Namecheap is suing their customers

SUMMARY

Theo, a web developer and founder, recounts Namecheap's lawsuit against customer Snigdha Sur over her domain juggernaut.com, exposing domain registration risks, registrar abuses, and advice for secure business practices.

STATEMENTS

Domains pose significant risks for businesses due to unpredictable issues with registrars, registries, and spam lists that can abruptly halt operations.
Theo shares personal frustrations with domain renewals, especially country-code TLDs like .gg, where unexpected fees and ransom-like holds have cost him thousands.
Snigdha Sur's startup, Juggernaut, lost its entire web presence when Namecheap shut down juggernaut.com globally in January 2025, crippling growth and subscriber acquisition.
An Arizona court granted Sur a temporary restraining order against Namecheap, ruling in her favor to restore the domain, yet Namecheap countersued her personally.
The domain dispute originated from an Indian trademark ruling by Juggernaut Books, which conflicted with U.S. court decisions favoring Sur's news platform.
Namecheap's terms allow them broad discretion to suspend domains at any time for any reason, creating uncertainty and vulnerability for founders.
Sur's business suffered irreversible damage, including lost SEO, furious customers, and suspended investor talks, as people couldn't access the site.
False flagging to spam lists like Spamhaus can easily block domains, ruining SEO and access, as Theo experienced with his projects like T3 Chat and Uploadthing.
The domain ecosystem involves multiple layers—registries, registrars, governing bodies, and spam trackers—any of which can destroy a business if they act against you.
Namecheap's strategy of suing individuals personally mirrors tactics used by the Church of Scientology to overwhelm opponents with legal burdens.
Sur had to sue Namecheap to recover her domain after unresponsive support, highlighting how registrars shift burdens onto customers.
The U.S. court explicitly enjoined Namecheap from preventing Sur's use of juggernaut.com, except for geo-fencing in India, but Namecheap ignored this.
Namecheap attempted to intimidate Sur by threatening her lawyers over her plan to publicize the case on Twitter, deeming it an improper threat.
Domain registrars like Namecheap and GoDaddy profit from high renewal fees and upcharges, incentivizing exploitative practices over customer service.
Theo recommends registrars that derive revenue from non-domain products, like Vercel and Cloudflare, as they are less likely to squeeze margins aggressively.
Public reputation sensitivity, especially on Twitter, acts as a lever for customers to hold registrars accountable, as seen in Vercel's quick resolutions.
Country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) are fraught with hidden rules and fees, making them risky; Theo advises avoiding them unless essential.
Open-source projects and startups can access discounts from tools like Greptile, which prevents bugs in codebases, indirectly supporting stable web presences.
Investor confidence erodes when a startup's domain vanishes, forcing awkward explanations during critical funding conversations.
Admitting mistakes and taking ownership, as Porkbun did in a domain suspension incident, builds trust and differentiates reliable registrars.

