As one of the most popular free image editing software on the internet, Paint.NET has won the love of countless users with its professional-level features and extremely user-friendly interface. However, surprisingly, this software has been forced to reside under the temporary URL getpaint.net for 22 years since its release in 2004. Until recently, the founder of the software, Rick Brewster, finally publicly announced that they have successfully reclaimed their official paint.net domain.
A 20-Year Legal Battle
Brewster said that it took him 22 years of effort to reclaim this domain, which is definitely a major milestone in the history of the software. In the long past, the previous owner of the domain not only refused to sell it but also once asked the development team for an exorbitant price. Due to the huge gap in prices, the negotiation for the return of the domain once fell into an endless deadlock.
Capturing the Infringement Evidence for a Winning Move
The turning point came last December when the domain holder began maliciously hosting content related to Paint.NET on the website. The party tried to deceive users with various suspicious links and fake advertisements, essentially illegally using the Paint.NET trademark to make profits. Brewster quickly seized this legal opportunity, cooperating with lawyers to file a lawsuit against trademark infringement and domain name squatting, and ultimately won the case without any doubt.
Currently, Brewster is accelerating the migration of website content and the setup of server redirection. Although users cannot yet directly download the software from the new domain, this final obstacle will soon be completely removed.
