18 ms·

I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

227 points by pagliara 15y ago

thinkcomp 15y ago
You can always file a USPTO TTAB opposition to any of that company's registered trademarks. Or several. It's when you do several that they tend to get our their checkbook--each opposition can cost mid-five-figures for a big firm to defend, or in some cases even six.
veyron 15y ago
Every time I see a story like this, I think about http://nissan.com/ http://nissan.com/
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
  - jeffool 15y ago
    Visit the site; it's owned by a small family-owned computer retailer, and always has been. It's kinda awesome, really, that they've been able to keep it.
    - dennisgorelik 15y ago
      What is awesome about it? Why wouldn't they sell it for, say $1M? Everyone would benefit: current domain owner and Nissan Motors.
      - sbov 15y ago
        http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php Using simple math Nissan Computers had to spend 2.9 million defending themselves and got recuped 2% of that. $1 million wouldn't even cover the rest of their court costs. Nissan Motors doesn't deserve to benefit from nissan.com in any way. And personally I won't consider a Nissan product ever again.
        dennisgorelik 15y ago
        Then the price tag for nissan.com should be around $10M. Do you think Nissan Motors is not willing to pay that? Nissan Motors has more customers than Nissan Computer has. That does not mean that Nissan Motors deserves nissan.com more, but that means that there is a price tag which is beneficial for both these companies. Most likely both of them are too stubborn to benefit from that transaction. Edit: why the downvoting?
        veyron 15y ago
        At this point: there's enough vested interest in seeing Uzi Nissan win that he wouldn't step down (and yes I donated some of my AllAdvantage revenue to the cause) And Nissan Motors can't be too happy that nissan.com criticizes the motor company. The FU price point now is probably much higher than 10M. But another interesting thing happened: auto companies started adding <usa> to the domains. For example, bmw uses bmwusa.com and mercedes benz uses mbusa.com, so a lot of people expect the nissan motors website is nissanusa.com
        danssig 15y ago
        I suspect bmw and benz put a "usa" at the end of their name for their US branches since they're German companies that probably sell more cars in Europe (total out-of-thin-air guess).
        veyron 15y ago
        For some non-German examples, take toyota (japanese) or kia (korean) or ferrari (italy) or land rover (britain). Also, daimler sells way more cars in europe, although they are really stripped down compared to the US equivalents (and they also have stuff like sprinter, which I've only started to see recently in the USA). Even though those cars are lower margin, they sell many more (and most of their revenue comes from those cars)
        jeffool 15y ago
        I didn't downvote you (I can't), and this is just a guess, but: Your post probably came off as more dismissive than you intended it. I mean, Uzi Nissan (or someone on his behalf) legitimately bought the domain Nissan.com. Five years later, the car company sues him. After the slight, he decides to not budge, and now, twelve years later, "eh, just sell it to them" seems a serious understatement of affairs. "Stubbornness"? Yeah probably. But after more than a decade? There's no way "pay for it" hasn't been considered, and fought over.
  - veyron 15y ago
    No offense, but I think it's kinda strange that you would ask why before you actually looked at the link ... EDIT: it appears the comment I was replying to was deleted, but it essentially asked Why and was subsequently edited with a remark along the lines of "I should have checked the link"
- ricksta 15y ago
  how did they have so much money to fight the cases against nissan? Their website seems like it was stuck in 1998. Why didn't they try to sell it to nissan motors for like a mill or something?
  - veyron 15y ago
    They've been taking donations http://www.digest.com/Donations.php http://www.digest.com/Donations.php I would guess that nissan motors didnt actually want to shell out 1M to buy the name. They probably offered a paltry sum, which Uzi rejected, and then tried pulling a digital version of Eminent Domain. If everyone knew how long and how expensive the proposition would be, I'm sure Nissan Motors would have preferred to just have paid a million for the domain
