Updates on JaxLUG.org Recovery!

The Jacksonville Linux Users Group primary domain name from its inception in 1996 through 2023 was JaxLUG.org. This domain name has been lost. This page covers the ongoing efforts to recovering the lost JaxLUG.org domain name. Another page covers, The Story of How JaxLUG.org was lost. This page will be updated anytime actions are taken.

Initial Notice

Initial notice was sent on 9/24/2025 to Porkbun Abuse and an automated reply was received informing that Porkbun has transitioned to an online abuse reporting process and does not have a process to handle trademark abuse.

Using Porkbun's Whois tool, the current owner of JaxLUG.org was looked up and an email was sent via Porkbun's WHOIS Contact Form on 9/24/2025 to alert the owner of Trademark infringement and that the Jacksonville Linux Users Group would like its old domain name, JaxLUG.org back, and would be willing to cover any current registration and renewal costs along with domain escrow.

We do not know if the email sent via Porkbun's system was received and/or read, unless we receive some sort of reply, Porkbun does not provide any means to track emails sent.

Regardless of cooperation from the current JaxLUG.org domain name owner, there are two options available for legal remedies, Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) and Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (URDP). While the former URS is cheaper and faster, it only takes down content, it does not impact the domain name owner, and does not result transfer of domain name ownership. The latter URDP is more costly, but it does ensure the domain name is transferred upon a successful filing. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has a nice URDP guide.

The URDP criteria is easily met:

The current owner of JaxLUG.org violates each one of those!

The URDP process is best done through an entity that can oversee and manage the process, and it has various fees depending on the number of panelist. Fees for a single panelist on one to five domains starts at $1500 USD per WIPO. We have found two alternative sources that are a bit cheaper. One with Forum, an American company based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Forum charges $1330 for a URDP case single-member panel one to two domain names, double for a two-member panel. There is another that seems to be the cheapest option, the Czech Arbitration Court's filing fees are $800 Euros, single-member panel one to five domain names, but is handled outside of the USA and could incur additional costs. Additional information on URDP costs can be found here.

At this time, we have not chosen the route, though most likely we will go with the Forum. However, we are hopeful that the current domain name owner will do the right thing. We have considered offering a bounty or reward, given the costs of the URDP process, money will be spent one way or another; though this could also be seen as extortion from the current domain name owner. We may also elect to do a fund raising campaign to help the JaxLUG recover its lost JaxLUG.org domain name!

Please check this page for updates, and if you would like to help out, please open an issue on our Github! We welcome all efforts to help recover this valuable asset!