IDEAS

Domains aren't just addresses; they're fragile lifelines for startups where a single registrar decision can erase years of SEO and user trust overnight.
Personal registration of business domains, a common practice, exposes founders to individual lawsuits, turning corporate disputes into personal nightmares.
The irony of a domain registrar wielding "broad discretion" to shut down sites undermines the very stability businesses seek from online infrastructure.
False flagging to spam databases by anonymous haters can sabotage companies faster than any hack, revealing how reputation lists control digital access.
Geo-fencing as a workaround for international trademark conflicts shows how global rulings clash, forcing U.S. companies to navigate foreign legal mazes.
Threatening legal action over a founder's Twitter posts equates public advocacy with extortion, chilling free speech in business disputes.
Registrars reselling from a handful of registries operate like gas stations, surviving on add-ons and fees rather than core value, breeding predatory tactics.
A billion-dollar company's CEO publicly threatening a pre-Series A founder highlights power imbalances in the domain ecosystem.
U.S. courts overriding Indian rulings for American entities underscores jurisdictional battles that registrars exploit to avoid compliance efforts.
Admitting errors publicly, as some registrars do, contrasts sharply with denial strategies that escalate conflicts into lawsuits.
ccTLDs like .gg lure with uniqueness but ensnare with arbitrary renewal rules, turning "cool" domains into costly traps.
Twitter's role as an accountability tool empowers even small users against giants, as seen in refunds and fixes from reputation-sensitive firms.
Sponsoring open-source with bug-catching AI like Greptile indirectly safeguards domains by ensuring robust code that avoids triggering suspensions.
Scientology's lawsuit floods against the IRS parallel Namecheap's personal suits, illustrating how process abuse crushes under-resourced opponents.
Non-domain revenue models for registrars foster generosity, like eating dispute fees, because long-term customer retention trumps short-term domain profits.
Investor site checks during pitches mean domain outages aren't just technical; they're deal-killers in a web-dependent funding landscape.
Weaponizing terms of service for censorship, as in Theo's open-source drama, shows how domains become tools for silencing dissent.
DNSimple's engineer-led support and code-friendly tools blend domain management with dev workflows, reducing administrative pitfalls.

INSIGHTS

The domain registration process's multi-layered vulnerabilities expose how seemingly simple assets can become existential threats to digital businesses, demanding proactive diversification.
Personal liability in domain ownership transforms routine trademark disputes into asymmetric warfare, where underfunded founders face corporate legal onslaughts designed to exhaust rather than resolve.
Reputation-sensitive registrars thrive by treating Twitter outrage as a feedback loop, turning public pressure into incentives for fair play over exploitative margin-chasing.
International trademark conflicts reveal the domain system's failure to harmonize global laws, allowing registrars to default to inaction and burden customers with compliance complexities.
False flagging mechanisms democratize sabotage, illustrating how anonymous actors can weaponize spam lists to enforce ideological censorship without accountability.
Broad contractual discretion in registrar terms creates a chilling effect on innovation, as founders weigh the risk of arbitrary shutdowns against building web-centric products.
Admitting operational failures publicly signals maturity in service providers, fostering trust in ecosystems where errors are inevitable but denial amplifies harm.
Non-core revenue models decouple registrar incentives from domain squeezes, promoting stability by aligning profits with broader ecosystem health over isolated transaction fees.
Jurisdictional overrides by U.S. courts in domain disputes highlight power dynamics favoring domestic entities, yet registrars' non-compliance shifts fallout onto vulnerable users.
Public advocacy threats being recast as extortion by powerful firms underscore how legal language stifles discourse, protecting incumbents from scrutiny in opaque industries.
ccTLD pitfalls stem from nationalistic governance, teaching that exotic domains trade branding appeal for hidden geopolitical risks in a borderless web.

QUOTES

"I've been through it with country code TLDs and domain registration in general. Almost every domain I have I've had some issue with at some point."
"Namecheap's claim is that the domain was registered in her name even though it was used for her company. This is very, very common."
"Shutting down a news organization also raises serious first amendment and free speech concerns."
"They claim they have the right to do that at any point. Horrifying. And that creates massive uncertainty for founders."
"If any of my sponsors make your life harder or screw you or hurt your business, tell me about it and be loud about it publicly."
"It's actually insane how easy it is to ruin a company by doing weird shit to their domain."
"The only reason the Church of Scientology is a tax-exempt organization in the United States is because they would personally sue every single person they found working for the IRS."
"We're humans trying to do our best and although we strive for perfection, haven't quite gotten there yet."
"Be careful with your domains and make sure they register with somebody you can actually trust."

HABITS

Renew domains well in advance of expiration dates to avoid surprise fees from providers like those operating .gg TLDs.
Register all new domains through registrars like Vercel or Cloudflare that focus on non-domain revenue streams for reliable support.
Monitor spam lists and reputation trackers regularly, responding swiftly to false flags that could block access for users.
Publicly voice issues on Twitter to leverage reputation-sensitive companies into quick resolutions, as with billing disputes.
Avoid country-code TLDs unless necessary, sticking to generic TLDs like .com to minimize regulatory catches.
Diversify domain management across multiple registrars to prevent single-point failures from impacting the entire business.
Document all communications with registrars meticulously, preparing for potential legal escalations in disputes.

