Hi there, Sky have sent me a legal letter saying I must give them my domain name and shut down my site as I'm misleading people into believing I'm offering sky. Does anyone know if there are any loopholes here eg changing my site wording etc or is it better to just shut down what is a highly profitable site? All comments appreciated tom
No, I wouldn't worry about them. Your website says nothing about offering that service or even pretends to offer it. It clearly states where the TV stations come so you can't be misleading people. Alot of people probably don't even know what Sky is. All they are doing is trying to push their weight around on you in hopes that you will give into them.
Are you sure about this? If I can get more peoples opinions then I'll just ignore the letter. It's saying I'm committing fraud by using the domain name so I can't really afford to go to court if they can or will pursue this. I'll rewrite the wording on my webpage so as not to infringe their rights but the domain name I can't really do much with... tom
How about we look at the domain name. This isn't rocket science. You're telling people that they can watch SKY on their computer. Here's your domain: Watch SKY On Your PC If you're not offering SKY, why do you have a domain that says so? Ignoring correspondence is the worst move you can make. Should this matter end up in court, it will show that you have blatant disregard for what you're alleged to be doing and that you're an irresponsible person/company. That's not the image you want to portray. If nothing else, contact them back and state your case. Was the letter from an attorney? If not, you can request that their attorney sends you correspondence with specific details (or send it to your attorney). At any rate, taking advice from someone who says this would be foolish: I'd love to see that argued in court. Oh really? The main header says: WATCH SKY ON YOUR PC (and do does the domain). Further down it says: So much for actually looking at the site . . .
What about now? I've edited the site so it's now definitely not misleading, anyone know what the law is on a domain name like this one. It's not exactly skybroadcasting.com but not sure how the courts would see it. Let me know your thoughts guys tom
The main issue is the domain. Even if you sold crackers on the site, the domain is using their trademarked name to draw people to the site. It's kind of hard to get away from WatchSKYonyourPC.com. I'd get a lawyer to get the proper guidance.
I agree the domain is the only issue but I certainly would not shut it down. Get yourself another domain and divert your traffic to it with a bookmark this site on the new domain. Have a simple explanation for users to use the new site. Give it a few weeks and disable the original domain. At least you will salvage something? JohnT
Hi John, how would this work as surely all my backlinks which are giving me my ranking are pointing to watchskyonyourpc.com so if i make a new domain etc itll be just like starting from scratch surely?
You could try 301 redirect (using .htaccess) which "in theory" tells the search engines that you are permanently moving your website to another domain and retains the rankings PR (if you keep the structure the same). HOWEVER, there are cases where it hasn't worked, or took ages to transfer, so fully research it if you try this method.
Was just curious, I know its a long shot but could there be a loophole if i found a channel broadcasting images of the sky? Then I could plead coincidence in court?
No. All you will have done is find another legal target for Sky. What you're saying would be like going to court and pleading that you should be found innocent of murder, because other people do it.
lol not exactly the same think but point taken. Just created a 301 redirection to watchsatelliteonyourpc.net which hopefully will salvage something.