Hi, I have purchased a domain 45 days back a domain which had expired (Drop,catch) of a comapany (Registered entity I believe).xxxxxxllc.com Now after developing a content which doesn't involve anything of their content (Looking at archive.org I see no content just aa coming soon page for them a year ago) and giving only information (Yellow pages). I received a email from the so claimed CEO of the erstwhile domain company claiming 1. immediately transfer the domain to them 2. Destroy all the pages 3. Reply within 15 days or else they will seek legal and equitable remedies to protect its rights under the applicable laws governing cybersquatting, trademark infringement, dilution, false advertising and unfair competition So what do I do now. 1. Do I have rights to say No 2. Can I claim the charges drop and catch around $120 and development and ad charges around $200 3. What is the immediate step i need to take I require help ASAP from fellow DPers!
I wouldn't do a thing. It was their fault not renew the domain on time and they lost it. I suggest you do a quick search on the Icann website www.icann.org and see if they have anything to say about such cases
The first thing you should do is to contact your lawyers and let them go through the ICANN terms through a fine tooth comb. Since the domain name is pretty much from what I see is that of the former owners, it can be a sticky issue keeping the domain name because it may confused their visitors and they may have a leg to stand on for that and you may be considered cyber-squatting. If however your company name is exactly the same as the domain name then you will have something to justify that you can have full ownership of the name. Paying for it does give you full rights to it.
I would tell them to find a new domain name. He failed to renew for over a month, so his company interest online must not matter too much. I would tell him to go ahead and pay for his lawyer, it's not going to get him far. BTW, you aren't squatting on the domain, are you?
Yes. And they have the right to pursue action towards the domain name. Yes. And they can claim damages under whatever applicable law. One immediate step I can suggest is you stop posting here and talk to a law expert who specializes on these things. While it's fine to get feedback from an online forum from virtual strangers, you risk getting inaccurate information of those who possibly don't really know anything about these disputes. But I'll tell you this: it's the party's burden to demonstrate their claims. Once they've done that, it's your turn to disprove them...if you can.
Just you. It is most likely not a scam at all. It is probably a real letter from the company that lost the domain. The only real question is the merit of their position.
Back in my freelance days I received many of these types of letters re breach of trademark etc and they were certainly legitimate and not scams. Whilst mine were letters it was also 5-10 years ago and so solicitors were probably less likely to use emails back then. Irrespective of if they have let a domain lapse or not you can still be in breach of trademark or potentially guilty of "passing off". I made a fair amount of money by selling the domains back to them but as it was an intentional action on my part I was very careful on what I bought and with one exception, none were actually trademarks (common miss spellings etc) and none did I attempt passing off nor promoting their competitors. The one exception was buying a domain which contained a trademark that was being disputed by two large companies so hoped that I could have them bid against each other to gain control of it as their legal battles had been ongoing for years.
5-10 years ago was different. In today's legal environment, you will look like someone who purchased the domain in bad faith. The main problem is the domain isn't something like "Cars.com," but rather a company name with a company setup designation (LLC) in the name. There's one way potentially around this, but it's costly. Set up a LLC with the same name, but different focus. Of course, if it's We Make Cars LLC, that's out. Don't make the amateur "webmaster" mistake of thinking that a company loses "interest" if they don't re-register on-time or fast enough after that point. Microsoft.com could let their domain expire and sit for a year. Do you think you could just walk up and buy it without issues? Of course not. As I said in the beginning, unless you have a company with that name, you look like a bad faith buyer and squatter. Why did you buy the domain to begin with? Did you hope to extort money from the company? Do you feel comfortable going to court and telling a judge why you purchased the name and what your specific intentions are with the site? And lastly, don't ignore the company in question, because you'll look irresponsible and careless should you end up in court.
This is all excellent advice here. One thing I would like to add is that even if you feel tempted, do not contact this company/CEO directly and ask for money to transfer the domain. That is a NO NO when it comes to domain issues. Get a lawyer involved if you can afford it.
Hence the comment and also saying that with one exception it was not buying trademarks but miss spellings etc which is much easier to "defend" Large companies have dedicated departments that do nothing other than look after their IP rights. My previous employer had 10 solicitors that did nothing other than recover domains from people. Subject to the details it would either be seizing, "refunding" or buying them out.
I would presume that you could easily extort money from him if you registered it outside of the U.S. Transfer the domain to an African Webhost, and you're set!
Especially if it's a .com, transferring the registration to a provider outside the US doesn't prevent it from being transferred to the party if they file a dispute and win. But I guess there's no risk for you.