microsoft lawyer emailed me...

businessbira said:

Just a question, how do you transfer a domain name to whatever big company wants you to?

I was giving a look to my namecheap account and it seems that you can transfer a domain to someone else, but they NEED to have a namecheap account.

Do you think Microsoft has a Namecheap account?
Or are there any other ways that I'm not aware?

I guess this is a question a lot of people have cause you can't know when you'll be needing this info, and imo you should be prepared and don't piss any big dog off...

Please answer my question, if you can

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You won't actually be doing the transfer, you have no idea where to transfer it. What you will be doing is giving the authorization for them to do it. Look through the FAQ at namecheap some more, if you still can't find it then send a question to their support. Basically namecheap will give you an authorization code to give to the new owner which will allow them to transfer the domain to their own registrar.

IMO the email is a fake. If a large company is going to file suit againts you they are going to mail you something not email. If they send an email they have no way of know that you really go it. Unless they are hacking your system.

That's for that reason alone that's every law suit or any filling is mailed so they have records of it. You have to sign for it.

This way when they go to file at the court house they can say we mailed this letter and that letter and you signed for it on these days. with out a response and that they want to take it to the next level.

If they take it to court before they have tried to fix on their own the judge will give you time to work it out and if you cant come to an agreement then he will set a court date.

Not sure what your site has on it so I cant tell you what you need to change so you do have any more issues.

I would not give them anything if they just sent a letter.

Brady

Codythebest said:

First, make sure it is genuine.
Then, ask them to buy it instead, not for much, but to recoup your investment. They all did with me.
But in the future, double check copyright infringement FOR ALL WORDS in a domain.
I had to cease and let go domain for that reason. One was "RR" in my model train domain and the other was "mini" for my mini donuts site. It was bought back by BMW who has copyright for the word mini for the mini cooper car they own...
It's tricky out there...

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WOW, you caved to quickly on those terms. Copyright and trademark laws have very specific provisions regarding terms that are common words. RR has been a generic abbreviation for railroad for two hundred years, and mini is also a totally common word used in every industry.

An example is Apple Records and Apple Computers. The two companies both have legitimate claims to the name but can't enforce it against anyone unless it will directly create a confusion in their own industry. In other words you can't create a new company called Apple Software because it will infringe on Apple Computers. You can't create a company called Apple Music Distribution becaus it will infringe on Apple Records, but you can create a company called Green Apple Motors for your new electric car company becaue the common word will not create any brand confusion in the other industries.

The word mini itself isn't enforceable at all. If I was using a website with mini in it for my mini donuts company, if the name was vanilla enough (like theminiway, hotminis, mini4u, etc) that cooper could use as well, I would have kept it for my donut store, but told them they could buy it if they want to pay a premium price. And I mean PREMIUM price. thousands of dollars would be reasonable, and if they don't want to pay then keep your donutshop site open.

They would have just dropped it, but even if they did decide to pursue it you could get a lawyer to represent you and file a counterclaim to make it worthwhile. Those provisions in copyright and trademark laws are very explicit about using common words like that. You could have easily gotten a lawyer to work on contingency for a case like that.

billsboardonline said:

IMO the email is a fake. If a large company is going to file suit againts you they are going to mail you something not email. If they send an email they have no way of know that you really go it. Unless they are hacking your system.

That's for that reason alone that's every law suit or any filling is mailed so they have records of it. You have to sign for it.

This way when they go to file at the court house they can say we mailed this letter and that letter and you signed for it on these days. with out a response and that they want to take it to the next level.

If they take it to court before they have tried to fix on their own the judge will give you time to work it out and if you cant come to an agreement then he will set a court date.

Not sure what your site has on it so I cant tell you what you need to change so you do have any more issues.

I would not give them anything if they just sent a letter.

Brady

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Not true. Many times they will start with an email C&D in hope of gaining compliance.

lol i got a few domain with xbox names hope i dont get this shit

lol i got this years ago with the word "argos" in my domain kinda freaked me out man i wish i registered the domain in russia or somewhere where they wud just laugh at the letter.

i went through this with the domain name b2k when that group was popular. sonny came after the guy that owned the site and he reverted it to a bs popup site and that was it. they tried that give us the domain shit but he was like fuck that, too much traffic.

are you selling their products or otherwise promoting their brand? or telling people how to pirate thier shit? i wouldnt give them the domain on principal alone. With another site bannned from tv way back in the day, i had video clips of the vhs and some guy called me to take it down. I told him to go fuck himself and come back with a court order. he gave me a job instead and we still talk over 10 years later

I would in writing say that you took down the offending logos but you paid for the domain so your going to keep it. im no lawyer im jst a noob here but i did experince this on a big level(sonny) and a smaller level with a movie rights company. If you have a good business elsewhere you probably dont want to fuck with the giant, but if you complied with the removal of the trademarks, that will look good for you if it did end up in court.

Well despite what a number of people are telling you. The fact of the matter is xbox is a trademarked name, protected under US and probably international trademarks. Anytime you register a trademarked domain you are taking a gamble of whether or not you will get a C&D letter.

That said, if you are not using the domain, you can either let the domain registration lapse or push it to MS. There is plenty of legal precedent to support their demands, and there is no point of arguing the matter if you are not using or intend to use the domain. As far as demanding monitary compensation, you can ask for the domains cost or slightly more ($50-100). But I would not suggest asking for anymore compensation or demand $1000's to turn over the domain. Corporations that hold trademarks know they will win in court, and demanding payment to turn over the domain, could provide more ammunition that you registered the domain in "bad faith". And Corporations also consider their trademarks valuable and do not mind paying for attorneys to litigate the matters, infact MS has a whole department that searches for sites that violate their trademarks and hand them off to attorneys to process.

I would highly suggest if you have any doubts about what I am telling you, to contact a IP lawyer or post a thread on a legal forum. Any attorney will tell you that you are wasting your time and money trying to fight their demands, especially if you are not using it.