Lawsuit Claims ‘Nissan.com’ Has Been Stolen After Years of Legal Drama

For almost 30 years now, Nissan.com hasn't been the place to custom order an Altima. Owned by small businessman Uzi Nissan since 1994, the website was set up to represent his various small businesses before the Nissan Motor Corporation took interest. It infamously tried to rip it from him in court, only to lose after prolonged and costly legal battle stretching over a decade. But since Uzi's death in 2020, control of his website has allegedly been stolen by a mysterious thief, forcing the the Nissan family to take the matter to court once again.

This is all coming out in a lawsuit filed by Uzi Nissan's estate in federal court in Virginia this summer against the unidentified thief, with updates and new motions happening as recently as last week. The suit seeks to have Nissan.com and Nissan.net returned to the family and the domains transferred from current registrar GKG.net to GoDaddy.com, plus damages and legal fees.

If you're not familiar with the crazy backstory, Uzi Nissan was a serial entrepreneur, using his name for various ventures dating back to 1980. In 1994, he registered domains Nissan.com and Nissan.net for his businesses, including automotive service, computer, and import-export firms.

Nissan Motor Corporation, which rebranded from Datsun in the U.S. in 1981, didn't take interest in the domain until 1999 during the Dotcom Bubble. At that time, the automaker tried to wrest Uzi's domain names from him, accusing him of domain squatting and trademark dilution. However, after a nearly decade-long court case that Uzi claimed cost him more than $3 million, the case was decided in the small businessman's favor. That's why Nissan Motor's U.S. website is nissanusa.com to this day.