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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

#61

Post by lemma »

cookiecaper wrote: post #28
lemma wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on the same boat. In my case, I even attempted to contact using the "make an offer" form and never received a reply. Strange way to do business.

I would never do that. Domain squatters squat just waiting for someone to come around and ask for the domain, that's why they buy them in the first place, and then they try to sell at exorbitant rates ($15k-$20k in my experience). Doubtless some companies pay that, which makes squatting profitable. If you express interest in a domain name, the squatter knows they should renew it forever because at some point when you…

I agree with you, but I did wait around a decade or so before I just got curious one day. It's a fairly uncommon last name and the domain would just be for personal use. Oh well.

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

#62

Post by rickdale »

I had a similar experience with Catepillar. They wanted to buy a domain I owned for over 10 years, but was just parked at the time. They offered me $1000 for the domain, I vehemently told them no. They threatened to sue me and we settled before they took action at $5,000. I always thought the domain was worth more, but at least its being used for something now.

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

#63

Post by nknight »

0x12 wrote: post #41
techsupporter wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

How can you preserve privacy of something posted to reddit?

At the moment, he's chosen not to reveal his name, his domain, or the company in question.

I think it's silly, publicity can only help him in a case like this, but we don't get to make that choice for him.

That said, he'd be doing everyone a public service by naming the company. Judging by the WIPO case (which I also found), they're quite inept and shouldn't be trusted with anything more complicated than lincoln logs.

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

#64

Post by ajkessler »

Kudos wrote: post #54
ajkessler wrote: post #23

Ugh, it hurts to read this kind of advice. Sue! Punitive damages! You can get costs! (btw, you probably can't get punitive damages, at least from the little info you've provided, and costs =/= attorney fees) The best advice in that thread was to seek out on-campus legal aid. At the law school I went to, there were clinics that dealt specifically with entrepreneurship and IP. Look around, I'm sure other schools run si…

I think the best advice he got was to contact the EFF, who are getting together a list of lawyers who will help him pro bono.

Didn't see that advice, and don't know much about EFF, but yes, anything that puts him in touch with a lawyer who actually knows what he's doing is good advice.

I might also note that when hiring an attorney, you want to shop around, even if you're getting pro bono work. Check references and ask around (you can ask the lawyers you're interviewing about the other lawyers you've interviewed). Don't just settle on the first guy you come across that has a diploma hanging on his wall.

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

#65

Post by Kudos »

ajkessler wrote: post #64
Kudos wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the best advice he got was to contact the EFF, who are getting together a list of lawyers who will help him pro bono.

Didn't see that advice, and don't know much about EFF, but yes, anything that puts him in touch with a lawyer who actually knows what he's doing is good advice. I might also note that when hiring an attorney, you want to shop around, even if you're getting pro bono work. Check references and ask around (you can ask the lawyers you're interviewing about the other lawyers you've interviewed). Don't just settle on the f…

It's been auto-collapsed somewhere in the thread, direct link to the particular comment tree: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyde9/i_own_a_dom...

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

#66

Post by danssig »

veyron wrote: post #20
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…

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.co…

I suspect bmw and benz put a "usa" at the end of their name for their US branches since they're German companies that probably sell more cars in Europe (total out-of-thin-air guess).

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

#67

Post by maratd »

Confusion wrote: post #35
maratd wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I asked my wife, who is an IP lawyer. That was her advice. Of course, you would expect a lawyer to recommend to see another lawyer, but in this case, it makes sense since there's $$$ involved.

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

#68

Post by fizx »

DaveChild wrote: post #59
atirip wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry of asking, but what's wrong in the US when you go to the court alone, without the lawyer? I'm asking because I live in Europe, I did that in civil case and I did won. Actually judge in the end of the first day advised me to hire a lawyer, I said I cannot afford that and then government pointed one to me. In this case there's obviously no cybersquatting, so what's the excuse not going alone?

The risk is that it's not just the domain name at stake. A lost court case can result in an order to pay the opposition's costs. For a large legal team, that can be expensive.

Wouldn't it be sensible for the law to be that the loser has to pay the lesser of the two legal team's costs?

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

#69

Post by DaveChild »

fizx wrote: post #68
DaveChild wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The risk is that it's not just the domain name at stake. A lost court case can result in an order to pay the opposition's costs. For a large legal team, that can be expensive.

Wouldn't it be sensible for the law to be that the loser has to pay the lesser of the two legal team's costs?

I don't think so, no. Why should a person or company be financially punished for doing nothing wrong? Your suggestion means that if you are sued and pay for a decent lawyer to defend you, but your opponent pays someone dirt cheap (or no-win, no-fee), and then you win, you will be out of pocket for your own defence.

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

#70

Post by geegee »

flexd wrote: post #51
sudonim wrote: post #21

On the converse of this, someone has been cybersquatting my last name for about 10 years. Any advice on how to get it? Details: I own the .co.uk version, but not the .com. My dad has had a company registered (not in the US) with the name in it. The cybersquatter seems to have squatted a bunch of dutch last names and isn't associated with the name at all.

I'm in a similar boat. A Norwegian name squatting company holds a bunch of last name domains not really using them for anything besides linking to their site "so everyone with that last name will be able to use it". The problem is the they want like a dollar per month to give you one email address. I'm well aware that is not much but it's annoying that they claim to do this to "share the wealth" of that domain name w…

If this is the company I think it is, then they took my last name as well. They're legitimately using it, even if you may not like the use. I got around it by using the .me extension instead. You can always pick one of those others instead of .com.
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