Court Orders Man to Surrender Lambo.com After Lamborghini Wins Domain Dispute
An Arizona man who spent years trying to sell the domain Lambo.com for as much as $75 million has been forced to hand it over to Automobili Lamborghini after losing a legal battle over the name.
Richard Blair purchased the domain in February 2018 for $10,000, apparently hoping to cash in on the widely used nickname for the Italian luxury carmaker. Between 2020 and 2023, Blair repeatedly listed the domain for sale, raising the asking price from around £1.12 million to a staggering $75 million. Despite receiving offers, he rejected them all.
According to reporting from Road & Track, Blair began presenting himself online as “Lambo” after acquiring the domain and redirected Lambo.com to his personal website, where he published a post declaring he would “defend” the name and his self-styled moniker.
Lamborghini challenged the registration in April 2022, filing a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), which addresses cases where a domain contains another party’s trademark.
A WIPO panel ruled later that year that Blair had acted in bad faith and ordered the domain transferred to the supercar manufacturer. Blair responded by filing a lawsuit in an attempt to overturn the ruling, but a U.S. court upheld the decision, finding he had no legitimate claim to the name and only adopted the “Lambo” identity after acquiring the domain.
The court also noted Blair had never developed the site, had publicly attacked Lamborghini, and had attempted to profit from the company’s reputation.
Blair has now relinquished ownership of Lambo.com and faces legal costs in addition to losing his original investment.
While some domains continue to command huge sums – including Voice.com at $30 million in 2019 and Chat.com at $15.5 million in 2023 – Blair’s case underscores the risks involved when a domain closely aligns with a protected trademark.
