The thing I don't get is how did some of the other parts suppliers and purveyors of you tube videos get to keep their domain name? I have always thought something was fishy about that since MB didn't go after them for using the "brand name"

It's ancient history at this point so in all honesty it doesn't matter. I would imagine that Pelican really wanted the Peach Parts name when they bought this site which is why it hasn't changed again.

I think every dog will have its day. May be the other URL names have not come up for renewal yet...

monkey bussines
 

I guess that I would be in a pile of trouble trying to explain to the girl from my avatar that her name is now protected domain name... :D

...however I like peachparts domain :) name.....

.

Let me guess, is her first name Mercedes?

Did anyone Post to Okie Benz , I remember getting Emails with Info and advice : What happened to this site ?

Probably lifted into internet heaven by a Tornado.

If I remember correctly its been 6 years since I read the decision what got Mercedesshop was not the forum, it was the selling of parts under the same name. If Bill had it set up so Mercedesshop was the forum, and for example you clicked on parts and peachparts owned that, they would have been ok.

That still begs the question of why Kent can still sell parts under his website and Rusty could as well (he has since retired I believe)

My take on it is that the crackdowns aren't continuous. They come and go.

If you have worked in the corporate world, you can tell by the smell: some mid-level exec hits on it as a nifty make-work and look-good project that impresses the bosses and has minimal downside, as Legal does all the lifting. Something to pad out the next shareholder report, even.

If you are unlucky enough to be caught in one, so be it.

I think "Mercedes Shop" was probably destined to get nailed as it sounded too much, to the uneducated coming to the Internet, like a Mercedes dealer.

When Volvo cracked down, just prior to its acquisition by Ford, it was way way way more brutal. In some cases they went after garages that fixed Volvos and made them white out or misspell the name.

They went after one guy in Montreal who was selling used parts out of his basement. And I mean with serious legal harassment.

Some old timers on the Volvo lists still use the term Ovlov to this day as a nose-thumb to that era.

Rusty and Hurst operated as bye embee parts dot com (I cannot type the real URL as it's still blocked here). There is no copyright on the initials MB or MBZ (which is why the once-associated-to-Rusty website mbz.org, which hosted the email lists sponsored by Rusty, exists).

The Okiebenz lists were a resurrection of the old lists that had been hosted through mbz.org, which in turn was supported by Rusty Cullens in Atlanta, who ran an online/phone order parts business (Rusty now works for WorldPac).

After some high drama between him and his partner, Hurst, details omitted here, the end result was that the domain name was sold to some large online parts mcvendor.

Ahead of the Cullens-Hurst implosion, there was nasty meltdown between Rusty and the owner of mbz.org and about the same time an employee of the latter who had difficulties went off his meds (literally) and took a baseball bat to the server farm that hosted mbz.org.

Kaleb Striplin, a pal of Rusty's who already had a site called okiebenz.com, resurrected a few of the lists as best he could.

Still active, according to its mailing lists home page. IIRC, the challenge was to get the list owner to actually action your subscription request....

Okiebenz.com, Resources for the Mercedes-Benz owner and Enthusiast

Holy cr% p!

That sounds like the makings of a juicy novel!

Cause the parts entity was probably under a different name.

Again its been six years since I read the lawsuit but if Bill simply linked from Mercedesshop.com LLC site to say Fastlane.com LLC and that did all the commercial side of it their was nothing MB USA could do.

I have heard of Rusty , good things, but am trying to remember if he was the one long considered the ' go to guy ' for auto transmission answers ?
Seems like the guy's name was longer than that... perhaps he had been a moderator here for a while.... had a great series of instructions with regard to auto transmissions....and perhaps other stuff.....
anyone remember ?