Yahoo wants OwnerShip my domain Flickr.pk

just give it to them, Its no use, i lost lots of good domains like that, the only good thing is that , i dint spend anything other than the domain registration fees, but those guys spend a lot on wipo.

DONT send them an offer, in anycase

 

Whether true or not, isn't the issue. It's great to advise a 'hotdog routine' when you have nothing at stake.

soul-healer - you knew in advance that the brand was Yahoo's, you knew the risk involved enough to contact Yahoo, had you contacted them the moment you purchased the domain, and didn't develop anything until you had in writing you could you wouldn't have wasted any effort - thus IMHO your entitlement is the cost of the domain.

They can reach you in many ways: everything from monetary to host takedown and search engine takedown orders

PLay ball or hardball but be clear - the risks are yours alone.

 

I Contact the Yahoo after some days i registered the Domain name. I waited for 40+ Plus Days and then started development. I thought they are not interested in the domain name as i dont get a single responce.

After that i started the develpment proccess.

 

Yahoo cannot take your domain name just because of trademark. If you are using domain that violates the trademark of theirs then they can take it but if you have something completely different on flickr.pk then yahoos flickr then they cannot do anything. That means if you have site about say laptops on flickr.pk then they cannot do anything else but if you have image hosting or whatever the flickr is they can take it. You can see the example as www.adsense.com** adsense is trademark of google Get it hopefuly you do otherwise sell the domain to me ROFL J/K

 

That's not true. If you have a generic domain name, say "apple", classification is a factor, but not true with unique and branded names. Trademark laws protect domain names that are identical to, confusingly similar or dilutive of an existing mark. (Try registering cocacola.*anything and see how long before you hear from their legal department). A disclaimer won't protect you either, because the infringement results in traffic to the site from people who assume it is associated with the trademark. There are a lot of grey areas in trademark law, but this is clear cut and there is absolutely no way anyone could win this case. The domain can be taken whenever they want.

 

Yahoo are a mob gang as far as I've heard, so not strange at all

Vendetta!!!

Sorry, I know this is a serious thing, but it's pretty hard the war against those mafia gangs.

 

if you do not cooperate, they will contact your domain's registrar, and take the domain from you. then you will the one who should go to court against your registrar

 

Dont give the domain away so easily. Its yours and you have the right to use it or sell as you like. Although is it s legal trademark of Yahoo!, but what is legality and what is trademark...??

Pakistan's court dont even know what a domain is !
My suggestion is to make some bucks if you hand the domain over to Yahoo.
Otherwise even if Yahoo spends hundreds of dollars on legal actions.. you only loose the registration cost.

Sahel

 

absolute rubbush @ sahel,
he will not make a single dime out of it., By sending an offer, it means, he is trying to monetize from others trademark, Its enough for them to file a case, and easily win through WIPO (Ever heard of it?).,
If they win, the domain will be immediately transferred to them, All they need is to send a mail to the domain registrar

 

Well I think its the registerer who should be Screwed. Why in the first place he registered the domain name. Also I think ICANN should create some Law for the domain name resellers not to register domains which contain TadeMarks in them. I think the problem is on the side of ICANN why dont they on the first place make any rule against the TradeMark domain registeration. Its Fuss.

 

Trademark searches can run hundreds of dollars and still are not 100%. Classification can also play a role, so you would need to disclose to the registrar exactly how you plan to use the name, and then they would need to get the opinion of an attorney - which still wouldn't be 100%. Why should the registrar be required to do the work for a domain that runs a few dollars? It's always the responsibility of the person wanting to use the name. Common sense can avoid at least 90% of trademark issues.

 

Yeah you are right mjewel. Still I think domain reigsterers should provided directions not to register the domains containing trademark. even Sedo doesnot provides selling of domains containing trademarks.

 

There's a 1999 court ruling where a registrar isn't responsible for checking for
any possible trademark rights. And Sedo is doing that to protect themselves
from possible liability.

Most if not all registrars have sufficiently protected themselves from such.

 

umm... yep that's right. Still newbies fall into these unknown traps.

 

Trademark protection is not global.

I am trademarking a name in Canada. My lawyer tells me i will have to do a 2nd trademark application for US if i want trademark protection their too.

I'm not 100% certain about this, but unless Yahoo has a registered business entity in Pakistan, that holds the trademark for Pakistan, then they likely have no recourse.

Trademark lawyers will often fire off cease and disist notices to those infringing on trademarks outside the country where the trademark is valid. They do this because 9 times out of 10 the other party has no idea that the lawyers cant really do shit. Many just give in to the lawyers out of ingnorance and fear.

My advice: First find out for sure if their trademark extends into Pakistan, ask a lawyer, not Yahoo's lawyers. Then, if you are o.k. on that front, tell Yahoo you will keep the domain and do as you wish with it, unless they want to pay $500 for it.

 

I don't recommend fighting them, you will lose no doubt. The name is identical and "could" trick users into going to your site instead of theirs, which is what a TM is made to stop.

 

I'm sure Yahoo has incorporated in Pakistan, as it accepts money from Pakistani advertisers.

That being said, if Pakistani courts don't udnerstand what a domain is, that does not mean they wont understand what trademarks are, anda a good lawyer will explain to the judge how your domain violates a trademark.

Everything I said above taken asside, it is costly to hire a lawyer and file a case against you, although you cannot sell it to yahoo, what you can do is say you want compensation for the time you spent developing the domain. Explain that you made a reasonable attempt to contact Yahoo legal department and gave them a period in excess of one month to respond, then you began development of the site.

Ask for $500 - $1,000 for compensation, and say if they can compensate you you will surrender any and all rights to the domain to Yahoo. Otherwise you will uphold your right to the domain in a court of law. They will probably just give you the money. In the remote chance that they decide to go to court, a week before your appearance send over an email that you had a change of heart and want to give them the domain.

This way they already spent money on paying for the legal consulations, and filing paperwork, and when they appear in court, all you have to do is say you have reached an agreement. The case will be dismissed, and everyone goes home happy.

 

Has yahoo trademarked the name flickr in Pakistan? I would think not, because if they had they would clearly state that flickr is trademarked in Pakistan. Is it possible to trademark names in Pakistan? Of course! But yahoo just trademarked their main company name(yahoo) but were too cheap to trademark all their other names because they don't do any business there. I bet yahoo doesn't have a single employee in pakistan either.

So anyway...my point is unless they have trademarked the name FLICKR in PAKISTAN it doesnt matter where else on the planet they have trademarked it, in pakistan YOU GOT TO THE NAME FIRST! Its yours. In fact you could probably walk to the trademark office and own the flickr name if you wanted to in pakistan!

My advice is to tell yahoo you are sorry and you will no longer ask them for $1000 for your domain. From now on you won't accept anything less than $5000 for it. Tell them if they don't shut up and pay you will put it on sedo or ebay with $5000 minimum bid. Well maybe $5000 is a bit much but try $2000.

 

They have an International trademark and ICANN has the final say on pk domains on if you will lose the domain. There is absolutely no way the domain can be kept.



(i) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and

(ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and

(iii) your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

 

Sell it, its just not worth the trouble.

- MENJ