Yancy S. Strickland

Nissan sued a computer repairman for $10,000,000 to take the Nissan․com domain. His legal last name was Uzi Nissan. He refused to fold, spent $3,000,000 fighting them in federal court for 8 years, and won. This is the story of Uzi Nissan and why a $20B car giant still can't use Nissan․com. 1980-1994 - Uzi Nissan emigrates from Israel to Raleigh, North Carolina - opens a small auto repair shop in 1980 using his family surname - launches Nissan Computer Corporation on May 14, 1991 selling PCs and servers - registers Nissan․com on June 4, 1994 for $70 while the automaker barely touches the web December 10, 1999 - Nissan Motor Co. realizes a North Carolina PC shop owns their exact domain - instead of paying his asking price, the automaker files a $10,000,000 federal lawsuit for cybersquatting - Uzi refuses to back down and turns the homepage of Nissan․com into a public archive of their legal threats 1999-2007 - the court battle drags on for 8 years across district court, the Ninth Circuit, and a Supreme Court petition - Uzi spends over $3,000,000 in legal fees and takes out two mortgages on his home - federal judges rule a corporation can't strip a man of a domain built on his own birth name July 2020 - Today - Uzi Nissan passes away from COVID-19 in July 2020 at age 68 - when thieves hijack the domain after his death, a federal judge orders Nissan․com returned to his family estate in April 2024 To this day, Nissan Motors is forced to use NissanUSA․com. If you type Nissan․com into your browser right now, you still don't get a car dealership. You get a memorial to the computer repairman who beat a multinational giant over his own last name.