I would say this is good decision. Just keep away from such fighting and start a brand new site and work hard on the site instead of maintaining a site for which you have to fight with others.
Anyone wanna give a hand switching the sites around on my GoDaddy hosting account without messing anything up? I need a new .htaccess to get everything rerouted correctly. Thanks Guys!
Are you sure you have to surrender the domain if you are not using it as the main domain now ? Im pretty sure that if its redirected you might just be able to keep it because you are not violating any trademarks anymore. Im not 100% but thats how i would see it. Also when did they apply for their trademark ? if your site was made before their trademark then it doesnt count imo , again im no legal expert but just ramblings from other cases ive read in the past. As fare as moving your site just move all your files to the new host , then put this in a .htaccess file in the root of the old account : RewriteEngine ON RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://yoursite.com$1 [R=301,L] That will redirect the whole site , all URL's to the new domain
Does that redirect URL to URL or just sitewide to the root? It's only the domain they have a problem with. Can anyone tell me for sure if they have a full trademark on fail blog yet or is it still just in process?
DO NOT do an automatic redirect. You will lose all of your traffic when you turn the domain over. You want a very simple page on the old domain saying something to the effect of "This site has moved to wherever.com. Update your bookmarks. This page will be removed soon." For your existing pages that will be 404, redirect those to index.html with the above message.
Well I changed the site and all redirects are ok now... I get to keep the domains as long as I don't open them back up to full sites... This whole experience has kinda killed being a webmaster for me. Meh.. we'll see how things go from now on...
Honestly, it does fall in the infringement category. Why? The domain definitely is "confusingly similar" and the site matter is the same as FailBlog's. I mean, even at first glance, it's obvious that the site was created in the wake of "FailBlog." All of the elements are there for them to claim this. It's like creating a site called BetterBestBuy.com, selling electronics, and then getting a C&D letter from BestBuy about it. What I don't understand is how "failblog.net" isn't getting the same treatment. Regardless, Ben Huh is a multi-millionaire and it's kind of effortless to fight him in court if he decides to go that far. I always find it funny when people advise others to "let it go to court". I wonder if they'd follow their own advice. You've probably been to court before over car accidents. You know how long those cases drag out - years and years...lost vacation days from work, etc. It's not worth it. Especially when it's over something the other party will inevitably win.
I just registered a domain pinoyfailblog.com ..... Are they gonna put it down too? I see dailyfailblog.com now belongs to failblog.org .....................
Unfortunately, it's possible. Whether they will or not depends on them, and their mark is now officially registered. However unlikely, check with your domain provider if they can still cancel and refund you for that. Do it quick.
I would dump it just to be safe. Usually you can 'return' a domain that was just purchased. Contact your registrar. I have returned many names to Godaddy that after buying decided I did not want the trademark issue. It would suck to invest in your website only to have it taken later.
talked to customer support of my host fatcow.com ... apparently they dont take returns? date of registration was yesterday oct. 5 2011.. am i supposed to be talking to my host fatcow.com or Tucows? edit ehhh fatcow.com doesnt do refunds.. guess im stuck with this domain
I think if they made it trademark after you bought the domain and used then they can't do anything. every big company shows eyes to smaller but your shouldn't be afraid of them.