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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

#31

Post by felipemnoa »

jeffool wrote: post #26
dennisgorelik wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I didn't downvote you (I can't), and this is just a guess, but: Your post probably came off as more dismissive than you intended it. I mean, Uzi Nissan (or someone on his behalf) legitimately bought the domain Nissan.com. Five years later, the car company sues him. After the slight, he decides to not budge, and now, twelve years later, "eh, just sell it to them" seems a serious understatement of affairs. "Stubbornnes…

100 million would be OK. 10 million be damned.

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

#34

Post by mjs00 »

jackvalentine wrote: post #30

This has just reminded me I need to put up a splash page with my contact information on my domain, which is myfirstmylast.com Currently there is nothing there, but I use it for email every day - it'd be a shame to lose the domain because it looks like I'm not using it to outsiders.

There's no domain registration requirement for .com (that I'm aware of) for you to have a public web page on a domain.

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

#35

Post by Confusion »

maratd wrote: post #14
joezydeco wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You're suggesting an IP lawyer would take the case on a no-cure, no-pay basis? Why is your HN advice more credible than the Reddit advice? Are you a lawyer? Have you dealt with this situation? Or are you in fact armchair lawyering as much as the Reddit commenters?

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

#36

Post by bambax »

techsupporter wrote: post #29
lacker wrote: post #27

Their initial offer was $150. I said no, that I had put way too much money into it for that low of a price. They came back with $250. Anyone who's bickering about $150 vs $250 to acquire a domain is not a "big corporation". The OP is being bluffed.

I looked around the WIPO site and found an arbitration case that meets the facts the reddit poster claimed. Either he found a WIPO case and decided to make it a huge "AskReddit," or, yes, the OP is going up against a quite large company. (Not linking here in an attempt to preserve privacy.)

Indeed, there is a case that seems to match all elements (domain starting with a w).

If that case is indeed the right one, the complainants have had a trademark on their mark since 1953, and yet they let the domain be first registered in 2005, and then bought by the current owner in 2011.

So, they could either have created the domain before 2005 or buy it between 2005 and 2011, but they chose to go against the current owner in June of this year only.

There should be laws against such carelessness.

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

#37

Post by beedogs »

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?

What amuses me is that the prices are all current, so the site is clearly still being updated... maybe they're going for that "Classic Internet" look.

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

#38

Post by DaveChild »

I have some experience of a similar situation, having at one point run a web dev blog at ilovejackdaniels.com, before the JD legal team contacted me ... and I'm on a new domain now.

The problem, as explained to me by a lawyer (I am not a lawyer, so don't go taking this as legal advice, as I'm paraphrasing what I was told), is that legal departments for really big corporations just care about winning. It doesn't really matter whether they are in the right or not. What's going to make it difficult for you is that they have a huge amount of resources that you don't.

It sounds in your case like they have no actual case for cybersquatting or similar. But that doesn't mean they won't sue you. And if you can't afford to be sued, then that's an automatic win for them.

You also need to evaluate what level of stress and trouble you're prepared to go to to protect the domain. It may suck, but there will be a point at which it would be better for your sanity and your health to let them have the domain and get as much as you can out of them for it.

If I were in your shoes (and I was) I would first visit a lawyer. Get some proper advice.

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

#39

Post by lsc »

lacker wrote: post #27

Their initial offer was $150. I said no, that I had put way too much money into it for that low of a price. They came back with $250. Anyone who's bickering about $150 vs $250 to acquire a domain is not a "big corporation". The OP is being bluffed.

this was my thought as well. but others seem to disagree; my reddit comment to that effect was voted down, and others here seem to have looked up the actual case and think it's legit.

Why would a serious law department make an offer that domain squatters regularly turn down when selling obscure domains to nobodies like me? I tried to buy prgmr.net and prgrmr.com (note the extra 'r') from the squatters that had them; I offered $300 a pop, but they wouldn't budge from three grand. (they can keep 'em if they think they can get three grand of value out of them. What do the economists say? the highest value use? They aren't worth two new servers to me, that's for sure.)

It sounded like a grand or two would have made the guy happy, and it sounds like the company in question has already sunk several times that into legal fees. Are serious companies really that irrational?

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