Scare tactic? Chinese firm contacts me of someone wanting to claim ownership

Some Chinese domain/hosting seller contacts me that a customer of theirs wants to buy the unclaimed domain names of my brand pinoguin. I already own the .com but I have no intention of getting every other domain name extensions. They mentioned that a customer(generic company name) wants to buy the .org, net, cn, .in, etc. and gave me a time limit for 5 days, if I don't respond they will claim the ownership of the alternative domains... which I don't have a problem with.

The other issue I'm not familiar with is this - the Chinese seller claims that the customer will register the brand 'Pinoguin' as a "Network Brand" which is said to be registered to the Chinese government and should be recognized worldwide(this sounds questionable to me). My brand/business name is already registered in the Philippines in our Department of Trade, I made no patent/trademark registrations seeing it's unnecessary. And I'm the first and only owner of that domain anyway. Their customer will have the same type of services as mine.

Is this 'Network Brand' legit? The Chinese seller mentions that the customer can claim my .com. , which I find ridiculous

If I register the domain name 'google.com' even before google became a company, if they buy a .net can they file a dispute even if they're the last to acquire the domain name? or does registering the brand have more weight? I highly doubt it but if anyone here is more familiar with domain brands I would really like your input

 

1. This is a scam. There are dozens of threads about these emails. Ignore it.

2. Owning a domain name gives you no rights to the trademark. It is the type of usage of the site that determines who might have trademark rights. If you own a .com 10 years before someone else registers the .net, you cannot use your .com in a way that conflicts with their usage - assuming that their usage was first and that the mark can be a trademark. FYI, trademarks do not need to be registered to acquire rights.

 

The other possibility is that they might have registered the trademark long before you registered the .com domain name. Even if this is the case, it is still a grey area because if a trademark owner does not register the respective domain, it is an indication that they do not have the intention to protect their trademark.

In either case, the threat is unsound.

Just use whois safeguard to protect your contact info to avoid such hassle.

 

Many thanks, I will just ignore them. I have a feeling this shady reseller only wanted me to buy the domain from them where there is no threat at all.

I'm pretty sure I get the 'first/continued use' of the domain, they hold no legal ground to claim it.

Also, their website looks static... dis-network.org , order buttons are static images only, I see no forms for ordering - just a number...