currently, MBA student Stephen Frayne Jr., who bought the domain back in 2004. But now the Chicago Olympic bid folk, whose website is currently Chicago2016.org, and the USOC are suing him, claiming the site belongs to them.

"We certainly see Chicago2016.com as the logical default domain for our site, and we believe having someone else control it is misleading for people seeking information about Chicago's bid," said Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for Chicago 2016, a moniker protected by trademark. ..."I can tell you this is absolutely not about free speech, but about the natural domain for our site, and the domain name that is rightfully ours."

Frayne doesn't see it that way. He says he wants to foster "public discussion," and says he isn't interested in selling; he also owns Tokyo2016.com and a bunch of other city/number combos. Chicago2016.com does make it very clear that it isn't the official site for the city's bid, but going by ICANN standards, it seems like Frayne has an uphill battle. [Trib]