A Game Studio's Fired Co-Founder Hijacked Its Domain Name, a New Lawsuit Alleges (aftermath.site) 13
Three co-founders of the game studio That's No Moon "are suing another co-founder for allegedly hijacking the company's website domain name," reports the gaming news site Aftermath, "taking the website offline and disabling employee access to email accounts, according to a new lawsuit."
Tina Kowalewski, Taylor Kurosaki, and Nick Kononelos filed a complaint against co-founder and former CEO Michael Mumbauer on Tuesday in a California court. [Game studio] That's No Moon, which was founded in 2020 by veterans of Infinity Ward, Naughty Dog, and other AAA studios, said in its complaint that Mumbauer is looking to "cripple" the studio after being fired in 2022...
Mumbauer, according to the complaint, purchased the domain name, and several others, when the studio was founded; it said both parties agreed these would be controlled by the studio. Mumbauer allegedly still has access to the domains, and That's No Moon said he took control over the website on Jan. 6, disabled the studio's access, and turned off employees' ability to email external addresses. The team was locked out for two days as a four-person IT team worked to get the services back online. On the public-facing side, the website briefly redirected to the Travel Switzerland page, according to the complaint. That's No Moon's lawyers said the co-founders sent Mumbauer a letter on Jan. 7 demanding he "relinquish his unauthorized access." That's when, according to the compliant, the website started redirecting to a GoDaddy Auction site, where the domain was priced at $6,666,666; That's No Moon remarked in the complaint: "A number that [Mumbauer] may well have selected for its Satanic connotation."
As of Wednesday, Aftermath was able to access a public-facing That's No Moon website using both the original domain and the new one... The charges listed as part of this lawsuit are trademark infringement, cybersquatting, computer fraud, conversion, trespass to chattels, and breach of contract. That's No Moon also asked a judge for a temporary restraining order to prevent Mumbauer from continued access to the domains. Mumbauer has not responded to Aftermath's request for comment. Mumbauer said, in an email to That's No Moon attorney Amit Rana published as part of the lawsuit, that he intends to file "a wrongful termination countersuit and will be seeking extensive damages...."
That's No Moon hasn't yet announced its first game, but has said the game is led by creative director Taylor Kurosaki and game director Jacob Minkoff. South Korean publisher Smilegate invested $100 million into the company, That's No Moon announced in 2021.
Mumbauer, according to the complaint, purchased the domain name, and several others, when the studio was founded; it said both parties agreed these would be controlled by the studio. Mumbauer allegedly still has access to the domains, and That's No Moon said he took control over the website on Jan. 6, disabled the studio's access, and turned off employees' ability to email external addresses. The team was locked out for two days as a four-person IT team worked to get the services back online. On the public-facing side, the website briefly redirected to the Travel Switzerland page, according to the complaint. That's No Moon's lawyers said the co-founders sent Mumbauer a letter on Jan. 7 demanding he "relinquish his unauthorized access." That's when, according to the compliant, the website started redirecting to a GoDaddy Auction site, where the domain was priced at $6,666,666; That's No Moon remarked in the complaint: "A number that [Mumbauer] may well have selected for its Satanic connotation."
As of Wednesday, Aftermath was able to access a public-facing That's No Moon website using both the original domain and the new one... The charges listed as part of this lawsuit are trademark infringement, cybersquatting, computer fraud, conversion, trespass to chattels, and breach of contract. That's No Moon also asked a judge for a temporary restraining order to prevent Mumbauer from continued access to the domains. Mumbauer has not responded to Aftermath's request for comment. Mumbauer said, in an email to That's No Moon attorney Amit Rana published as part of the lawsuit, that he intends to file "a wrongful termination countersuit and will be seeking extensive damages...."
That's No Moon hasn't yet announced its first game, but has said the game is led by creative director Taylor Kurosaki and game director Jacob Minkoff. South Korean publisher Smilegate invested $100 million into the company, That's No Moon announced in 2021.
Not the first time I've seen this (Score:5, Interesting)
Start ups are notorious for not sorting out corporate ownership of domain names from the founders. Unless you've actually transferred the domain with the registrar or have a document that says: we gave you X and you give us the domain(s). Then it can be a real pain to pry a domain away from a disgruntled cofounder that is unhappy about being pushed out.
In the same vein, getting all the paperwork sorted out for ownership of any patents, copyrights, real estate, tooling, leases, etc is also something startups forget to do. Having your office lease cancelled because the cofounder is still on the lease is no fun either, usually you can get it started but with you over a barrel and fully moved in, a landlord is going to be charging you more.
Re: (Score:2)
The trick for this seems to be having a shared inbox on a 3rd party e-mail forwarding service that more than one person knows the password for. That way, renewal and transfer notices go out to multiple people and (hopefully) someone still working for the company will notice and renew it before a bad actor poaches the domain.
Also, please don't be stupid and make the owner's e-mail address something like admin@domain.com where domain.com is the domain being renewed. That's a surefire way of getting yourself l
Re: (Score:2)
oof! I've seen people setup all their admin contacts for example.com as admin@example.com. Things usually fall apart the moment you try to change the IP on your DNS server, like when someone decides to relocate you from an office rack to a proper data center. I guess with people doing more cloud-based hosting that's maybe not quite as common, but almost every startup I was at in the 2000's we would try to have a network closet with all our servers until things got too big to fit.
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Probably. But in that case, the guy would not have "hacked" it at all. He would be the legal owner.
Re:Not the first time I've seen this (Score:5, Insightful)
The IT department fucked up. The day Mumbauer was ousted in 2022, they should have started the process of removing his name from the domain registration and hosting accounts. Yes what he did was wrong and probably breaks laws, but for a company with $100m investment to overlook such basic security concerns is just a rookie move. And since Mumbauer has continued to send threatening messages, they need to file an order of protection against him to prevent further harassment.
Re: (Score:2)
Tell me you don’t know shit.. (Score:3)
..about InfoSec, even if you do know how to make games.
..its complaint that Mumbauer is looking to "cripple" the studio after being fired in 2022...
Fired four fucking years ago, and still had access to the domain registrar account? Punish him all you want, right after you force the other founders to stand and take a round from a professional bitch slapper armed with a hard copy of InfoSec for Dummies taped ‘round their learning hand.
Dish served cold? That dude aged his revenge like good bourbon.
Mumbauer's actions will hurt him later. (Score:4, Insightful)
Whatever court hears Mumbauer's wrongful dismissal case will likely look at his actions post-firing and decide that he doesn't have "clean hands" in this matter. That will reduce the amount of damages the court is willing to award, or potentially end up with the decision going against Mumbauer completely, with him now being potentially on the hook for the company's legal fees.
If you have a legal dispute like this, keep your hands legally clean, even if it pains you to do so.
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You'd think that he would want the studio to be successful and make money so he can claim part of it...
DA (Score:2)
So dumbasses all the way around? Tell me you donâ(TM)t know the first thing about running a startup without telling me you donâ(TM)t know the first thing about running a startup.
Shame on the investment company for not doing basic due diligence as well.
Always the same thing (Score:2)
Beware who you fire.
Most of the claims are unlikely to succeed (Score:2, Insightful)
Based entirely on the summary...
trademark infringement - there was no attempt at commerce or to promote a product to confuse with any trademark. Without context the domain name is a line from a popular movie. The company's trademarks are likely limited to computer games so linking to a tourist website would not infringe.
cybersquatting - he registered the domain for a proper purpose and it was used as such.
computer fraud - he registered the name lawfully and as the registered owner changing its records are