So, I regged this domain: http://delllaptopdeal.com I knew there could be issues with it, but there are 16 million results for "dell laptop deal" so I figured what the heck. So today I was looking at the stats on delllaptopdeal.com and saw a ton of hits form this site: http://nameprotect.com/index.html I take it my "Transfer your domain to our control immediately to avoid TM violations" letter is probably already in the mail? Should I tell them I want the $10 reg fee back? It's cheaper for them to send me the $10 reg fee than to get into a court battle right? I know I'm in the wrong here, but at least if I get my $10 I can save some face!
Better wait for the letter and see what they have to say. But based on what you said, it's a sure bet you'll get one soon enough. Whether they're amenable to reimbursing you just the reg fee or not is up to them.
Giving you back the reg fee is not cheaper as if you lose any court case, you would be ordered to pay all costs. Thats costs for you and them. z
I registered DellReviews dot com and was sort of worried about the same thing. I think I had more of a legal leg to stand on though, because I was actually planning to use it as a review site, but I sold it anyway. The current owner has it parked on Sedo, so apparently Dell isn't worried about it, even though they own all the other extensions.
You can't use "Dell" in any domain name that deals with any aspect of their business. (a domain like "dellsucks.com" would be an exception). It's trademark infringement and you are riding the goodwill they established. A parked domain can be harder to do something about as without content on the site, they can't say the site's content is about their business. A domain like "delllaptopdeal" is another story as the domain name, even if just parked, is infringement. Dell is known for suing people - I wouldn't worry about getting my reg fee back for something that was my mistake in the first place.
You'll always have a chance to just discard/turn-over the domain without incurring any costs before it becomes a legal battle. Try to make some ROI rather than return the name before you know what's happening.