Classmates.com going after me for trademark. What to do?

Now you are making up your own law. You don't get to make up a second usage after the fact. That's like robbing a bank and when caught, offer to give back the money and remove yourself from liability.

 

Lol, we make our own laws in the wild wild east.

He should've done it before. This thread is here for almost a month or so now.

 

its probably because of your tagline..

if you change that i'm sure they cant get you for the domain. If they do, then you can defend it with ICANN tos

 

FYI, the registrar will lock the domain name (especially .com) upon receipt of
a UDRP notice and prevent a transfer from happening. That's included in your
registration agreement, which you agree to even if you personally don't.

One can consider themselves lucky if they're able to transfer just before the
registrar gets the UDRP notice. Then again, the complaining party can serve it
on the new registrar and prevent the domain holder from changing DNS or its
registrant-owner name.

In the OP's case, s/he won't be able to transfer the domain names to another
registrar or change its registrant name since, as mjewel pointed out, it's now
in dispute:

http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/case.jsp?case_id=14514

And no amount of negative publicity, cajoling, or what-not is going to compel
the registrar to unlock the domain names until it gets either: a) another UDRP
notice deciding what to do with it, or b) an order from a court of competent
jurisdiction.

Indeed. But both the .com registrar and the Registry are in the U.S., and they
are obligated to obey U.S. trademark laws.

I'm also not optimistic on the OP winning this one. If anything, learn from this.

Uh...what part in ICANN's TOS can one use to defend themselves against this?

 

How does a site like http://paypalsucks.com use a trademark in their domain then with no problem?

The problem seems to be you may have tried using their tag line with your site which would indeed be a issue and may cause confusion

 

Do a search for paypalsucks.com as this has been covered many, many times. The tag line is not the only issue here.

 

In order to bring a viable trademark infringement or cybersquatting claim, you must show that the defendant used the mark in commerce and that he/she used the mark in bad faith. The U.S. Courts provide great protection to free speech, even where it involves the use of another's trademark. One form of such free speech is truthful criticism. With gripe sites, a person uses another's trademark to criticize the owner of the mark. However, such criticism is not in commerce or for profit. Thus, on true grip sites, you will not see advertisements for competitors. Once you start making money off of a gripe site, it may be transformed into a commercial use and lose any protection as free speech.

 

Just cease and desist using the domain. Give it back to them. I had a similar issue with attempting to promote a high end product on the web with their name in the domain They weren't having it. Just comply with what they need and move on to something bigger and better.

 

Thank you everyone for your support. See: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2008/d2008-1642.html

Yes, I'm moving on to bigger and better things and will be ready to announce that news in the coming days. Stay tuned.

 

That's sad. Classmates.com do not even have to pay you the registration fee for the domain?

 

ouch. it seems you didn't establish legitimate interest or good faith usage of the names. never attempt to defend a domain based on wheter or not the trademark should have been issued as this is not something WIPO can decide on since they have nothing to do with the issue of trademarks and can't tell a soverign nation how to decide a trademark claim (that's up to each nation although the TRIPS agreement standardizes most of it).

sorry you lost it. good luck in the future.

 

Unfortunately no.

I too wish the OP success in their future endeavors...and try to stay out of
trouble if it can be helped.

 

So if someone started a site called classmatessucksomeobscenepart.com and made it a XXX site, they could take the domain name because it has the word "classmates" in it?

 

Most ignorant comment I've read so far on DP!

Keep us updated. BTW, is your site down on purpose?

 

He updated us, he no longer owns or controls it

 

O, didn't read the link he provided.

 

You must have gotten a cease and desist letter. If classmates.com is offering to buy the domain, don't try to extort extra out of them because their lawyers could say they you acted in "bad faith" which gives them the legal impetus to force you to transfer the domain. You can always get a new domain name, perhaps brand your own name so no one can take it from you.

There's an ebook on the net called "The Domain Book". It's about flipping domains, but in the book he mentions what to do if you get a C&D letter for trademark infringement. Consult a lawyer.

 

Not necessarily. To succeed on a cybersquatting claim the trademark holder must demonstrate a likelihood of confusion and bad faith by the domain name registrant. There may well be a question of fact as to whether the domain name classmatessucksomeobscenepart.com is "confusingly similar" to the CLASSMATES trademark as it is used in connection with social networking services.

 

Kindly read the OP's latest post on this page.

 

A bit off topic, but it doesn't surprise me in the least. Classmates is most famous for their bad business practices, it may even be a blessing that they got the name, I wouldn't want to be associated with them.

Just google classmates complaints.