Paint.NET Regains Official Domain After 22-Year Dispute
Paint.NET, one of the most popular free image editors available online, has earned widespread appreciation for its professional-grade features and intuitive interface. Yet surprisingly, since its launch in 2004, the software operated under the temporary URL getpaint.net for 22 years. Only recently did founder Rick Brewster publicly announce that the team finally reclaimed the official paint.net domain.

Two Decades of Domain Disputes
According to Brewster, securing this domain took 22 years of persistent effort—a major milestone in the software’s history. For years, the previous domain owner refused to sell and at one point demanded an exorbitant price from the development team. The wide price gap left the domain’s return in an extended deadlock.
Winning the Case Through Clear Evidence of Misuse
The breakthrough came last December, when the domain holder began hosting Paint.NET-related content on the site with malicious intent. They attempted to mislead users through suspicious links and deceptive ads, effectively infringing the Paint.NET trademark for profit. Brewster seized this legal opening, worked with lawyers to file a case over trademark infringement and domain squatting, and won decisively.
Currently, Brewster is accelerating website content migration and server redirect setup. Though users cannot yet download the software from the new domain, this final hurdle will soon be cleared.
Related article
Stripe to Acquire OpenRouter as AI Model Routing Gains Momentum
Stripe has agreed to acquire OpenRouter, an AI model-routing platform that gives developers access to hundreds of models through a single interface. The deal adds model selection and routing to Stripe’s existing work around AI usage and token-based b
Former OpenAI Researcher Barrett Zoph Returns to Google to Support Gemini Development
Barret Zoph, who previously abruptly left and joined OpenAI due to a disagreement with Thinking Machines Lab CEO Miriam Mularati, has once again changed employers. Alphabet's Google announced that Zoph will return as Vice President of Research, bring
How Recursive Intelligence Raised $335M at $4B Valuation in 4 Months
The co-founders of startup Ricursive Intelligence seemed destined to be co-founders.Anna Goldie, CEO, and Azalia Mirhoseini, CTO, are so well-known in the AI community that they were among those AI engineers who “got those weird emails from Zuckerber
Related Special Topic Recommendations
Comments (1)
0/500
Paint.NET, one of the most popular free image editors available online, has earned widespread appreciation for its professional-grade features and intuitive interface. Yet surprisingly, since its launch in 2004, the software operated under the temporary URL getpaint.net for 22 years. Only recently did founder Rick Brewster publicly announce that the team finally reclaimed the official paint.net domain.

Two Decades of Domain Disputes
According to Brewster, securing this domain took 22 years of persistent effort—a major milestone in the software’s history. For years, the previous domain owner refused to sell and at one point demanded an exorbitant price from the development team. The wide price gap left the domain’s return in an extended deadlock.
Winning the Case Through Clear Evidence of Misuse
The breakthrough came last December, when the domain holder began hosting Paint.NET-related content on the site with malicious intent. They attempted to mislead users through suspicious links and deceptive ads, effectively infringing the Paint.NET trademark for profit. Brewster seized this legal opening, worked with lawyers to file a case over trademark infringement and domain squatting, and won decisively.
Currently, Brewster is accelerating website content migration and server redirect setup. Though users cannot yet download the software from the new domain, this final hurdle will soon be cleared.
Stripe to Acquire OpenRouter as AI Model Routing Gains Momentum
Stripe has agreed to acquire OpenRouter, an AI model-routing platform that gives developers access to hundreds of models through a single interface. The deal adds model selection and routing to Stripe’s existing work around AI usage and token-based b
Former OpenAI Researcher Barrett Zoph Returns to Google to Support Gemini Development
Barret Zoph, who previously abruptly left and joined OpenAI due to a disagreement with Thinking Machines Lab CEO Miriam Mularati, has once again changed employers. Alphabet's Google announced that Zoph will return as Vice President of Research, bring
How Recursive Intelligence Raised $335M at $4B Valuation in 4 Months
The co-founders of startup Ricursive Intelligence seemed destined to be co-founders.Anna Goldie, CEO, and Azalia Mirhoseini, CTO, are so well-known in the AI community that they were among those AI engineers who “got those weird emails from Zuckerber





Home