  - beedogs 15y ago
    What amuses me is that the prices are all current, so the site is clearly still being updated... maybe they're going for that "Classic Internet" look.
wildmXranat 15y ago
I hope he kicks their butt.
md1515 15y ago
Good luck to him!
DiabloD3 15y ago
The only mistake he made was asking Reddit instead of a lawyer who specializes in dealing with boneheaded corporate maneuvers. Otherwise, I wish him luck.
- joezydeco 15y ago
  Why was asking Reddit a mistake? Put yourself in the OP's shoes. You're a college student and you get a notice like this handed to you. It's not like you have an IP lawyer on retainer or cash to run out and hire one instantly. In fact, one helpful redditor pointed out that his college might have a law school that would be willing to help with his case as a teaching exercise. I bet the OP knew nothing about that, and that's worth the price of visiting reddit alone.
  - maratd 15y ago
    Simple. It was a mistake because it looks like the kid would accept the offer if it was larger. Go to an IP lawyer and watch dollar signs pop out of their eyes. In a case like this, they'll assist with negotiating a fair price on contingency. If the kid really doesn't want to sell, he can go to EFF or get a lawyer to do this pro-bono. They love this sort of David vs Goliath stuff.
    - sliverstorm 15y ago
      How would he know that an IP lawyer would be eager to take the case? Is that supposed to be common sense or something?
    - Confusion 15y ago
      You're suggesting an IP lawyer would take the case on a no-cure, no-pay basis? Why is your HN advice more credible than the Reddit advice? Are you a lawyer? Have you dealt with this situation? Or are you in fact armchair lawyering as much as the Reddit commenters?
      - maratd 15y ago
staunch 15y ago
Even going so far as entertaining an offer could screw him in court. He needs an IP lawyer familiar with this ASAP.
tomcam 15y ago
This site may provide some help. They sold licensed fabric items on eBay that contained Disney characters. Repeat, licensed. Disney tried to take them down using DMCA and other strongarm tactics. They won against Disney using DIY techniques--no lawyers involved! I know it's not the same situation but you would be well advised to visit their site at http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/Articles/Tabberone/FightingBackAndWinning.shtml http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/Articles/Tabberone/Fight...
pbreit 15y ago
Hire a lawyer on contingency and get the biggest payout you can, for goodness sake. Then set up a new domain for yourself and count your blessings...winning the lottery is very rare.
sudonim 15y ago
On the converse of this, someone has been cybersquatting my last name for about 10 years. Any advice on how to get it? Details: I own the .co.uk version, but not the .com. My dad has had a company registered (not in the US) with the name in it. The cybersquatter seems to have squatted a bunch of dutch last names and isn't associated with the name at all.
- lemma 15y ago
  I'm on the same boat. In my case, I even attempted to contact using the "make an offer" form and never received a reply. Strange way to do business.
  - sudonim 15y ago
    There is no "make an offer" in my case. It just redirects to an electric bike website.
  - cookiecaper 15y ago
    I would never do that. Domain squatters squat just waiting for someone to come around and ask for the domain, that's why they buy them in the first place, and then they try to sell at exorbitant rates ($15k-$20k in my experience). Doubtless some companies pay that, which makes squatting profitable. If you express interest in a domain name, the squatter knows they should renew it forever because at some point when your company makes more money or whatever you'll buy them out for the asking price or something pretty close to it. If you don't express interest and no one else does either, and traffic is minimal, the squatter will drop the domain as unprofitable (no money from the ads on the parking page, no interested buyers = unprofitable domain).
    - lemma 15y ago
      I agree with you, but I did wait around a decade or so before I just got curious one day. It's a fairly uncommon last name and the domain would just be for personal use. Oh well.
