--- title: "This paint app didn't own the domain that matches its name for 22 years" url: https://daily.dev/posts/this-paint-app-didn-t-own-the-domain-that-matches-its-name-for-22-years-itdcvtajz source_url: https://www.xda-developers.com/this-paint-app-didnt-own-the-domain-that-matches-its-name-for-22-years type: article source: "XDA Developers" published: 2026-06-09T19:04:36.233Z updated: 2026-06-09T19:04:59.053Z tags: [".net", "malware"] reading_time: 5 upvotes: 1 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # This paint app didn't own the domain that matches its name for 22 years **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Paint.NET, the popular Windows image editor created by Rick Brewster in 2004, spent 22 years unable to secure the paint.net domain. The name was derived from Microsoft Paint and the .NET framework, not a URL, but Brewster was forced to use getpaint.net instead. Repeated attempts to purchase the domain failed. In late 2025, the domain's owners made a critical mistake by redesigning the site to impersonate the real Paint.NET app, serving malware-laced ads. This gave Brewster legal grounds to pursue a domain dispute. After a legal battle starting December 2025, he won ownership of paint.net five months later and has since migrated the official site there. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#.net](https://daily.dev/tags/.net), [#malware](https://daily.dev/tags/malware) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/this-paint-app-didn-t-own-the-domain-that-matches-its-name-for-22-years-itdcvtajz)