4 ms·

Could anything worse than losing out on the registration fees ever actually happen?

CydeWeys 6y ago
Yes. You might have to deal with the hassle and expense of being sued. There's all downside and no upside to playing this particular stupid game.
- Volundr 6y ago
  I mean technically, maybe, but it's extremely unlikely that they'd sue without sending a C&D first. And given the lack of damage even if they did it'd likely get dismissed quickly with him just giving up the domain. But... INAL and this is not legal advice.
  - CydeWeys 6y ago
    The biggest trouble people get themselves into with this kind of thing is if they, upon being contacted by the company, ask for money instead of immediately offering to transfer the domain to them free of charge. At that point it's trademark cybersquatting and they have your own words in the email as proof. Speaking from personal experience here: being on the end of any kind of notice with the threat of legal force, even if it's not a lawsuit yet, is the kind of stress you just don't need in your life.
dodobirdlord 6y ago
If you actually caused say, reputational damage, you could be stuck with a lawsuit for more than just turning over the domain.
- CydeWeys 6y ago
  People have gotten in serious hot water over Internet traffic that was accidentally sent to them. Owning someone else's trademark as a domain name seems liable to increase the risk of that happening. Even if you aren't up to no good, you've now placed the onus on yourself of proving that you weren't, whereas if you weren't squatting on an obvious TM domain that wouldn't be true.
  - mtrower 6y ago
    > People have gotten in serious hot water over Internet traffic that was accidentally sent to them. You've piqued my curiosity. Any examples to share?
ohashi 6y ago
Absolutely. Some countries have laws against it, they could file in normal court (not UDRP). US the limit is $100,000 per domain under ACPA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Pr...) Also if you lose one case, you are likely to have that used against you in the future (pattern of behavior). So any subsequent defense may be weaker in a system that already strongly favors TM holders.

Yes. You might have to deal with the hassle and expense of being sued. There's all downside and no upside to playing this particular stupid game.

Volundr 6y ago
I mean technically, maybe, but it's extremely unlikely that they'd sue without sending a C&D first. And given the lack of damage even if they did it'd likely get dismissed quickly with him just giving up the domain. But... INAL and this is not legal advice.
- CydeWeys 6y ago
  The biggest trouble people get themselves into with this kind of thing is if they, upon being contacted by the company, ask for money instead of immediately offering to transfer the domain to them free of charge. At that point it's trademark cybersquatting and they have your own words in the email as proof. Speaking from personal experience here: being on the end of any kind of notice with the threat of legal force, even if it's not a lawsuit yet, is the kind of stress you just don't need in your life.

dodobirdlord 6y ago

If you actually caused say, reputational damage, you could be stuck with a lawsuit for more than just turning over the domain.

CydeWeys 6y ago
People have gotten in serious hot water over Internet traffic that was accidentally sent to them. Owning someone else's trademark as a domain name seems liable to increase the risk of that happening. Even if you aren't up to no good, you've now placed the onus on yourself of proving that you weren't, whereas if you weren't squatting on an obvious TM domain that wouldn't be true.
- mtrower 6y ago
  > People have gotten in serious hot water over Internet traffic that was accidentally sent to them. You've piqued my curiosity. Any examples to share?

ohashi 6y ago

Absolutely. Some countries have laws against it, they could file in normal court (not UDRP). US the limit is $100,000 per domain under ACPA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Pr...) Also if you lose one case, you are likely to have that used against you in the future (pattern of behavior). So any subsequent defense may be weaker in a system that already strongly favors TM holders.