- flexd 15y ago
ajkessler 15y ago
Ugh, it hurts to read this kind of advice. Sue! Punitive damages! You can get costs! (btw, you probably can't get punitive damages, at least from the little info you've provided, and costs =/= attorney fees) The best advice in that thread was to seek out on-campus legal aid. At the law school I went to, there were clinics that dealt specifically with entrepreneurship and IP. Look around, I'm sure other schools run similar clinics. You generally don't even need to attend these schools to utilize their services. At the very least, if you can't find something like that, or the deal you're working on is a little above their pay grade, some professor on campus can point you to somebody that does good pro bono work or is willing to work on contingency. If it just turns into a negotiation, you could do this yourself, but, honestly, you're probably going to get taken to the cleaners, both financially and emotionally, if you end up negotiating against professionals. Get a lawyer. There's no shame in it. http://www.ajkesslerblog.com/hired-guns/ http://www.ajkesslerblog.com/hired-guns/
- Kudos 15y ago
  I think the best advice he got was to contact the EFF, who are getting together a list of lawyers who will help him pro bono.
  - ajkessler 15y ago
    Didn't see that advice, and don't know much about EFF, but yes, anything that puts him in touch with a lawyer who actually knows what he's doing is good advice. I might also note that when hiring an attorney, you want to shop around, even if you're getting pro bono work. Check references and ask around (you can ask the lawyers you're interviewing about the other lawyers you've interviewed). Don't just settle on the first guy you come across that has a diploma hanging on his wall.
    - Kudos 15y ago
      It's been auto-collapsed somewhere in the thread, direct link to the particular comment tree: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyde9/i_own_a_domain_that_a_big_corporation_wants_to/c2o9qmk?context=3 http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyde9/i_own_a_dom...
lacker 15y ago
Their initial offer was $150. I said no, that I had put way too much money into it for that low of a price. They came back with $250. Anyone who's bickering about $150 vs $250 to acquire a domain is not a "big corporation". The OP is being bluffed.
- techsupporter 15y ago
  I looked around the WIPO site and found an arbitration case that meets the facts the reddit poster claimed. Either he found a WIPO case and decided to make it a huge "AskReddit," or, yes, the OP is going up against a quite large company. (Not linking here in an attempt to preserve privacy.)
  - bambax 15y ago
    Indeed, there is a case that seems to match all elements (domain starting with a w). If that case is indeed the right one, the complainants have had a trademark on their mark since 1953, and yet they let the domain be first registered in 2005, and then bought by the current owner in 2011. So, they could either have created the domain before 2005 or buy it between 2005 and 2011, but they chose to go against the current owner in June of this year only. There should be laws against such carelessness.
    - bambax 15y ago
      In fact the domain in dispute is a .org, while the company already owns the .com; the .net belongs to a squatter. I think what happened is, the company didn't care about other tlds than the .com; the .org was bought in January of this year by the current owner, legitimately, but, I presume, from a squatter (and that's why he says that buying the domain in the first place was expensive enough). And suddenly the company decides they need other tlds; from their point of view they're all squatters; they're wrong, but their line of reasoning is not absurd.
  - 0x12 15y ago
    How can you preserve privacy of something posted to reddit?
jackvalentine 15y ago
This has just reminded me I need to put up a splash page with my contact information on my domain, which is myfirstmylast.com Currently there is nothing there, but I use it for email every day - it'd be a shame to lose the domain because it looks like I'm not using it to outsiders.
- mjs00 15y ago
  There's no domain registration requirement for .com (that I'm aware of) for you to have a public web page on a domain.
  - RexRollman 15y ago
    Exactly. A domain can be used for many things, not just HTTP.
rumcajz 15y ago