FACTS

Namecheap, valued at $1.5 billion, shut down Snigdha Sur's juggernaut.com globally in January 2025, leading to her filing a temporary restraining order in Arizona.
The Church of Scientology filed over 2,500 lawsuits against IRS employees in the 1990s, pressuring the agency into granting tax-exempt status in 1993.
Theo's T3 Chat domain was falsely flagged as spam during an open-source library drama, ruining its Google SEO to this day.
Uploadthing's CDN domain was blocked by European ISPs for 24 hours after a Spamhaus false flag, preventing asset resolution for users.
Juggernaut Books, an Indian digital publishing firm, sued over the "Juggernaut" trademark, despite Sur's U.S.-based news site being distinct.
Vercel refunded thousands in fees to four affected users, including Theo, for a .gg registry implementation failure without profiting from domains.
Porkbun's response to a $15,000 domain renewal error involved public apologies and process fixes, acknowledging human error in account locks.
Greptile caught bugs in open-source repos from Nvidia and PostHog, preventing issues like broken sorting in production code.

REFERENCES

XKCD dependency comic, illustrating fragile tech stacks reliant on unstable components like domains.
Greptile AI code reviewer, used for catching bugs in codebases, with examples from Nvidia and PostHog repos.
T3 Chat, Theo's AI chat tool accessed via browser shortcut, impacted by SEO losses from spam flags.
Uploadthing, Theo's file upload service, disrupted by CDN domain blocks in Europe.
Helium browser, used by Theo for quick URL access to sites like Pitchfork and GitHub.
Spamhaus, a spam list provider that falsely flagged Theo's domains for phishing.
Juggernaut.com, Snigdha Sur's startup site for South Asian stories, central to the lawsuit.
Porkbun, domain registrar praised for ownership in error responses.
DNSimple, code-friendly domain management tool sponsored by Theo previously.
Vercel domains, recommended for reputation sensitivity and non-domain profits.
Cloudflare domains, alternative for stable registration without margin squeezes.
GoDaddy, criticized for AI hype and upcharge tactics in domain sales.
Gary Tan (YC), who questioned Namecheap's India geo-fencing demands publicly.

HOW TO APPLY

Assess your current registrar's business model to ensure it doesn't rely primarily on domain fees, switching to ones like Vercel or Cloudflare that prioritize other revenues for better incentives.
Implement geo-fencing tools early if operating internationally, preparing redirects for conflicting regions like India to comply with local trademarks without full shutdowns.
Set up automated alerts for domain expiration dates, renewing at least a month in advance to dodge ransom-like penalties from ccTLD registries.
Regularly scan for spam list inclusions using tools like Spamhaus checks, and have a response plan involving public Twitter posts to pressure quick delistings.
Register domains under business entities where possible, but include personal details as required while consulting lawyers on liability shields against personal suits.
Diversify across multiple registrars for critical domains, mirroring dependency management to avoid single failures cascading into business halts.
Build a public advocacy strategy, documenting disputes and sharing on platforms like Twitter to exploit reputation levers, ensuring even small voices trigger accountability.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Prioritize reputation-driven domain registrars to shield businesses from arbitrary shutdowns and legal abuses in the fragile online ecosystem.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Migrate domains to Vercel or Cloudflare immediately if using margin-heavy registrars like Namecheap to reduce exploitation risks.
Avoid ccTLDs like .gg unless branding demands it, opting for stable gTLDs to sidestep international regulatory traps.
Publicize any registrar disputes on Twitter aggressively, leveraging community pressure for resolutions as seen with small users against giants.
Consult trademark lawyers before launching web products, especially with generic terms like "juggernaut" to preempt cross-border conflicts.
Use AI tools like Greptile for code reviews to prevent bugs that could trigger domain suspensions via policy violations.
Document all registrar interactions meticulously, preparing for countersuits by building a paper trail of compliance efforts.
Diversify web presence with subdomains or alternative URLs, ensuring business continuity if primary domains face blocks.
Support open-source maintainers publicly to avoid backlash that leads to false flags and domain sabotage.
Choose registrars with engineer-led support, like DNSimple, for dev-friendly management that integrates with code workflows.
Monitor investor communications closely, always verifying site accessibility before pitches to prevent domain issues derailing funding.

