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I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

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Re: I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

#11

Post by joezydeco »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #6

The only mistake he made was asking Reddit instead of a lawyer who specializes in dealing with boneheaded corporate maneuvers. Otherwise, I wish him luck.

Why was asking Reddit a mistake?

Put yourself in the OP's shoes. You're a college student and you get a notice like this handed to you. It's not like you have an IP lawyer on retainer or cash to run out and hire one instantly.

In fact, one helpful redditor pointed out that his college might have a law school that would be willing to help with his case as a teaching exercise. I bet the OP knew nothing about that, and that's worth the price of visiting reddit alone.

Re: I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

#12

Post by dennisgorelik »

jeffool wrote: post #9
[deleted] wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

Visit the site; it's owned by a small family-owned computer retailer, and always has been. It's kinda awesome, really, that they've been able to keep it.

What is awesome about it? Why wouldn't they sell it for, say $1M?

Everyone would benefit: current domain owner and Nissan Motors.

Re: I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

#13

Post by ricksta »

veyron wrote: post #3

Every time I see a story like this, I think about http://nissan.com/

how did they have so much money to fight the cases against nissan? Their website seems like it was stuck in 1998. Why didn't they try to sell it to nissan motors for like a mill or something?

Re: I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

#14

Post by maratd »

joezydeco wrote: post #11
DiabloD3 wrote: post #6

The only mistake he made was asking Reddit instead of a lawyer who specializes in dealing with boneheaded corporate maneuvers. Otherwise, I wish him luck.

Why was asking Reddit a mistake? Put yourself in the OP's shoes. You're a college student and you get a notice like this handed to you. It's not like you have an IP lawyer on retainer or cash to run out and hire one instantly. In fact, one helpful redditor pointed out that his college might have a law school that would be willing to help with his case as a teaching exercise. I bet the OP knew nothing about that, and…

Simple. It was a mistake because it looks like the kid would accept the offer if it was larger. Go to an IP lawyer and watch dollar signs pop out of their eyes. In a case like this, they'll assist with negotiating a fair price on contingency. If the kid really doesn't want to sell, he can go to EFF or get a lawyer to do this pro-bono. They love this sort of David vs Goliath stuff.

Re: I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

#15

Post by tomcam »

This site may provide some help. They sold licensed fabric items on eBay that contained Disney characters. Repeat, licensed. Disney tried to take them down using DMCA and other strongarm tactics. They won against Disney using DIY techniques--no lawyers involved! I know it's not the same situation but you would be well advised to visit their site at http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/Articles/Tabberone/Fight...

Re: I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

#16

Post by sbov »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #12
jeffool wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Visit the site; it's owned by a small family-owned computer retailer, and always has been. It's kinda awesome, really, that they've been able to keep it.

What is awesome about it? Why wouldn't they sell it for, say $1M? Everyone would benefit: current domain owner and Nissan Motors.

http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php

Using simple math Nissan Computers had to spend 2.9 million defending themselves and got recuped 2% of that. $1 million wouldn't even cover the rest of their court costs. Nissan Motors doesn't deserve to benefit from nissan.com in any way. And personally I won't consider a Nissan product ever again.

Re: I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

#18

Post by veyron »

ricksta wrote: post #13
veyron wrote: post #3

Every time I see a story like this, I think about http://nissan.com/

how did they have so much money to fight the cases against nissan? Their website seems like it was stuck in 1998. Why didn't they try to sell it to nissan motors for like a mill or something?

They've been taking donations http://www.digest.com/Donations.php

I would guess that nissan motors didnt actually want to shell out 1M to buy the name. They probably offered a paltry sum, which Uzi rejected, and then tried pulling a digital version of Eminent Domain. If everyone knew how long and how expensive the proposition would be, I'm sure Nissan Motors would have preferred to just have paid a million for the domain

Re: I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

#19

Post by dennisgorelik »

sbov wrote: post #16
dennisgorelik wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is awesome about it? Why wouldn't they sell it for, say $1M? Everyone would benefit: current domain owner and Nissan Motors.

http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php Using simple math Nissan Computers had to spend 2.9 million defending themselves and got recuped 2% of that. $1 million wouldn't even cover the rest of their court costs. Nissan Motors doesn't deserve to benefit from nissan.com in any way. And personally I won't consider a Nissan product ever again.

Then the price tag for nissan.com should be around $10M.

Do you think Nissan Motors is not willing to pay that?

Nissan Motors has more customers than Nissan Computer has. That does not mean that Nissan Motors deserves nissan.com more, but that means that there is a price tag which is beneficial for both these companies.

Most likely both of them are too stubborn to benefit from that transaction.

Edit: why the downvoting?

Re: I own a domain that a big corporation wants to sue me into acquiring. Help

#20

Post by veyron »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #19
sbov wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.digest.com/Big_Story.php Using simple math Nissan Computers had to spend 2.9 million defending themselves and got recuped 2% of that. $1 million wouldn't even cover the rest of their court costs. Nissan Motors doesn't deserve to benefit from nissan.com in any way. And personally I won't consider a Nissan product ever again.

Then the price tag for nissan.com should be around $10M. Do you think Nissan Motors is not willing to pay that? Nissan Motors has more customers than Nissan Computer has. That does not mean that Nissan Motors deserves nissan.com more, but that means that there is a price tag which is beneficial for both these companies. Most likely both of them are too stubborn to benefit from that transaction. Edit: why the downvoti…

At this point:

there's enough vested interest in seeing Uzi Nissan win that he wouldn't step down (and yes I donated some of my AllAdvantage revenue to the cause)

And Nissan Motors can't be too happy that nissan.com criticizes the motor company.

The FU price point now is probably much higher than 10M. But another interesting thing happened: auto companies started adding to the domains. For example, bmw uses bmwusa.com and mercedes benz uses mbusa.com, so a lot of people expect the nissan motors website is nissanusa.com

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