WTF!!? Got a cease and desist letter from an attorney about my main money site emd

I bought an emd in 2011 and had it rnkaing for a cpl years on and off. i got a letter in the post saying that they are a law firm representing the company whose name i am using wrongfully and that i should cease and desist immediately or they are gonna make me give them all the money i eanred for the site.

The emd is in the same name as them and it has a review of their company with adsense on it. they say im taking away their customers and wrongfully using their name.

I didnt know you werent allowed to use it if you can buy the namecheap etc.

they said 'im going to be watching you carefully to make sure you comply' or some shit.

Is there anything i can do or do i have to buckle like a good pauper like usual under the might of 'the law'?

Also how do i know the letter is legit. my stupid whois must have expired for them to have sent mail to my address. The website seems to comform to the letter head..

the thing hasnt been eanring any money for the past months anyway cos its not been on page one but it has in the past. and would if it was on p1 agina. id been wokring on it for the past month but looks like ill have to buckle the thing.

they say i have 7 days to reply with ym signiature saying i agree to stop being naughty and never do it agian. i dont have to reply tho do i even if i do stop, dont want to put anyhting in writingif i dont have to.

It really depends on how big the company is. If they're big enough to keep suing you until you're broke, then yeah, you have to comply. If not, then you can keep going and just fight the lawsuit.

i had the same thing happen to me, and i did not back down, what i told them is they may own the rights etc, but i own the domain, if the wish for me to stop, i would sell the domain, in the end i got 1200 bucks, for a 10 dollar domain

I wouldn't worry about it too much, I work for a company that sells products via TV and Media which drives a ton of web traffic, we get alot of SEO people who rank for our branded terms all the time.

We send out C&D's all the time pretty much as scare tactics. I don't think there is anything that they can do legally as long as your not defaming the brand or company. Like the post above me I would just try to sell them the domain.

Most of the time when companies send those letters its just to scare people to stop.

hmm well i dont have the money to risk them taking action. im broke as it is and the joke is the fucker isnt even eanring more than a cpl of bucks a day and these mean fuckers even want that from me.

the company is pretty big. it has its own tv commercials. the global search gets over a million searches i month i think.

so like you say maybe you are right tis just to scare but i cant really afford to risk it for a cpl of bucks a day. thing is tho potentially its worth more cos when it was at number 2/3 right below them it earned like 25-50 and even up to 200 in peak season. so its a very profitable one.

i noticed in the letter they were complaining that i am not advertising them but rather redirecting to other offers- since its adsense.

so i could either try and sell the doamin, offer to put only their ads on there, or fold.

If i were you i will comply and change a little bite in your website
and you can still email all your customers about your new site, I know few companies who handle their business this way
Good luck

Do they have an affilliate scheme? Offer to send the traffic to them.

like moose123 said, let them to get into a deal, you can bank $$$.

talk with lawyer who knows this stuff

do not rely on answers here. Those are just speculations. Lawyers know best and can give you decent advice.

First, yes they can sue you if they have the energy to do so. If they get anything from you is another ball game all together. Yes, you can sell the domain to them and it should be cheaper for them to buy it off you than engaging lawyers.

There are many views that you will get on this. However, you had an interesting thing to say. You say you have no money to be sued about. My question to you is what do you have to lose? You already don't have anything, so what will they be sue you for. As long as you don't defame them only a fool would sue a broke person.

kasheshe said:

First, yes they can sue you if they have the energy to do so. If they get anything from you is another ball game all together. Yes, you can sell the domain to them and it should be cheaper for them to buy it off you than engaging lawyers.

There are many views that you will get on this. However, you had an interesting thing to say. You say you have no money to be sued about. My question to you is what do you have to lose? You already don't have anything, so what will they be sue you for. As long as you don't defame them only a fool would sue a broke person.

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True statement

i jsut sent an email offering that i take off the adsense and replace it with their ads for a commision saying ill remove the website but made that as an alternative option.

i would have used them as affiliate in the first place but they dont have an affilaite scheme

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i have no idea how legal matters work, so can they not sue you if you are broke. i mean would it not turn out to be if they won you owe them thousands of dolars that you have to pay them whenever you eanr money like your their bitch until its paid off? or it doesnt work like that?

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also isnt contacting a lawyer a loabiorious and expensive process? as i already said i have no money so a ;egal battle' is not really an option i dont think. i will jsut get bullied to submission before anyhting gets going.

This happened to me. I had my whois blocked, and the company simply contacted my webhost which was obligated to give them my contact information.

I doubt they would ever go to court. They probably know that the court costs would exceed the amount of money they would win, so they are just trying to scare you.

But f they contact AdSense and your webhost and tell them that you have been sent a cease and desist letter and have not complied, your accounts can be suspended.

You are a lucky man!

moose123 said:

i had the same thing happen to me, and i did not back down, what i told them is they may own the rights etc, but i own the domain, if the wish for me to stop, i would sell the domain, in the end i got 1200 bucks, for a 10 dollar domain

Click to expand...

Welcome to the world of trademark infringement! You have to know that if you are copying someone's company name/brand and making money off the millions they have spent branding for you, someone is gonna be pissed lol. I always laugh when webmasters get upset because a competitor steals their niche or their content from one site and they are riding the success of another company all the way to the bank with another site

That being said, I am NOT scolding you or against what you are doing. Just get use to the letters! I have lost several domain names to big companies over the years. If they are big companies like Pfizer, Microsoft, Apple etc then it is usually just a simple transfer of the domain name to them. If it is a not so big company, I have just ignored them and it usually goes away after their threatening email or letter arrives. I have even sold domains back to the trademark holder for decent money. As long as you aren't doing anything to hurt their brand, most places are willing to play ball.

Either way, I would ride it out as long as you can and make as much money as possible. I wouldn't offer any more solutions for them, make them offer you a solution. If you don't like their offer, counter it or delay for weeks and months saying your lawyer is handling it now and they will be in contact. Just my 2 cents based on what has worked for me. Good luck!

I think you need to crawl this site a bit.

By what you posted here it can go either way. I would consider this though.

Also, if this continues you will need a lawyer, if you can't afford one you need to rethink your options.
And, should kvmcable post: Listen to the dude.

Best of luck.

They're accusing you of TM infringement and cybersquatting? Whether you have to stop using the site depends. What country/state are you in? What are you using the site for? What's the name of the site? Is it a parody? How famous is the company? And more. If you want, you can send me a private message. (This is not legal advice).

Risk vs reward is what makes business decisions. You've already weighed that and of course the answer is take it down.

You've most likely run into a Brand Reputation company that gets paid a salary whether they sue you or not. If they do sue you, you're just another case on their docket without any additional expense or time inconvenience (they'll have plenty of other cases on the same day). Perkins & Cole are the largest I believe but plenty of other such companies.

Offering to sell the domain back to the TM holder only works in the rarest of cases. With Brand Reputation companies it will never work. They will add to their claim that you are cyber-squatting and request additional rewards.

Take it down, let the domain expire, move on. Don't answer them without representation and take it down while they are watching (7 days or whatever they gave you). Sounds like they are waiting your cooperation and if you take too long they'll consider they have a fight on their hands and a fight they know they can win. Don't waste time. Take it down.

If you don't want to be a victim then quit using TMs. EMDs don't hold the weight they use to as far as SEO is concerned with Google so the reward of using a TM in the domain name is no longer worth the risk of a C&D or worst. Back your site up, get a domain for your best ranking kw phrase and put it back up.

How do i take a site down tho? i mean il jsut delte the contents? itll still be rnaking for a while tho wont it? so i rpesume the bastards will be happy then if there is nothing when you click on it?