Sell the domain name to their largest and/or most aggressive competitor.
- wdr1 15y ago
  Nobody would bite, as they would likely quickly lose the domain via UDRP.
DaveChild 15y ago
I have some experience of a similar situation, having at one point run a web dev blog at ilovejackdaniels.com, before the JD legal team contacted me ... and I'm on a new domain now. The problem, as explained to me by a lawyer (I am not a lawyer, so don't go taking this as legal advice, as I'm paraphrasing what I was told), is that legal departments for really big corporations just care about winning. It doesn't really matter whether they are in the right or not. What's going to make it difficult for you is that they have a huge amount of resources that you don't. It sounds in your case like they have no actual case for cybersquatting or similar. But that doesn't mean they won't sue you. And if you can't afford to be sued, then that's an automatic win for them. You also need to evaluate what level of stress and trouble you're prepared to go to to protect the domain. It may suck, but there will be a point at which it would be better for your sanity and your health to let them have the domain and get as much as you can out of them for it. If I were in your shoes (and I was) I would first visit a lawyer. Get some proper advice.
- Shengster 15y ago
  The fact that your domain doesn't exist anymore is somewhat troubling.
- masklinn 15y ago
  > I have some experience of a similar situation, having at one point run a web dev blog at ilovejackdaniels.com it was awesome. Is that why the site died?
  - scq 15y ago
    It's still around, just called Added Bytes (http://www.addedbytes.com/ http://www.addedbytes.com/) now.
  - DaveChild 15y ago
    I moved it to a new domain, as scq was kind enough to also comment. It's at http://www.addedbytes.com http://www.addedbytes.com now.
- atirip 15y ago
0x12 15y ago
The fact that they start with offering you money weakens their case considerably. That said, get yourself a really good lawyer if you want to hold on to it and you think you have a strong enough case, be prepared to pay them a lot of money.
cynest 15y ago
What constitutes cybersquatting or having the rights to a domain you purchased? When can someone who feels they could better use the domain sue?
tomelders 15y ago
sounds like a job for 4chan.
meiji 15y ago
There's some good advice on the reddit thread and some poor. Making a counter offer to the company could be construed as intent to make a buck on the sale and end up muddying the water and causing him problems. Best thing in these cases is to refuse offers.
epo 15y ago
If they are trying to muscle you out of something which is not rightfully theirs then level the playing field. Get as much publicity as you can from the media, shame them into backing off or making a decent offer if it is something they really want.
opendomain 15y ago
I have never sold a domain. I have given domains away for FREE to Open Source for 12 years, but I have been sued. It does not seem that the Big Corporation has any rights in your case, but they have Big Lawyers, who can sue you into the ground. Be VERY careful
rickdale 15y ago
I had a similar experience with Catepillar. They wanted to buy a domain I owned for over 10 years, but was just parked at the time. They offered me $1000 for the domain, I vehemently told them no. They threatened to sue me and we settled before they took action at $5,000. I always thought the domain was worth more, but at least its being used for something now.
larrys 15y ago
He states "They've already tried going through WIPO and lost. Now they are telling me that if I don't accept a ridiculously undervalued offer they are going to file litigation against me. I am a college student and can't afford a lawyer. Can anyone give me advice? What should I do?" Something is a little fishy about this. It doesn't make sense that he won the UDRP without an attorney but hasn't been able to figure out an attorney that can give him free legal advice on these issues. (Ref: reddit comments) (See http://www.esqwire.com http://www.esqwire.com who gives free advice and has probably won the most cases). In order to respond to the UDRP he would have had to do some research and would have turned up the obvious suspects in this industry (Berryhill, Goldberger etc.) While people have won UDRP's without a response (I've seen it happen) it is pretty rare.

