Advice Please: Lawyers threatening me for using "their" domain name

Forgive me if I am wrong, but it is my understanding that you can own any URL legally. It is only when you go to develop it where you will get yourself into trouble. Since it is an .info, just tell them they can buy it from you. I would ask for the following:

2 dollars for the info domain
200 dollars for your time and motional distress

hacknslash said:

I was jerked around by a local car dealership so I bought a domain name based on their local company name and got it ranked higher than their own website.

Obviously this pissed them off to no end so they first offered to buy it from me, then when I agreed they used that against me that I was squatting on it to make money from them. Fools!

Then they had the corporate lawyers send me the letter to give up the domain to them or they were going to take it to court.

Naturally I wasn't going to do that so I ignored them for a while to let them send a few more letters, rack up their legal fees, etc.

Then in the end I just changed all of the registrar info to another dealer company of the same name in another state, then set up the 301 redirect on the domain to send all traffic to that other dealers site.

I'm sure that pissed them off they didn't win, and the other site got some free traffic for a while until the domain expired.

Cheers!

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#winning

I was under the impression that it is only copyright infringements if you use someone else name to benefit. For example I own johnnycash.net and I spoke with my lawyer prior to buying it and he said if I bought it and put up a site with anything to do with the singer johnny cash or even country music it would like like I was trying to benefit from his brand.

I decided to build a payday loan site (a guy named johnny that has cash to loan lol) and that in no way tried to benefit from the late singers name. There was a big court case over this with Volkswagon back years ago. I will see if I can find that ruling but it was interesting.

One thing to keep in mind when lawyers try to bully you. In a civil case you are allowed to represent yourself but a corporation is not allowed to do so. They must hire counsel. The fact of the matter is it will cost them a lot of money and if you just answer the complaint yourself it cost you nothing so sometimes it is better not to back down if they are jerks just to cost them some money.

This is one heck of an opportunity to take advantage. Name your price and start with negotiation. It's more lucrative on your side....and win-win on both.

Give up the domain and move on. It's not worth the cost or effort and you have a low probability of winning.

There are too many opportunities out there. Just move on.

I definitely wouldn't let it go for free. We're here to make money (well, most of us )... making a houple of hundred bucks will fund your next projects.

Just don't make it seem like you're out to make a profit off them. Tell them you have spent money on the domain, and the hosting fees, and that you've spent money on marketing the site, that they will now benefit from - and then tell them you're sorry that you 'infringed' on their name, so you'll happily give up the site if they cover your costs.

But i wouldn't try and hold onto the domain and fight for it - too much hassle

I have a feeling he made a decision over the last twelve months or so.

I don't see the point in challenging them regardless if you're in the right. Instead, optimize it as a review site for them. Agree to remove competitor ads to show good faith, and explain that you will build it up for them and demonstrate that you want to help their rankings and you request propose the opportunity to prove what you can do..and then offer to sell/lease it back and an agreed upon monthly rate once you improve their ranking. this way you turn an ugly combative situation into a possible win win.

If there is a TM word in the domain, you may have problems.
Remember the C&D case for minidonuts.com by BMWUSA for the TM word "mini" (from mini cooper) and vintagebayonets.com by ebay for the TM word "ebay".

You would be surprised how many "Trademark Owners" do not have legal registrations but do have 5 dollar an hour attorneys to send you a scraped C&D. The issue really comes down to whether consumers who arrive at your website could mistake your site for one belonging to the trademark holder. A simple "This site is not affiliated with XX" at the top and bottom of the page is a simple remedy.

I personally almost never respond to this kind of letter. If I think a complaint is legitimate, I correct the issue but I don't inform them. If for some reason I decide to contact them, I emphatically disagree with them at every point and say that I might be willing to look into the issue as a consideration from a fellow businessman.

The right thing to do would have been for them to send you a polite email requesting to purchase the domain. Being a bully is poor manners.

People really need to read the effin thread. Its over a year old. He got $500 for the domain.

Pure win though dude. did not expect that outcome when i started reading.

that your mail did not go out was really good.

i learned in situations like this not th act to fast. consider some days and dont do anything on your first reaction.

i dont know britan law but in germany it would be clear. if it is a registered trademark and it is in the domain they have the right to take it from you - no matter if it is .nfo or whatever. that ia why they use trademarks .

in your case it seems not sure if they have the right for a domain related to them. If the domain contians there trademark then its bad for you.

The question is what you can loose. What they do to get it back and how much it will cost you when loosing this. you have to pay there lawyers? court fee? where is the court stand?

So first you have to find out if what you have is trademark protected or not.
If it is i would give it up because it is not worth it.

If it is unclear and you like do deal then there is the chance to get some money.
You should remove adsense. because it contains links to there opponents - even if you cant controll it - but if the play hard they can sue you for not earned profits because of your links to oponents.

If you want money for it then i would put it somewhere for sale. Like digitalpoint where you dont have a price to put in. An then mention on your website with a link to your auction that the site or domain is for sale.
And then see what happens .....

carlito said:

false.
TM are the owners of dn containing their name even if they dont have bought it.
And good luck with your google site (some people are really inconscious...)

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Actually this is only true in America, the most legally backwards country in the world.
Believe it or not this doesn't apply to most Internet users.

The wisest thing for you to do right now is to transfer the $2 domain over and call it a day.

The time spent discussing about this could've been used to make $2 more instead.

OP made $800 from the deal, those of you saying give it back...he did! For $800 !!

301 redirect your site so that you can keep the backlinks at least.

MrBeastsOnToast said:

People really need to read the effin thread. Its over a year old. He got $500 for the domain.

Pure win though dude. did not expect that outcome when i started reading.

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Another reason I should have been sleeping instead of surfing the net..