It only took two decades, but the internet just healed a little bit. On May 29, 2026, Paint.NET creator Rick Brewster officially announced he has acquired the paint.net domain name. For the last 22 years, millions of users looking for the free image editor had to memorize the slightly awkward getpaint.net URL because the actual domain owners refused to sell it without demanding outrageous sums of money.
The sudden transfer was not a change of heart by the previous owners. According to XDA Developers, the dispute hit a boiling point in December 2025 when the squatters redesigned the URL to mimic the official Paint.NET website. They populated the fake page with deceptive ads and malicious download links to trick users and profit off the software’s trusted brand.
From College Project to Legal Victory
Paint.NET originally launched in 2004 as an undergraduate college design project mentored by Microsoft. The goal was to build a free replacement for Microsoft Paint. Instead, it grew into an incredibly popular, lightweight alternative to complex tools like Adobe Photoshop and GIMP. But as the user base exploded, Brewster remained locked in a permanent standoff over the most obvious web address for his creation.
The December 2025 escalation changed the rules of engagement. By hosting fake download links, the domain owners inadvertently gave Brewster the exact legal ammunition he needed. He hired a lawyer and pursued a slam dunk case of trademark infringement and domain squatting, ultimately forcing the legal surrender of the URL.
Right now, the newly acquired paint.net domain just functions as a simple redirect page pointing users to the old site. Brewster plans to eventually migrate the entire project to the new address. Once that happens, he will flip the configuration so getpaint.net redirects back to the new URL, ensuring 22 years of existing community backlinks and tutorials do not break.
What This Trademark Win Means for Indie Developers
This resolution highlights a clear shift in how the tech industry handles digital squatting. In the early 2000s, holding a premium domain hostage was mostly a passive annoyance. People just parked the URL and waited for a payout. But as independent software projects gain millions of daily active users, those parked domains frequently turn into active security threats.
When the squatters pivoted from simply holding the name to actively impersonating the Paint.NET brand to distribute shady software, they crossed the line from a digital real estate dispute into a direct trademark violation. This case sets a practical, modern precedent. Independent developers who hold established trademarks can successfully reclaim domains if they can prove the current owners are actively deceiving consumers and endangering users with fake downloads.