MEMO

In the high-stakes world of digital startups, a domain name is more than a web address—it's the cornerstone of visibility and trust. Theo, a prominent web developer and founder of t3.gg, recently unpacked a chilling case that underscores this fragility: Namecheap, a major domain registrar valued at $1.5 billion, is suing its own customer, Snigdha Sur, over control of juggernaut.com. Sur's media startup, focused on amplifying South Asian narratives, saw its global site vanish in January 2025, halting growth, alienating subscribers, and derailing investor talks. An Arizona court swiftly granted her a temporary restraining order, affirming her right to the domain with minor geo-fencing for India. Yet Namecheap, ignoring the ruling, countersued Sur personally, citing her name on the registration—a common practice that now exposes her to crushing legal fees.

The dispute traces back to a 2019 Indian trademark claim by Juggernaut Books, a digital publisher, which shares the name but operates in a distinct space from Sur's news platform. U.S. courts deemed the entities non-competitive, enjoining Namecheap from blocking access except in India. But the registrar, leveraging broad terms allowing shutdowns "at any time for any reason," escalated by threatening Sur's lawyers over her intent to publicize the fight on Twitter. This tactic echoes darker precedents, like the Church of Scientology's 1990s barrage of 2,500 lawsuits against IRS employees, which forced tax-exempt status through exhaustion rather than merit. Theo, drawing from his own battles—including false spam flags that crippled his T3 Chat's SEO and blocked Uploadthing assets in Europe—warns that domains form a precarious foundation, vulnerable to registries, registrars, and anonymous saboteurs.

Layered complexities amplify the peril: registries set TLD rules, registrars resell like gas stations scraping margins, and spam lists like Spamhaus enable easy sabotage. Theo recounts how haters during an open-source spat flagged his sites, turning minor drama into lasting digital blacklisting. For Sur, a Y Combinator alum pre-Series A, the imbalance is stark—Namecheap's CEO even tweeted veiled threats, while she vows to fight on. Investors messaged her assuming shutdown, forcing explanations amid a prime acquisition window. "Growth, usage, and word of mouth is a startup's lifeblood," Theo notes, echoing the heartbreak of lost SEO painstakingly built over years.

Navigating this minefield requires savvy choices. Theo shuns registrars like Namecheap and GoDaddy, whose profits hinge on renewal upcharges—think first-year pennies masking 30% hikes later. Instead, he favors Vercel and Cloudflare, where domains are loss-leaders to broader services; Vercel once ate thousands in .gg fees for affected users, including Theo. Porkbun earns nods for owning errors, like a $15,000 renewal glitch they publicly apologized for and fixed. DNSimple stands out for its dev-centric tools, run by a tight-knit engineer team sensitive to reputation. Avoid ccTLDs, Theo urges—they're "evil" with arbitrary rules, as his .gg woes attest.

Ultimately, leverage matters. Twitter amplifies even small voices: a low-follower dev's billing rant prompted Vercel's CEO to intervene, patching code and refunding $400. Theo, no stranger to online scrutiny, advises amplifying disputes publicly—his sponsors, he insists, must serve viewers, not harm them. For founders, this tale is a clarion call: treat domains as mission-critical infrastructure, not afterthoughts. In an era where web presence defines success, one registrar's whim can unravel empires, but informed vigilance can fortify them against the storm.