Anyone know their rights if something like this happens to them? Just got a letter this morning - It was from a company called Capital Edge. I have a domain name, and this company sent me a letter saying that they have rights over this domain name, and that they want me to immediately transfer this domain name over to them. Thing is that I have many domain names, and plan to open businesses with all of them in the future. You won't find me selling any of them on the internet. I need to know what options do I have? I'm not, ever going to simply hand this over when I have personal plans for it once I finish my degree. They claim to have some prior right to it, when I'm fairly certain that I have more rights to it, since I registered it first, lol. Any help would be appreciated. The thing is that it's not a .co.uk domain, but a .eu extension. The company itself has been trading in the UK.
If Is It a trademark,They have the rights to get it ... But It will take some time for them ,so they will try to buy it from you without cases ... Have some patience,they will make an offer soon If they interested
This sounds like a trademark issue that could involve more than one set of laws if you two are not in same country. Suspect only a knowledgeable solicitor can advise you.
Especially if you have every intent to defend your rights to it. Is the domain name fanciful (e.g. kodak, xerox, etc.)? Is it a word that can be found in the dictionary? Is the domain name displaying anything? What's your intent? Without further details it's hard to say whether you should turn it over or not. Then again, revealing more in an online forum can be used against you if the other party's smart.
If it is a trademark issue, it looks like you might have little choice but to sell the domain to them. But charge a resonable high price. In order to demand the domain from you will cost a lot of lawer fees, so they would prefer to just buy the domain over. Send an email to negotiate with them.
i thought that it only a trademark issue if he intends to use it in the same categorie as the company who has it trademarked? Ie. if kodak.com was owned by an individual but trademarked to kodak isnt it only trademarked for the camera market or what ever and say the indivudal used it for a car site and does not mention any anythink relating to kodak cameras? hope that made sense, but i thought that how it worked but dont take my word for it.
just to throw a spanner in the works. What about a personal site for hilton,mercedes,ferrari,ford, etc ... Would these guys have to give up their personal domains just because there is a product out there with that name?
change your name and surname for protest them and say them this domain related with me. name: Capital surname Edge
don't offer to sell it to them, they will use that against you if you don't have any content on the site. They will categorize you as a cybersquatter just trying to make money off of them. If they haven't filed a UDRP then I wouldn't worry about it, for all you know it may be some individual trying to scam the domain away from you.
Capital edge is a little too generic a name to be owned. I did a quick search on google. there are 44,700,000 results, the first pages shows at least 4 separate companies using this name. Which one ownes it. Surely not the first one to use it in a web site or else why am I wasting all my money getting all the different extensions to a domain name I want. I should be able to just get the .com and I own the rest right??? That doesn't work for a name like Google. It's made up, trademarked, and known as one company. Trying for GooglesTwin.com would just get me in a lawsuit. I think they need to be able to prove that they have exclusive rights to that name, and there are a whole lot of other companies they are going to have to fight with to get it. PS I'm not a lawer, this is my opinion.
Okay, let's try to clear the air here. Try to, anyway. For the most part, trademark rights arise from usage of the term in commerce for something specific. Any common word can be used as a trademark if the party in question can demonstrate such for its intended specific use. Shell and Apple are 2 examples of words that are generic if referring to their respective general meanings (mollusk and fruit respectively). But they're also trademarks for their respective specific uses (oil and computer products). Depending on the "strength" of a trademark, just the domain name itself can or can't possibly be infringing it. But there are other factors possibly involved. Unfortunately it's a reality that not many people are aware of trademarks and how they can apply to domain names. Some parties even use this to their full advantage to sometimes get what they want, even if they have otherwise do not have any legitimate enforceable rights when it comes to domain names. Since this is a .eu domain name in dispute here, I don't know how trademark infringement disputes are handled in the UK region. While they might follow a few "basics" regarding this topic, they won't necessarily handle it the same way as the US would. Bottom line: know who you're dealing with, and assess your risks. If you have every intent to defend your rights to the domain name, seek legal advice from a qualified professional familiar with how it's handled in that area.
Okay, forget this. I'm just going to tell the truth - That 'I' registered the domain name. That it's mine. That I have plans for it. That I am not after "money". That they have no rights to this domain name. That if they want it, come get it, cause I'll annihilate them. By the way, thanks to all who gave advice on how to handle this situation. Thankyou.
There is an ICANN process to force transfer of domain names. I've never been involved, but I believe it is rather straightforward and that you can defend your claim to the domain name without having to have a lawyer. I think a few minutes with a search engine will help you find out how the process works. They may have written a strong letter in hopes that you would get scared and roll over, even if you do have a better claim. A surprisingly high number of people just give up without even investigating what rights they have.