[thatgoogleguy]

So a few days ago I purchased a domain name ending in .co. For privacy reasons I will not reveal the name of this domain. Well I purchased this domain name for one reason, but while I was reading a magazine I noticed there's a company with another the exact same domain name, but ending in .com. Before I could think of another domain name for my web application I decided to go ahead and sign up as a partner to this new site and direct traffic to their site so that I wasn't stealing any of their business. When I contacted these people to try and sell them the domain name they told me to feel free to contact them back because I had purchased a trademarked domain... I'm not going to just give it up to them especially since I paid for it. I thought I was being kind enough to redirect traffic their way. Is what I did illegal or are these "large" businesses abusing their power?

[no2pencil]

You should contact a lawyer right away.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I have the experience in this matter to provide you with legal advise.

My understanding is that you own the domain, even though it's a trademark, they can't make you give it to them. If you are going to use the domain name to gain business in a similar market, then you are doing something illegal. Also by contacting them, they could see it as web-squatting, which is also illegal.

[anonymouscodder]

I don't know anything about this legal issues in domain names registering, but it sounds to me that they are cheating you. I don't know if they can claim the domain name legally just because it's their company name, I bet they can't, I heard a lot of histories about companies paying a lot for domains.

I guess this also was one of the factors of the dot-com bubble, so it's not new.

[thatgoogleguy]

Right after I read the email I immediately thought about how Facebook paid $8.5 Million for fb.com. I'm creating a web application for that will automatically provide clients with email server settings based on their hosting provide and so on. This other company is in the wholesale shipping industry. Should I un-forward traffic to their site and just put up a parking page?

[no2pencil]

thatgoogleguy, on 01 August 2011 - 05:41 PM, said:

Should I un-forward traffic to their site and just put up a parking page?

Screw'em it's your domain.

I still recommend calling a lawyer.

[Lemur]

Legally you are entitled to the domain as money has been laid down on the matter. I'm no expert in legal matters but it is your property and as such they have no right to it without contractual consent and negotiations to transfer ownership of the domain.

Any and all contracts made cannot be based upon fear, such as legal threats, because the contract would immediately be rendered null and void. This alone is a large part in debunking fear tactics to get you to sell.

Make sure to read up on the basics of contract law. DO NOT sign anything until a lawyer reviews it either.

Now then, as far as selling, that's within your rights, just set up a simple site on it for some pointless reason, doesn't matter. Now you have a completely independent site from theirs and aren't infringing and can legally sell it (for a large sum of money)

But again, talk to a lawyer, take what we say with a grain of salt.

[thatgoogleguy]

I just received a fairly threatening email... Attorney time. Apparently they're pretty stuck on me buying a trademarked domain when they had equal opportunity to purchase it as well. To be honest I'm a bit scared, but I feel more bullied than anything. Here's snippit from their terms and services.

"variations or misspellings of any of them, in their URLs to theleft of the top-level domain name (e.g., “.com”, “.net”, “.uk”, etc.) — for example, a URL such as “COMPANY.mydomain.com” or “COMPANY MISSPELLED.com” would be unsuitable" and violates our terms and yaddy yaddy ya.

Again I replaced the actual domain name with the word company.

The part that makes me really uneasy is that they can use just about anything against me in court with their millions to spend on lawyers and attorneys. Hell they might Google and find this post.

[no2pencil]

You should have never contacted them.

[thatgoogleguy]

Thanks guys for all the advice. I really appreciate it. I'll keep you posted.

[Lemur]

Unfortunately it's too late for that now, though you are right.

No, that's scare tactic. They have no right unless it's a similar service. Get a lawyer asap, don't procrastinate. Force a settle, don't take it to court if at all possible.

[thatgoogleguy]

Well seeing that I'm a programmer and creating an email marketing application and they're doing something with the shipping industry I feel pretty safe now. I also put on the site that we are in no affiliated with their company because I was told to. Is that a good move or does it draw suspicion?

[no2pencil]

I would simply put up an under construction image & talk to a lawyer before doing anything else. You're only going to make the situation worse.

Basically anytime you have a question about this, look to the following :

Quote

Seek Legal Advice

The context is pretty much found in every answer on this topic. Yet you continue to ask questions. What should you do? We don't know, seek legal advice.

The biggest problem is that you contacted them. They are going to see this as a form of extortion.

Quote

I registered a domain that is similar to your name, want to buy it?

Horrible move. Your best bet is to get a lawyer & clean this mess up before you do anything with that site.

[thatgoogleguy]

no2pencil, on 01 August 2011 - 06:48 PM, said:

I would simply put up an under construction image & talk to a lawyer before doing anything else. You're only going to make the situation worse.

Basically anytime you have a question about this, look to the following :

Quote

Seek Legal Advice

The context is pretty much found in every answer on this topic. Yet you continue to ask questions. What should you do? We don't know, seek legal advice.

The biggest problem is that you contacted them. They are going to see this as a form of extortion.

Quote

I registered a domain that is similar to your name, want to buy it?

Horrible move. Your best bet is to get a lawyer & clean this mess up before you do anything with that site.

Well it's kind of hard to seek legal advice at 10:00pm while you're still receiving emails from the company. As a matter of fact, it's kind of hard to sleep with that kind of crap on your shoulders. I figured here's a website full of people that live on the net and "dream in code" just as I do. Hmmmm...maybe someone will have the answer. I asked a lot of questions and got a lot of good responses.

[no2pencil]

What's the worst that can happen? You lose out on a $14 domain registration.

[thatgoogleguy]

Well any web developer should know branding has a lot to do about it. If your domain name is similar to your service and you have consistent SEO then your domain name could be your business. A prime example: drugstore.com. My point is that I felt the domain name would suite my application so I got it and now I'm being bullied so I turned to the community for advice. By selecting a new domain name I'm changing up all of my branding including work done for logos, variables within my application, database schemes and more. Even though the domain was purchased just several days ago we've already put in about 40 hours of coding.