Let’s call it what it is. It’s not a domain taken over by squatters. The domain was stolen.<p>I’ve seen other domains get stolen recently, it seems to be about the same time.<p>Patterns dot com
Piracy dot com
Perl dot com<p>All stolen at around the same time.<p>With patterns, the thief hacked the network solutions account, put the domain under privacy, transferred it to a Chinese registrar, and then put the old whois data back. They then tried to sell it on sedo and afternic for 10 percent of what it’s worth.<p>I have been able to get sedo and afternic to remove the listings. But patterns has not been returned to its owner after about two months. Still working with the owner and registrars on that.<p>My advice is to lock down your domains, register them for at least 5 years, and if there are changes deal with them quickly. Once a domain is transferred it’s much harder to get back. It can be done, but it’s a lot of work to unravel it all.