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Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

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Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#261

Post by DonHopkins »

yumraj wrote: post #227
Shamu wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (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.

Or he could be a boy scout.

"Don't solicit for your sister, that's not nice. Unless you get a good percentage of her price." -Tom Lehrer, Be Prepared

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkrheaWuShU

Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#262

Post by benatkin »

> They claim as they client registered a trademark two years ago for the name, I must handover my .com domain to them for free, otherwise they will sue me.

This isn't in what you quoted. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't demand you give them the domain but hinted that you should give it to them because you won't be able to use it for the purpose you wanted anymore.

You can most likely keep the domain, even if the trademark holds water - in that case you just can't use it for what you're probably wanting to use it for. If you were actively using the domain, the trademark might not hold water, but from the way you describe it, it seems like pretty passive use of the domain. It's also bad to let them register a trademark you wanted. I don't know too much about it, but presumably there's a way to get something like a Google Alert if your brand is going to be trademarked, and you can oppose it if you know about it in time: https://www.gerbenlaw.com/blog/filing-a-notice-of-opposition...

If they did demand the domain, see nissan.com. I don't think it necessarily hurts them to demand the domain. Nissan hasn't gotten the domain but they haven't got in trouble for demanding it either. No lawyer has been disbarred over it. ICANN stops short of transferring domains because of trademarks alone, but it isn't with prejudice.

A trademark isn't a domain, but a domain also isn't a trademark. If it were, a lot of YC brands would have been squatted, because plenty of had to settle on not having the .com at first, and many have ended up getting them later.

I wonder what it was like when codeacademy.com got codecademy.com. Perhaps it was something like "Hey, you guys can't use codeacademy.com for much, mind selling it to us for cheap?"

Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#263

Post by grammarnazzzi »

grammarnazzzi wrote: post #248
tomxor wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Are you in the same industry and compete with each other? If so, there might be an issue ... > as I was using the name 7+ years before them with a similar product Sounds like they are, but that the issue is in the reverse, they are trying to steal the authors market and product directly by using their name. This is very aggressive, not to mention wrong.

> If anything I would have thought they should be the ones changing their name, ... No doubt that they did think of that. Instead they decided on intimidation as an opening strategy. > ... as I was using the name 7+ years before them with a similar product So they are guilty of what they are accusing you of. You could: 1) threaten to counter sue and settle for a price, or 2) sell them your .com They've no doubt antic…

Imagine the conversation they had 2 years ago when they registered their .net domain.

Maybe 2 years ago, they were deciding on their corporate identity: maybe ABC, DEF, or GHI, ...

They decided on ABC even though they knew ABC.com wasn't available. THEY KNEW IT, so they took ABC.net instead. They could have made you an offer at that time, but maybe they weren't ready because their business wasn't profitable yet. No point in putting money into something isn't proven valuable yet, right? So they kicked that can down the road; delayed that decision to buy your domain.

So, now they want it, and they're engaging you now. They know they have no more claim on it than they did 2 years go.

Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#264

Post by z3t4 »

tomxor wrote: post #202
Buttons840 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hope to read a follow up post one day about how the end result of this letter is the company who sent the letter loses their trademark and domains.

> the company who sent the letter loses their trademark and domains. That may not be punishment enough to prevent them from becoming a repeat offender. In an ideal world the result would cost the directors the right to start a business for a long period of time. I don't see that as too severe in any light - This is pretty close to fraud: trying to undercut market forces by dishonestly claiming rights to the name of a…

Its unlikely that their lawyers are completely incompetent. For example King trademarked candy then sent a CaD letter to the makers of the original candy game that they had ripped off - and got away with it.

Unless there are more to the story i think the op can just ignore the letter. And step up the SEO so that the other business will have a hard time competing.

There will always be people that try shortcuts to success by committing fraud. And there will always be suckers that will get fooled. The tactic is often to scare - don't fall for it.

Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#265

Post by azth »

Someone1234 wrote: post #12

While 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…

He could transfer the domain to a friend who is not in the US, and then they'd have nothing to stand on :)

Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#266

Post by chrisseaton »

mindslight wrote: post #182
chrisseaton wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of words to justify that you know you’ll likely be impacting someone who did nothing against you.

I'm sure many more words have been written by legal nastygrammers justifying their own actions of unsolicited aggression.

Shouldn't we aim to have better moral standards than them when dealing with third parties?

I'm just absolutely dumfounded that someone is seriously suggesting harassing a wife and children over a business relationship and repeatedly trying to justify it.

Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#267

Post by mindslight »

chrisseaton wrote: post #266
mindslight wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure many more words have been written by legal nastygrammers justifying their own actions of unsolicited aggression.

Shouldn't we aim to have better moral standards than them when dealing with third parties? I'm just absolutely dumfounded that someone is seriously suggesting harassing a wife and children over a business relationship and repeatedly trying to justify it.

In general? Sure. When dealing with hostile unwanted contact? Not particularly.

Nobody here has advocated harassing someone's wife or children. That's a straw man you created.

Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#268

Post by jacknews »

Surely their trademark is invalid if you were already using the name before them, and I think if you registered the domain before they registered the trademark, again their bad luck, you have priority.

Of course you need to get a lawyer if they do sue, but it sounds as though you should be the one suing, demanding they cease and decist, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#269

Post by ev1 »

gambiting wrote: post #207
wyldfire wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you can. But then you'd need to appear... obtw there's serious risk of trying to defend a suit yourself. Maybe the judge would take pity on you and grant a continuance for you to find counsel.

So what would happen if an American company that owns the .net domain sued me, a Polish citizen, who owns a .com domain, for that domain? My contract for the domain is with a Polish provider, surely it would have to go through a Polish court, no?

I'm under the impression that all .com is US jurisdiction, considering that they trivially seize them and VeriSign/the owner of the .com registry is a US company

Re: Ask HN: Own .com for 7 years, a new company trademarked my name registered .NET

#270

Post by bhartzer »

donmcronald wrote: post #212
bhartzer wrote: post #115

You need to speak with a qualified domain name attorney, not just any attorney or solicitor. As Director of a domain name protection company (and not an attorney) I can offer this: If you registered the domain name before the other party files for a trademark, then there is no way you would have known that they would file for the mark. So, in most cases you probably don’t have to give up the domain name. It comes dow…

> If you cannot afford an attorney, look for a company that offers domain name insurance or a domain name warranty, if you have an issue like this with your domain name, your legal fees to defend the domain are covered. I've never heard of that before and all I can find trying to search are sites about the `.insurance` TLD. Anyone got any links to some examples?

DNProtect offers domain name protection plans for exactly this reason. If the OP had domain name protection all the legal fees of defending the name would be covered.
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