I got a threat to get sued for cybersquatting. how bad is it?

Surrender the domain, Mattel shouldn't be messed with, or they'll send a He-man or two after you

IT

 

If i were U and not living in US then i would never give them back but bargain with them. Well I am not much awared of US laws

 

Go through all the cases on this page. http://www.sequitur-ips.com/domain-name-disputes/library/index-casestudies.html That should help you. There is no need to panic if you do things by the book. You dont have any problem if you can prove that barbie is so generic now that its a dictionary word and that you are not poaching on their business. Of course you better stay out of porn industry with that domain.

Check paypal sucks and taubman sucks on link i posted.

 

#1. Mattel does not have rights to all uses of the word Barbie. It's a generic name. It's also my wife's name. The situation is different if the name is eBay or something clearly unique.

#2. It all depends on what the domain name actually is. It the domain clearly implies something related to Barbie dolls, you may be infringing on their trademark.

#3. The fact that you have not posted the actual domain in this thread leads me to believe that the domain is directly related to Barbie dolls and a use for the domain has not been established. In that case, just give it up. You probably won't win a court battle. You can learn a lot by reading through the court cases listed in the link in the post just above this one. In the USA, court cases are not neccesarily based upon law, but are based upon legal precedence.

#4. A lot of companies make legal threats without any intention of following through. Mattel could just be trying to round up all domain names containing the word Barbie and their intent may be to see how many people they can spook into giving their domains up voluntarily. If the domain name clearly implies something other than Barbie dolls, point that out to them and request a response. They may back off. A lot of web site owners (including me) were recently notified of DMCA infringements by Sony's legal firm. They demanded that I take down all images and references to Sony products in my site and referred to Sony's copyrights and trademarks. I responded by pointing out that the site they mentioned is an Amazon site and I do have authorization through Amazon to display those images and trademarks. They formally withdrew their complaint. I think some of these firms are using automated processes to target potential infringing sites and no human in their legal department actually looks at the sites.

#5. If you think you are in the right, just state your case in your response, but do it politely and request a response. IMHO, if it looks like they actually want to pursue this legally, you need to weigh what you can potentially make from the domain if you use it, versus what it would cost you to fight Mattel. Most domain names are not worth fighting a legal battle over unless you are clearly within your rights.

 

Great advice but I doubt that the revenue will be more than the legal costs.

 

If you have surrendered the Domain, and they are still hounding you, call NBC, CBS, or ABC, and tell them that "Big Bad Corporate America" is picking on an individual citizien (you) -- even after you have surrendered the name.

But I would check with someone that has legal knowledge first.

 

I'm not sure you are going to get much media sympathy for a sex/adult related domain named after a young girls doll. Mattel might use such publicity to their advantage.

 

Contact Mattel
This could be a foul play from one of your rivals !

They can't sue you !!

 

In the US, you can sue anybody. Lawsuits seeking damages to intellectual property are very common. Just because you surrender a domain (or stop using a copyrighted image, etc) it does not mean you are no longer liable for monetary damages. Mattel can certain sue and seek damages (money) - whether they actually will is the real question.

 

Some interesting legal cases with Mattel in the past, they dont seem to have a winning streak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie

In 1997 The Danish pop-dance group Aqua released a song called Barbie Girl. It contained lyrics such as "You can brush my hair/Undress me everywhere" and used graphics similar to the pink Barbie logo. Mattel argued that this constituted a trademark infringement and filed a defamation lawsuit on September 11, 1997. The lawsuit between Mattel and MCA Records was fought in several courts before being finally dismissed in MCA's favor in July 2002.


A commercial by automobile company Nissan featuring dolls similar to Barbie and Ken was the subject of another lawsuit in 1997. In the commercial, Barbie is lured into a car by a doll similar to GI Joe, accompanied by Van Halen's version of the song You Really Got Me. Mattel lost the copyright infringement lawsuit.

In 2002 a judge refused an injunction against Susanne Pitt, who had produced a doll called Dungeon Barbie in bondage clothing, stating "To the court's knowledge, there is no Mattel line of S&M Barbie."


In 1999 Mattel sued the artist Tom Forsythe over a series of pictures called "Food Chain Barbie", which included a picture of a Barbie doll in a blender. Mattel lost the lawsuit and was ordered to pay $1.8 million in costs to Mr. Forsythe.

 

There is an overview of some "barbie" domain trademark infringement cases here:

http://www.domainhandbook.com/dd-1.html

 

What kinda stupid advice is that GUESTID...

They CAN sue you and they have all the rights to do so if you are using their trademark without permission

IT

 

Actually they can't
Just check such domains like googlefight.com .

Why i said it could be a guy because he might have used whois to find email of the user mentioned here , which violates privacy !!

 

i don't think you'll be in trouble if you are not using the domain in any dolls related site. for example, if your name is john barbie and you registered barbieblog, i wouldn't think i'd give 2 hoots about the threat.

but... p/s i'm no lawyer...

 

I think the fact that you used it for adult content is definitely going to bite you in the ass. Personally, if I were them, I'd go after you for much more than the domain. You're taking something that you know is targeted towards young girls and putting up porn ads? Thats pretty sick in my opinion. There was a similar case like this where the guy ended up in jail, because there is a law that makes it a criminal offense to use domain names to mislead children to pornographic material.

http://www.silicon.com/networks/webwatch/0,39024667,39118757,00.htm

People can talk about TM usage and try to justify it all they want, but I think this is a fairly clear cut case. No court in the country would have sympathy for you or accept alternate usage as a non-infringing argument. Maybe if you had actually used it for an alternate usage, but porn is not a valid one.

Personally, I'd hand over the domain and do whatever they want to make this go away and thank you god you don't end up in jail for it with a sexual offender record.

 

..

unfortunately I am not a citizen.. I am an international student living in the US.. I am planning to become a citizen one day

 

Essentially this is true - except for the safe part. Even if technically you have not violated their trademark, they can still hit you with a lawsuit which you would have to defend yourself against. You probably couldn't afford it even if you thought the expense was worhtwhile. Welcome to US corporate bullying.

 

My full name is Roger Mayer. Can I register thatin some other form? Yes I can. But do a search on my name and find out who the other guy is. Can they sue me if I use my full name in a domain? So what if the "other" guy is famous in the guitar industry. "Barbie" maybe trade marked who cares. I would hang onto it and if the $'s were good enough I just might sell it!

Roger

 

It's a common mistake to think you can use your own name if it conflicts with an existing trademark's usage - you can't. Mike Rowe (real name) found this out when he registered mikerowesoft.com. If you were born with the last name of "Trump" - you'll never be able to open a "Trump Casino". If your last name is "dell" and you make computers - you'll never be able to name the company after yourself.

Prior usage is the law - the fact that you were born with the name doesn't matter - otherwise you would have people naming their kids "apple computer" or finding some bum with the last name of "Trump" and making them a 1% owner in the company.

You don't have to like the law - but it's the law, and doing what "you think is right" can wind up costing you a lot of money.

 

True enough. But what better claim though, can I register rogermayerfishing dot what ever? But I still think it's pretty cool that I'm on page 13.....or is it 14 of the biography of Led Zepplin's Hammer of the Gods!

Roger