227 points by pagliara 15y ago

You can always file a USPTO TTAB opposition to any of that company's registered trademarks. Or several. It's when you do several that they tend to get our their checkbook--each opposition can cost mid-five-figures for a big firm to defend, or in some cases even six.

veyron 15y ago

Every time I see a story like this, I think about http://nissan.com/ http://nissan.com/

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- jeffool 15y ago
  Visit the site; it's owned by a small family-owned computer retailer, and always has been. It's kinda awesome, really, that they've been able to keep it.
  - dennisgorelik 15y ago
    What is awesome about it? Why wouldn't they sell it for, say $1M? Everyone would benefit: current domain owner and Nissan Motors.
    - sbov 15y ago
      http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php Using simple math Nissan Computers had to spend 2.9 million defending themselves and got recuped 2% of that. $1 million wouldn't even cover the rest of their court costs. Nissan Motors doesn't deserve to benefit from nissan.com in any way. And personally I won't consider a Nissan product ever again.
      - dennisgorelik 15y ago
        Then the price tag for nissan.com should be around $10M. Do you think Nissan Motors is not willing to pay that? Nissan Motors has more customers than Nissan Computer has. That does not mean that Nissan Motors deserves nissan.com more, but that means that there is a price tag which is beneficial for both these companies. Most likely both of them are too stubborn to benefit from that transaction. Edit: why the downvoting?
        veyron 15y ago
        At this point: there's enough vested interest in seeing Uzi Nissan win that he wouldn't step down (and yes I donated some of my AllAdvantage revenue to the cause) And Nissan Motors can't be too happy that nissan.com criticizes the motor company. The FU price point now is probably much higher than 10M. But another interesting thing happened: auto companies started adding <usa> to the domains. For example, bmw uses bmwusa.com and mercedes benz uses mbusa.com, so a lot of people expect the nissan motors website is nissanusa.com
        danssig 15y ago
        I suspect bmw and benz put a "usa" at the end of their name for their US branches since they're German companies that probably sell more cars in Europe (total out-of-thin-air guess).
        veyron 15y ago
        For some non-German examples, take toyota (japanese) or kia (korean) or ferrari (italy) or land rover (britain). Also, daimler sells way more cars in europe, although they are really stripped down compared to the US equivalents (and they also have stuff like sprinter, which I've only started to see recently in the USA). Even though those cars are lower margin, they sell many more (and most of their revenue comes from those cars)
        jeffool 15y ago
        I didn't downvote you (I can't), and this is just a guess, but: Your post probably came off as more dismissive than you intended it. I mean, Uzi Nissan (or someone on his behalf) legitimately bought the domain Nissan.com. Five years later, the car company sues him. After the slight, he decides to not budge, and now, twelve years later, "eh, just sell it to them" seems a serious understatement of affairs. "Stubbornness"? Yeah probably. But after more than a decade? There's no way "pay for it" hasn't been considered, and fought over.
- veyron 15y ago
  No offense, but I think it's kinda strange that you would ask why before you actually looked at the link ... EDIT: it appears the comment I was replying to was deleted, but it essentially asked Why and was subsequently edited with a remark along the lines of "I should have checked the link"
ricksta 15y ago
how did they have so much money to fight the cases against nissan? Their website seems like it was stuck in 1998. Why didn't they try to sell it to nissan motors for like a mill or something?
- veyron 15y ago
  They've been taking donations http://www.digest.com/Donations.php http://www.digest.com/Donations.php I would guess that nissan motors didnt actually want to shell out 1M to buy the name. They probably offered a paltry sum, which Uzi rejected, and then tried pulling a digital version of Eminent Domain. If everyone knew how long and how expensive the proposition would be, I'm sure Nissan Motors would have preferred to just have paid a million for the domain
- beedogs 15y ago
  What amuses me is that the prices are all current, so the site is clearly still being updated... maybe they're going for that "Classic Internet" look.

wildmXranat 15y ago

I hope he kicks their butt.

md1515 15y ago

Good luck to him!

DiabloD3 15y ago

The only mistake he made was asking Reddit instead of a lawyer who specializes in dealing with boneheaded corporate maneuvers. Otherwise, I wish him luck.

joezydeco 15y ago
Why was asking Reddit a mistake? Put yourself in the OP's shoes. You're a college student and you get a notice like this handed to you. It's not like you have an IP lawyer on retainer or cash to run out and hire one instantly. In fact, one helpful redditor pointed out that his college might have a law school that would be willing to help with his case as a teaching exercise. I bet the OP knew nothing about that, and that's worth the price of visiting reddit alone.
- maratd 15y ago
  Simple. It was a mistake because it looks like the kid would accept the offer if it was larger. Go to an IP lawyer and watch dollar signs pop out of their eyes. In a case like this, they'll assist with negotiating a fair price on contingency. If the kid really doesn't want to sell, he can go to EFF or get a lawyer to do this pro-bono. They love this sort of David vs Goliath stuff.
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    How would he know that an IP lawyer would be eager to take the case? Is that supposed to be common sense or something?
  - Confusion 15y ago
    You're suggesting an IP lawyer would take the case on a no-cure, no-pay basis? Why is your HN advice more credible than the Reddit advice? Are you a lawyer? Have you dealt with this situation? Or are you in fact armchair lawyering as much as the Reddit commenters?
    - maratd 15y ago

staunch 15y ago

Even going so far as entertaining an offer could screw him in court. He needs an IP lawyer familiar with this ASAP.

tomcam 15y ago

This site may provide some help. They sold licensed fabric items on eBay that contained Disney characters. Repeat, licensed. Disney tried to take them down using DMCA and other strongarm tactics. They won against Disney using DIY techniques--no lawyers involved! I know it's not the same situation but you would be well advised to visit their site at http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/Articles/Tabberone/FightingBackAndWinning.shtml http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/Articles/Tabberone/Fight...

pbreit 15y ago

Hire a lawyer on contingency and get the biggest payout you can, for goodness sake. Then set up a new domain for yourself and count your blessings...winning the lottery is very rare.

sudonim 15y ago

On the converse of this, someone has been cybersquatting my last name for about 10 years. Any advice on how to get it? Details: I own the .co.uk version, but not the .com. My dad has had a company registered (not in the US) with the name in it. The cybersquatter seems to have squatted a bunch of dutch last names and isn't associated with the name at all.

