same thing happened to me when I had a *Blaster domain. I backed down, but regretted it since.
Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
31–40 of 44 posts
Re: Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
#32[deleted]
Re: Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
#33Unlike patents, trademarks have to be actively defended to remain valid. My guess is that companies of this size send out letters like these to maintain that they're indeed defending their trademark.
I wouldn't worry about it but still send a reply letting them know why I don't think their trademark applied.
Re: Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
#34I received one of these years ago, ignored it and they never followed up. YMMV.
And this is one of the great things about this community.
Re: Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
#35The really pathetic thing about this is that trademark law requires ebay to protect their rights, so all they need to do, really, ask you to pay them a license fee for infringing on their trademark. This could be just a dollar, and they would have legally protected their rights. Sending a cease and desist is just being assholes.
If they did not. Provide full contact Info, including a mailing address, then this is likely a scam- any law firm is going to give you a way to contact them. If they dont, then what they demand is impossible and thus the notice is not valid.
Around 8 years go i got a c&d from some company that believed they owned the tm on a generic word and claimed my two word domain infringed. Ignored it, still have the domain, no further action, other than some stupid threatening demands from them.
Re: Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
#36[deleted]
Re: Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
#37Thanks for all the replies, I've read them all and have decided I will let the domain expire. I will also do my part to increase the average number of people unhappy customers share their experience with. I look forward to the day that the semantic web will replace our statist legal system.
If you like the domain, don't get bullied into letting it expire. As many have pointed out, the notice itself is just a meaningless action by ebay to frighten you.
Re: Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
#38Most domain registrars will show their own parking page full of ads by default when registering a new domain name. Could there by chance have been eBay ads on the Godaddy parking page for your domain?
If the page didn't resolve at all, it could just be eBay going down the list of domains that end in "bay" and sending out scary letters from people who don't have last names.
I always recommend putting up a one page website with something like "Coming Soon" rather than running the risk of stirring up a company because of the registrar's parking page.
Re: Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
#39Unlike patents, trademarks have to be actively defended to remain valid. My guess is that companies of this size send out letters like these to maintain that they're indeed defending their trademark. I wouldn't worry about it but still send a reply letting them know why I don't think their trademark applied.
I can confirm this - large companies must show effort or risk losing their trademark rights. That doesn't mean they have to take you to court though.
Re: Got a cease-to-exist from eBay for owning a domain with "bay" in it
#40Emails aren't a legitimate form of legal correspondence are they? I would just ignore it.
On the other hand, C&D letters carry no particular weight. It does indicate the seriousness -- if someone is so cheap that they send an email instead of paying the $5 a registered letter costs, they probably can't afford to sue you.