Cease and Desist

briannz

briannz

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Joined
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I received a 'cease and desist' letter from the Lawyers of a rather large U.S company regarding the domain name of one of my autoblogs.
They wanted me to remove the offending website.

Not wanting any hassles I took it down.

Just received more legal documents by courier saying that even though I have removed the site the domain name is now part of a link farm.

It is just parked on Godaddy. Would you call that page a link farm?

Anyway, they now want me to transfer the domain over to them. Pity I had it registered for 5 years.

It's not worth fighting so my question is ... how do I transfer the domain to them from Godaddy?? What information do I need?
 
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You can tell us the name of the company and if you want the domain name.

Sometimes, they are just being smart asses and they don't have the right to take down a domain.
Or if this is the case, they might have the right to do so.

Don't think about transferring the domain too early..
 
What is the issue exactly? I take it the domain name is based on their company name? And you were profiting from that fact?

Could you not put something different up - then there wouldn't be any reason for them to be troubling you.

I don't want to give you bad advice but don't just roll over, sounds to me like they've seen you're scared now they're trying to exploit the fact.

More info please - it sounds interesting;)
 
Good to see another New Zealander on bhw :) Depending on how big the company is, how much you are making etc you just have to weigh it up. If you don't care about it, let it go. If you think it's just a scare tactic then ignore, ignore, ignore.
 
if you were making $1000 or more a month.... then keep it as long as you can..

but if you were making less..... then just give it to them...

but first make sure they are legit.... and that they represent the actual company...
 
I'd rather not say the name of the company or the domain name but the domain is an exact match of their company name but using hyphens.

The autoblog was just posting Youtube videos. I had a banner ad on the side of the blog promoting another website (which is in the same industry but not a competitor)

They said I was posting material from their website which is not really true.

Some of the youtube videos being automatically posted were from the company involved but they were publically available on Youtube.

The blog was new. Hadn't started to get much traffic so i'm not really too worried about it. I think the easiest thing would be to comply with their wishes and move on.
 
Hmm, fair enough - I think they have you on that one.

However, as I said if you put something on there unrelated - and therefor are not trying to benefit in anyway from their name, I think you could keep it (anyone correct me if I'm wrong there).
Only reason I say that is because sounds like they are bullying you a bit by trying to get you to give up the domain even after you have complied with their requests.
 
I wonder what would happen if you just gave the domain away...

you know place an ad on craiglist or somewhere...

and just give it away.....lol

just wondering....
 
davids355 said:
Hmm, fair enough - I think they have you on that one.

However, as I said if you put something on there unrelated - and therefor are not trying to benefit in anyway from their name, I think you could keep it (anyone correct me if I'm wrong there).
Only reason I say that is because sounds like they are bullying you a bit by trying to get you to give up the domain even after you have complied with their requests.
Click to expand...

Even if he puts something there unrelated NOW... he probably had something related when they saw it....
and I am sure their lawyers made a copy of it...
so that domain is toast....
 
Virus1 said:
Even if he puts something there unrelated NOW... he probably had something related when they saw it....
and I am sure their lawyers made a copy of it...
so that domain is toast....
Click to expand...

True, I suppose the sensible thing is just let it go and forget - I'm stuborn though, if it was me I'd be awkward! They are unlikely to Persia because it would be expensive. If he put something unrelated up he wouldnt be doing anything wrong going forward, I don't think they'd have any grounds to cause issue -unless they thought right we'll sue for the money op has earned through use of our name so far - but as I said would they bother?
 
Virus1 said:
Even if he puts something there unrelated NOW... he probably had something related when they saw it....
and I am sure their lawyers made a copy of it...
so that domain is toast....
Click to expand...

Yeah, they included printed screen shots of everything in the documents.
Even the Godaddy Parked page ... which they are calling a Link Farm.

I have unlocked the domain so they can initiate the transfer. All they said in the documents was to transfer the domain to them but from what I can tell they have to initiate it from their end. (I have never transferred a domain to someone else before)

Also, they said that I had to comply by the 5th of July. The documents only arrived yesterday! (By FedEx)
 
Ya you just need to unlock the domain, it varies depending on the domains top level, but I think they can then add the domain their end, and you may get email confirmation to ok it - to be honest I have transferred in hundreds of domains but have never transferred many out;)

Lol. You gonna frame that letter?? ;)
 
Narrator said:
Redirect the site to meatspin, and let them take a picture of that.
Click to expand...

Lol .. Just checked out that site. Scared the shit out of me. Didn't realise I had my sound turned up so loud.
 
You don't have to give them the domain, but if it is clearly violating trademark you can't use it to make money (any kind of advertising).

I would null it and refuse to hand it over. They will shut up and go away or they can go to ICANN and try to seize it, but really no-harm no-foul. Just owning a domain that has trademarked terms is not an infringement. Only if you are using that trademark for financial gain does it become actionable.
 
if you get significant traffic on the domain, i'd forward the traffic from that domain name to something that you can monetize

learn your lesson.....it's not worth buying trademarked names




briannz said:
I received a 'cease and desist' letter from the Lawyers of a rather large U.S company regarding the domain name of one of my autoblogs.
They wanted me to remove the offending website.

Not wanting any hassles I took it down.

Just received more legal documents by courier saying that even though I have removed the site the domain name is now part of a link farm.

It is just parked on Godaddy. Would you call that page a link farm?

Anyway, they now want me to transfer the domain over to them. Pity I had it registered for 5 years.

It's not worth fighting so my question is ... how do I transfer the domain to them from Godaddy?? What information do I need?
Click to expand...
 
I wouldn't transfer anything to them. I already had to go through this with yahoo some years back. Just don't renew it and let them pick it up when it expires. Tell them that's what you are doing, and if you want tell them to go to hell too.
 
If it is hyphened is it still a trademark though? I remember I got a Cease and Desist for using this Canada411. But when I looked up trademarks it isn't enforceable when the letters are separated, so I put Canada 411. I would imagine it is the same with domains: Canada-411.com
 
googlemonster said:
If it is hyphened is it still a trademark though? I remember I got a Cease and Desist for using this Canada411. But when I looked up trademarks it isn't enforceable when the letters are separated, so I put Canada 411. I would imagine it is the same with domains: Canada-411.com
Click to expand...

He's using their name and in the same niche/profiting from the name/making people think it could be that company's site.

If you use it and have it not at all related as you're saying you can plead ignorance and get away with it but he obviously knew the company name in this instance and was trying to use that to his advantage.
 
I'd ask them to pay for the registration, if not- tell them to go fly a kite. I've had the same thing for naming my product line as one of the european car makers - only US rep had problem as I was rated higher than them :D

I told them to kiss my ass and hire a SEO pro to get their shit together and they left me alone. I changed it later, though. Another line was called as a US car maker and they are happy to get free advertising...

briannz said:
Yeah, they included printed screen shots of everything in the documents.
Even the Godaddy Parked page ... which they are calling a Link Farm.

I have unlocked the domain so they can initiate the transfer. All they said in the documents was to transfer the domain to them but from what I can tell they have to initiate it from their end. (I have never transferred a domain to someone else before)

Also, they said that I had to comply by the 5th of July. The documents only arrived yesterday! (By FedEx)
Click to expand...
 
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