lemma 15y ago
I'm on the same boat. In my case, I even attempted to contact using the "make an offer" form and never received a reply. Strange way to do business.
- sudonim 15y ago
  There is no "make an offer" in my case. It just redirects to an electric bike website.
- cookiecaper 15y ago
  I would never do that. Domain squatters squat just waiting for someone to come around and ask for the domain, that's why they buy them in the first place, and then they try to sell at exorbitant rates ($15k-$20k in my experience). Doubtless some companies pay that, which makes squatting profitable. If you express interest in a domain name, the squatter knows they should renew it forever because at some point when your company makes more money or whatever you'll buy them out for the asking price or something pretty close to it. If you don't express interest and no one else does either, and traffic is minimal, the squatter will drop the domain as unprofitable (no money from the ads on the parking page, no interested buyers = unprofitable domain).
  - lemma 15y ago
    I agree with you, but I did wait around a decade or so before I just got curious one day. It's a fairly uncommon last name and the domain would just be for personal use. Oh well.
flexd 15y ago

ajkessler 15y ago

Ugh, it hurts to read this kind of advice. Sue! Punitive damages! You can get costs! (btw, you probably can't get punitive damages, at least from the little info you've provided, and costs =/= attorney fees) The best advice in that thread was to seek out on-campus legal aid. At the law school I went to, there were clinics that dealt specifically with entrepreneurship and IP. Look around, I'm sure other schools run similar clinics. You generally don't even need to attend these schools to utilize their services. At the very least, if you can't find something like that, or the deal you're working on is a little above their pay grade, some professor on campus can point you to somebody that does good pro bono work or is willing to work on contingency. If it just turns into a negotiation, you could do this yourself, but, honestly, you're probably going to get taken to the cleaners, both financially and emotionally, if you end up negotiating against professionals. Get a lawyer. There's no shame in it. http://www.ajkesslerblog.com/hired-guns/ http://www.ajkesslerblog.com/hired-guns/

Kudos 15y ago
I think the best advice he got was to contact the EFF, who are getting together a list of lawyers who will help him pro bono.
- ajkessler 15y ago
  Didn't see that advice, and don't know much about EFF, but yes, anything that puts him in touch with a lawyer who actually knows what he's doing is good advice. I might also note that when hiring an attorney, you want to shop around, even if you're getting pro bono work. Check references and ask around (you can ask the lawyers you're interviewing about the other lawyers you've interviewed). Don't just settle on the first guy you come across that has a diploma hanging on his wall.
  - Kudos 15y ago
    It's been auto-collapsed somewhere in the thread, direct link to the particular comment tree: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyde9/i_own_a_domain_that_a_big_corporation_wants_to/c2o9qmk?context=3 http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyde9/i_own_a_dom...

lacker 15y ago

Their initial offer was $150. I said no, that I had put way too much money into it for that low of a price. They came back with $250. Anyone who's bickering about $150 vs $250 to acquire a domain is not a "big corporation". The OP is being bluffed.

techsupporter 15y ago
I looked around the WIPO site and found an arbitration case that meets the facts the reddit poster claimed. Either he found a WIPO case and decided to make it a huge "AskReddit," or, yes, the OP is going up against a quite large company. (Not linking here in an attempt to preserve privacy.)
- bambax 15y ago
  Indeed, there is a case that seems to match all elements (domain starting with a w). If that case is indeed the right one, the complainants have had a trademark on their mark since 1953, and yet they let the domain be first registered in 2005, and then bought by the current owner in 2011. So, they could either have created the domain before 2005 or buy it between 2005 and 2011, but they chose to go against the current owner in June of this year only. There should be laws against such carelessness.
  - bambax 15y ago
    In fact the domain in dispute is a .org, while the company already owns the .com; the .net belongs to a squatter. I think what happened is, the company didn't care about other tlds than the .com; the .org was bought in January of this year by the current owner, legitimately, but, I presume, from a squatter (and that's why he says that buying the domain in the first place was expensive enough). And suddenly the company decides they need other tlds; from their point of view they're all squatters; they're wrong, but their line of reasoning is not absurd.
- 0x12 15y ago
  How can you preserve privacy of something posted to reddit?

