Whatever you do, brogrammer2018, please post a follow up story here on HN.
Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
221–230 of 293 posts
Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
#222As you said "solicitor" I'm guessing you're not in the USA. If you are in the USA, the law is on your side: just because they registered the mark doesn't take away your rights. In addition, if they are doing something different from you (or perhaps you're using the domain for non-business purposes) they have no claim. You can open McDonald's garden shop (even if your name isn't McDonald) and unless you made it look l…
>As you said "solicitor" I'm guessing you're not in the USA. But then they use Pacific Time Zone.
No, the letter they got sent uses Pacific Time. The dicks couldn't even be bothered translating that into the time zone of their target, or even UTC.
Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
#223HN is not the place to ask for legal advice. Just because it tangentially relates to technology does not mean it belongs here.
In any case: asking for legal advice without even providing a the jurisdiction(s) or details is a waste of time.
Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
#224Name and shame the Founders.
There is a huge community of domainers on Twitter. There will be blowback. You will get tons of support, and recommendations. (as well as guidance on lawyers...etc).
Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
#225General remarks for these types of posts: - People often mention 0 countries. Where do you operate? Where was your company founded? How about the other company? Etc. How do you know if that helpful comment doens't assume something totally different? - Are you really going to feel confident about your legal situation after reading comments on a platform like Hacker News?
When someone didn't feel the need to mention which country they are talking about, that's usually because they're American.
This is a website hosted in America by an American investment company with a primarily American user base. Not hard to understand why. Either way the OP appears to be Australian, so please hold off judgement next time.
Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
#226> within 3 days
Well that's a scam.
If they're going to sue you, let them. You literally have prior use of the term and if you have to prove that, you can with comical ease.
They know this… which is why this sounds like bullies trying to scare you into giving up a domain they can't afford to pay for. Scary letters are cheap. Write one back asking they reassign their trademark to you?
But seriously, probably get paid advice first, and don't worry about this 3 day nonsense. Nobody works that fast.
And remember that trademarks are classed. Rarely does somebody get exclusive use of a name in all senses. You might not be able to sell what they sell under their trademark, but they don't have rights to the word in generic senses.
Oh and probably approach a regulatory body about their solicitors. This isn't an appropriate way to conduct business.
Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
#227While this is definitely a bunch a hot air, unfortunately they could frivolous sue you to simply win on financial grounds alone (in particular they could sue you in a location where the cost of travel would be expensive and if you ignored it they get a default judgement, or sue you in both state & federal courts for slightly different things and drown you in legal costs). I'd evaluate what your endgame is. If your en…
> (in particular they could sue you in a location where the cost of travel would be expensive and if you ignored it they get a default judgement, or sue you in both state & federal courts for slightly different things and drown you in legal costs) "This past June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that plaintiffs cannot sue companies in a state where they may do business, but do not have significant connections to that st…
OP used the word "Solicitor" so am assuming they are not in the US.
Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
#228Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice.
Assuming both parties are in the US, this is the key legislation around domain squatting: https://cyber.harvard.edu/property00/domain/legislation.html.
You haven't told us anything about what you do with the domain, but since you registered it quite a bit of time ago I'm assuming it has nothing to do with the company in question that sent you the letter.
Looking at the clauses in the link, it seems pretty clear they they have no real case. Everyone's advice of getting a lawyer is obviously apt, but I'd say you can just save yourself the money and ignore this letter completely. There's a 99% chance that you will not hear back from them. If they do decide to actually escalate it, you can always get a lawyer at that point.
A general piece of advice about the legal system - nothing ever happens within 3 days. They are creating a false sense of urgency in order to scare/bully you.
(As a side note, I get very annoyed when a random question on the internet is met with a hundred responses of "get a lawyer". I'm sure the person who posted it already knows that lawyers exist. What they are looking for is some free advice, not legal representation from HN.)
Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
#229General remarks for these types of posts: - People often mention 0 countries. Where do you operate? Where was your company founded? How about the other company? Etc. How do you know if that helpful comment doens't assume something totally different? - Are you really going to feel confident about your legal situation after reading comments on a platform like Hacker News?
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Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET
#230Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice. Assuming both parties are in the US, this is the key legislation around domain squatting: https://cyber.harvard.edu/property00/domain/legislation.html . You haven't told us anything about what you do with the domain, but since you registered it quite a bit of time ago I'm assuming it has nothing to do with the company in question that sent you the letter. Look…
From the final sentence: "I was using the name 7+ years before them with a similar product"
So it seems like they aren't squatting, but genuinely using it (for a similar product, which makes sense)