After what was a pretty obvious application of the ICANN anti-squatting policy, it seems Google has now gained control of GooglePlay.com from an ad-serving Japanese squatter. Google filed a complaint under ICANN anti-squatting regulations, and after the case's short stint at the National Arbitration Forum (a non-court but legally binding decision-making body in the US), Google now shows as the registrant of GooglePlay.com.
A quick 'whois' of the domain yields the following:
Registrant Name: DNS AdminRegistrant Organization: Google Inc.
Registrant Street1: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Registrant Street2:
Registrant City: Mountain View
Registrant State: California
Registrant Postal Code: 94043
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: 16506234000
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Email: dns-admin@google.com
While the page in question still loads, it shows that the domain has been seized (according to Google Translate), and a change in registrant information usually indicates that either the squatter has given up the domain freely, or a decision has been reached and the domain seized by ICANN, beginning the process of transfer of ownership.
Either way, it looks like GooglePlay.com is at least on its way into the hands of Google.
via Fusible