Large company wants my domain name

That sounds extremely reasonable to me. The whole reason you created the site was because you were not satisfied with their work, so I don't think you're asking too much for them to fix their original mistakes.

 

this thread is cracking me up.. The funniest one I have read today..

 

They are trying to trick you into negotiating so they can nail you for cyber squating.

Tell them you are happy with your site and forget the idea you can profit. Use it as intended to tell your message so long as the facts are the truth as you know them.

 

I was waiting for someone to say that.

He is exacly right. Word for word. Don't negotiate. Google "cyber squatting"

 

Personally, I would tell them to suck dirt, and ignore them. They will go away. They are just trying to scare you. But that is just me.

DISCLAIMER. I am not an attorney, or an ass... I just play one on DP.

 

Tell them to give you 10% of their yearly income
Kidding, get a lawyer

p.l.u.r.

 

Id take $500 over some crappy site.

 

I would stick to my guns, and tell them they could have the site if you are made whole again.
I would explain in detail, why you have had problems, so it doesnt appear to be cybersquatting, but a legitimate concern that their product does suck.
Plus get some links to your site! Maybe it will outrank their site. that would be a hoot!

 

check out this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Rowe_(student)

 

Interesting story.. Always wondered what happened with that. BTW, I tried visiting mikeroweforums.com and got this:

For a minute I thought it was DP... Ducking..

 

Start 20 more sites with the same content.

 

The attorney letter said my site was "crude and slanderous." It may be in poor taste, but slanderous? If you were me, would you take the "crap house" picture off the site?

Any thoughts on if I should start to further development of the site now, or just sit on it and wait, keeping it as is?

 

STOP. NOW.

Do NOT take legal advice here... that would be suicide in so many ways...

If you want a bird's eye view of what COULD happen if push comes to shove, check out http://www.taubmansucks.com/index.html . It ends "well", but not until many years of work and millions of dollars were spent, with many opportunities for CRIMINAL charges and malfeasance, not just CIVIL damages. It is true that ------sucks are more protected versions of a complaint site about a TM holder, but you don't get permission carte blanche to do whatever you want.

Check out the legal issues forum on NP for some reads, and contact Ari ( http://www.esqwire.com ) or Dr. John Berryhill ( jberryhill ) on NP and get competent counsel (Both domain name attorneys).

Your issue with your home is almost COMPLETELY seperate from your issue with the domain, unfortunately.

 

Thanks to those that responded. I never set out to make money from my domain and don't want any money from them now. I've sought legal advice and will be developing the site further. If I am sued, I'll keep everyone posted (along the lines of taubmansucks.com).

 

My best wishes are with you. Teach them a lesson. But do two things first if you are serious.

Always take legal advice about the content, pictures before posting.
Build some backlinks to get a PR and listed in search engines.

 

You're using their copyrighted name and their logo? That's not going to hold up in court.

 

It's not cybersquatting if you have a legitimate use for the domain in question and did not buy it for the purpose of profiting from it.

In legal matters, it pays to be shrewd and cautious. You might be able to imply that you bought the domain solely to vent your frustration at the fact that you received a poor product and poor customer service. Whatever you say, make sure you do NOT imply any original intent to profit.

I won't say the name, but in the early days I took on a huge company because I had a domain name one letter different then theirs. I got internal memos and other sensitive documents sent to me because I had a catch all email address on the domain.

At one point they threatened me and I told them I had a company with those initials and that I had been promoting X material online until I started to get annoyed at their emails. I didn't reveal any information but I made fun of the company on my site. When they made their threat, I just said okay, I'll put back my original content...

Basically, they had to pay up, to the tune of about $5000. A large company will play hardball to get you to roll over. For the company in question, in my case, $5000 is not even above the signing authority for the level of the person I was dealing with for credit card expenses. Basically, the company would not even question where that small an amount of money went.

Your company may not be that big.

Anyway, to summarize, admit nothing except that which proves appropriate intent (after Googling cyber squatting and reading at least the Wikipedia article). You might be able to say something like how suprised you are that they found you, it never even crossed your mind that they would find you, but if they are willing to address your issues you might remove the site AFTER they have fixed your house and you are no longer frustrated with their service level, but you must be clear this was not your idea nor was it your intent! Be careful -- as somebody said above, it could be a trick!

I'm not a lawyer, please don't take my advice literally...

If you relent and sell the site before the fixes you are powerless to enforce the deal. Let them offer you cash instead, because they will be the ones in a hurry to get rid of the site, not you.

If they offer cash, get a real estimate, then add a small contingency for your time and effort -- and inconvenience. If the number isn't too big... quote it as your estimate of costs. You an always buckle down a bit if the number is too big in your mind.

Be careful what you say... and you might have them...