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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

#91

Post by ISL »

nicbou wrote: post #55
prepend wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t question your motives in this instance, but I always pay extra attention when someone’s advice is to hire them or someone like them. Obviously, “hire a lawyer,” is sometimes right. But if I hired a lawyer every time I was told to, I would be out hundreds of hours of billing fees. Anecdotally, I’ve never fucked anything up royally. That doesn’t mean that I made the right decision, but is something I strive for…

In my experience, a lawyer will also nudge you towards whichever course involves keeping a lawyer involved. They'll never tell you "if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't keep going".

It is essential to ask around for recommendations -- there are some great lawyers out there. When you need a good one, you may find yourself suddenly-surprised and grateful to be paying their (substantial) hourly rate.

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

#92

Post by zbuf »

laurent123456 wrote: post #77
otterley wrote: post #21

Every answer in this thread is wrong except for "hire an attorney and work with them to figure out what the best option for you is." Do not follow any "free legal advice" from HN -- and I'm speaking as an actual licensed attorney.

I don't know what's so special about law that it can never been discussed in any forum. You can certainly ask about other people's previous experience, possible advice or recommendations. For example for certain legal issues there are government websites that can help, etc. Saying "hire an attorney", as if it was no big deal to directly spend thousands without first asking around, is a bit strange.

It also incorrectly assumes the purpose of a forum (this and many others) is to simply find the answer to the person's question.

For as long as people enjoy reading, writing and discussing, the only important thing is that readers can distinguish between "legal advice" and something some random person said on the internet.

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

#93

Post by maccard »

nicbou wrote: post #55
prepend wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t question your motives in this instance, but I always pay extra attention when someone’s advice is to hire them or someone like them. Obviously, “hire a lawyer,” is sometimes right. But if I hired a lawyer every time I was told to, I would be out hundreds of hours of billing fees. Anecdotally, I’ve never fucked anything up royally. That doesn’t mean that I made the right decision, but is something I strive for…

In my experience, a lawyer will also nudge you towards whichever course involves keeping a lawyer involved. They'll never tell you "if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't keep going".

Ive had three legal advice experiences - two with work and one personal. The employer ones were both straightforward about whether or not we should do something, and they did not encourage us to keep returning to them on the issue, and the personal one the guy gave me a 30 minute phone call, advised me that if I wanted to formally pursue the matter I would need to engage his services at £200/hour, however his unofficial legal advice was to just proceed and not bother.

As another anecdote, my experience with developers is that developers will repeatedly tell you that the software isn't complete and requires extra attention to keep it running and to maintain it, and that it needs extra time for refactoring, despite it functioning correctly right now...

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

#94

Post by sebow »

harryvederci wrote: post #33

General 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?

I agree about the country point.However i am curious whether having the [Company Name] registered properly [Ltd, Co., s.r.o, s.r.l, etc] is an actual argument for having the "right" to a domain name.Common sense tells me it's not,in the same country or between countries, unless obviously the person who has the company name impersonates that company.

Why would one need to legally own that domain name as a company name to keep the domain? Makes no sense to me

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

#95

Post by pxx »

nicbou wrote: post #55
prepend wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t question your motives in this instance, but I always pay extra attention when someone’s advice is to hire them or someone like them. Obviously, “hire a lawyer,” is sometimes right. But if I hired a lawyer every time I was told to, I would be out hundreds of hours of billing fees. Anecdotally, I’ve never fucked anything up royally. That doesn’t mean that I made the right decision, but is something I strive for…

In my experience, a lawyer will also nudge you towards whichever course involves keeping a lawyer involved. They'll never tell you "if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't keep going".

Since your comment is categorical, I'd like to chime in with a counterexample. I've gone in for a consult and gotten "you've already pretty much done everything I would. I can charge you $2000 for the rest but you probably wouldn't want to do this seeing that you already have done all of the work."

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

#96

Post by ransom1538 »

dtech wrote: post #84
ransom1538 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do not respond to the letter. Do not engage. Do not alter your website. Do not hire a lawyer. The fastest way to enter into a legal battle is to hire an attorney and start engaging.

Seems like an excellent way to lose your domain in a default judgement

"Strictly speaking, a cease and desist letter is not legally binding because the recipient can choose to ignore it. However, it is a valid legal document that establishes a precedent of a plaintiff's grievance. Usually, the letter sets a time limit for the recipient to comply with the request to desist from the offending action — or deliver an appropriate response if they believe the letter was sent in error."

Take the letter. Delete it. Engaging is the fastest way to lose the domain. Their Lawyers want you to engage and start making written statements. Don't.

"Seems like an excellent way to lose your domain in a default judgement"

Lol. Don't ignore legal paperwork or court dates, which this isn't.

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

#97

Post by ISL »

rvba wrote: post #78
otterley wrote: post #21

Every answer in this thread is wrong except for "hire an attorney and work with them to figure out what the best option for you is." Do not follow any "free legal advice" from HN -- and I'm speaking as an actual licensed attorney.

People tell to hire a lawyer, yet at same time hundreds of programmers copy snippets of code they dont understand, or use libraries unaudited by anyone

Sometimes doing so yields an RCE, dealing substantial damage to both a company and its counterparties.

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

#98

Post by gitfan86 »

otterley wrote: post #80
gitfan86 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't that simple. The burden of proof and the cost of filing suit is entirely on the people who own the .net domain. You can't lose a domain based off of a threatening email. I have received threaten letters before and have responded with "I dispute these claims. Please do not contact me again in any manner" and I never heard from them again. I don't know enough about the company sending the threatening letter he…

> You can't lose a domain based off of a threatening email. Indeed, but if you take no action at all, the opposing counsel does take action, and you don't contest the action, then the default outcome could be a forced transfer of the domain.

So you agree that he doesn't need a lawyer at this junction. But if a lawsuit is filled, he will need to respond and request that the case be dismissed. Using a lawyer for that step isn't a bad idea.

They are going to have a hard time finding a case that set a precedent that you can take over another company's website because you registered a similar company 5 years later. Lookup nissan.com

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

#99

Post by jonp888 »

harryvederci wrote: post #33

General 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.
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