Hi folks, I am running a website which has the trademark registered under the same name, which is my boss' name. Before this domain was managed by an American guy who used to be our distributor in USA. And, he is the contact person for our domain registration. After having some disputes with him, our company has declared to end up agreement with him officially. All the statements were sent through a few emails. Since we had been communicating by email, we sent the statements by email. After the ending of our agreement, we asked him to transfer our domain to our registrar. But, he refused to do it. He told us to wait until the next six months. Our company relies on this domain as the main income stream. We don't know how to bring this issue to the legal court. And, he is the contact person for our domain name registration. We're afraid if he does something naughty to our domain. If anything happens to our domain name and the website is down even only for 24 hrs, it will stop our business activities. What should I do? Please domain dispute expertise help me to solve this issue. Thanks,
If the domain name has your registered trademark than this person can not have it in no way. You have to take legal actions against him and you will win because of the trademark.
There have been cases where parties lost inspite of their trademarks, though many of them do win. If you're seeking just the registration, look up UDRP. WIPO is one of its listed providers, as double07 mentioned. Otherwise, you'd have to file suit in the person's jurisdiction.
Pardoning me for sounding harsh, but lawyers, courts, and domain disputes are a really, really BAD idea. With all due respect, it sounds like you f***ed up. This is sometimes the case with people who fail to think ahead. If you didn't have the presence of mind to register the domain for which your company relies on most of its income, then it was probably a really stupid move to pick a fight with the guy who did. You were playing checkers, but your ex-distributor is playing chess. Go ahead and file that UDRP. He'll shut down your site and you'll be out of business. He might also petition to cancel your trademark, keep the domain for himself, and really screw you over. May I politely suggest that instead of hitting the panic button 1) Pay this ex-distributor anything you might owe him, and; 2) Politely offer him an incentive to transfer the domains to you today, instead of 6 months from now. The moment you mention taking legal action against him, you will have already lost.
Hello Is it really wrong if we take a legal action to this issue? I heard people said that if we bring this to the court. Nothing is allowed to be done on the domain disputed. But still I am not sure about this. Speaking about the domain registration is really not what I did. I was not in the company yet when it happened. Just to be clearer, this guy registered our trademark and domain under my boss name. And he is the contact person. Do we have a chance to save our domain? Honestly we might not be able to afford this guy if he really asks for the money. As far as I know he is tricky and greedy person. I don't want to say how tricky and greedy he is. That will make me sound mocking him. Cause I am not. That's the truth. So what do you guys suggest? I am not panic. I am just highly concerned. Please advise more. Anyway thank's a lot for the responses folks.. Great to be in this forum.
I'm not a lawyer, so I can't give legal advice, but when you say, "He is the contact person," I have to ask -- Is he the registrant for the trademark?
Hi Bruce, He is not the registrant. But he is the contact person for the registration. The trademark is registered as my boss' personal name.
You can take whatever legal action you want to. BUT: You have to consider what is in your best interests! BruceW4yne may have sounded harsh, but he is trying to save you some heartache: You may have a perfectly legit case. You may win hands down. BUT it may take quite awhile to resolve. In the meantime, since your arch nemesis controls your domain, all he has to do is shut your website down while the legal process takes its course. This could be devastating to the business. You may even be able to come back at him for damages, but it may already be too late, too expensive, and he may not even be able to pay. Not to mention, that it's possible he could win any legal proceedings! Yes, you may have to resort to legal proceedings, but hopefully that's the last resort. You really need to think about what this guy wants, what you want, and how you can get him to give it to you. It may even involve apologizing! Gasp! I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the internet. Take everyone's advice here with a grain of salt (in other words, we could all be WRONG). You may very well need to pay a lawyer to resolve this, but I think the resolution to this lies outside the courtroom.
As I understand it, you say the boss is listed as registrant. The distributor is merely contact. Simple. Contact the registrant (have your boss do it) and change the contact. Explain what happened, and if your bosses name appears as the legal registrant, you shouldn't need anything else. Unless I'm missing something. Where is the domain registered? (Godaddy, Moniker, etc)
Question. I sthis 'contact' your US entity for registering and maintaining a business in the US? And you're located in Indonesia? And losing your USA contact could jeprodize doing business in the USA? Kinda like I need an ASIA contact to register .cn? Could it be you only need a new contact since the Boss has the domain?
As one or so of the others asked, is your boss listed as the registrant of that domain name while the ex-distributor is the administrative contact? If yes to both, then another option is to contact the registrar and explain your issue. Depending on the registrar, they may or may not ask you to fax some kind of documentation showing the listed registrant is indeed who or what they are. A risk to consider here, though, is the registrar might ask the contact listed to confirm or dispute that, even if the registrar is practically able to verify all the documentation is authentically true. If you ask can the registrar not contact that person, the answer is up to the registrar. Don't be surprised if they will in order to prevent being held liable in the future for not notifying them and all that. OTOH, BruceW4yne and Artifexus have practical and good suggestions. Give a bit of thought or so on what they've said as it might save you and your boss potentially unnecessary costs on a potentially unnecessary action.
I agree with Dave Zan. I used to work for a hosting company that was a domain registrar as well. Most often, you can call and speak with a customer service rep or ask for a supervisor. Explain the situation to them, how the contact person is no longer with your company and is threatening to keep your domain. They will have you fax them a document with the company letterhead on it most likely. Don't bother with this ex distributor, it will just piss him off and possibly take action against you that you would not like done. Just deal with the domain registrar directly (actually your boss would need to be the one to do this if his name is on the domain.) Best of luck
Hi guys, I have got so many great responses here. Thank you for your all suggestions. Now, I am confident to go to take further steps. Blessings to you all
BruceW4yne, Is absolutely correct. Just offer him some money and all will be fine. I guess that is what he is looking for.