jackvalentine 15y ago

This has just reminded me I need to put up a splash page with my contact information on my domain, which is myfirstmylast.com Currently there is nothing there, but I use it for email every day - it'd be a shame to lose the domain because it looks like I'm not using it to outsiders.

mjs00 15y ago
There's no domain registration requirement for .com (that I'm aware of) for you to have a public web page on a domain.
- RexRollman 15y ago
  Exactly. A domain can be used for many things, not just HTTP.

rumcajz 15y ago

Sell the domain name to their largest and/or most aggressive competitor.

wdr1 15y ago
Nobody would bite, as they would likely quickly lose the domain via UDRP.

DaveChild 15y ago

I have some experience of a similar situation, having at one point run a web dev blog at ilovejackdaniels.com, before the JD legal team contacted me ... and I'm on a new domain now. The problem, as explained to me by a lawyer (I am not a lawyer, so don't go taking this as legal advice, as I'm paraphrasing what I was told), is that legal departments for really big corporations just care about winning. It doesn't really matter whether they are in the right or not. What's going to make it difficult for you is that they have a huge amount of resources that you don't. It sounds in your case like they have no actual case for cybersquatting or similar. But that doesn't mean they won't sue you. And if you can't afford to be sued, then that's an automatic win for them. You also need to evaluate what level of stress and trouble you're prepared to go to to protect the domain. It may suck, but there will be a point at which it would be better for your sanity and your health to let them have the domain and get as much as you can out of them for it. If I were in your shoes (and I was) I would first visit a lawyer. Get some proper advice.

Shengster 15y ago
The fact that your domain doesn't exist anymore is somewhat troubling.
masklinn 15y ago
> I have some experience of a similar situation, having at one point run a web dev blog at ilovejackdaniels.com it was awesome. Is that why the site died?
- scq 15y ago
  It's still around, just called Added Bytes (http://www.addedbytes.com/ http://www.addedbytes.com/) now.
- DaveChild 15y ago
  I moved it to a new domain, as scq was kind enough to also comment. It's at http://www.addedbytes.com http://www.addedbytes.com now.
atirip 15y ago

0x12 15y ago

The fact that they start with offering you money weakens their case considerably. That said, get yourself a really good lawyer if you want to hold on to it and you think you have a strong enough case, be prepared to pay them a lot of money.

cynest 15y ago

What constitutes cybersquatting or having the rights to a domain you purchased? When can someone who feels they could better use the domain sue?

tomelders 15y ago

sounds like a job for 4chan.

meiji 15y ago

There's some good advice on the reddit thread and some poor. Making a counter offer to the company could be construed as intent to make a buck on the sale and end up muddying the water and causing him problems. Best thing in these cases is to refuse offers.

epo 15y ago

If they are trying to muscle you out of something which is not rightfully theirs then level the playing field. Get as much publicity as you can from the media, shame them into backing off or making a decent offer if it is something they really want.

opendomain 15y ago

I have never sold a domain. I have given domains away for FREE to Open Source for 12 years, but I have been sued. It does not seem that the Big Corporation has any rights in your case, but they have Big Lawyers, who can sue you into the ground. Be VERY careful

rickdale 15y ago

I had a similar experience with Catepillar. They wanted to buy a domain I owned for over 10 years, but was just parked at the time. They offered me $1000 for the domain, I vehemently told them no. They threatened to sue me and we settled before they took action at $5,000. I always thought the domain was worth more, but at least its being used for something now.

larrys 15y ago

He states "They've already tried going through WIPO and lost. Now they are telling me that if I don't accept a ridiculously undervalued offer they are going to file litigation against me. I am a college student and can't afford a lawyer. Can anyone give me advice? What should I do?" Something is a little fishy about this. It doesn't make sense that he won the UDRP without an attorney but hasn't been able to figure out an attorney that can give him free legal advice on these issues. (Ref: reddit comments) (See http://www.esqwire.com http://www.esqwire.com who gives free advice and has probably won the most cases). In order to respond to the UDRP he would have had to do some research and would have turned up the obvious suspects in this industry (Berryhill, Goldberger etc.) While people have won UDRP's without a response (I've seen it happen) it is pretty rare.