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How we got the Hall.com domain

blog.hall.com

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Re: How we got the Hall.com domain

#41

Post by larrys »

bretthellman wrote: post #31
AznHisoka wrote: post #30

"Hall" has been trademarked. What make you so confident the owners of those trademarks couldn't take action against you, and leave it up to half-chance that it could be taken away from you (even though you may not have infringed against it)?

Because we filed the trademark

Edit: You didn't say you had the trademark not implying that you did.

You have a 1b intent to use application not a registered trademark

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/jumpto?f=doc&state=4010:55oou...

That being said obviously the trademark app is needed. But the fact that you are using the domain name and that there are actually multiple trademarks for "hall" and that it's a common term is the thing that offers the real protection here from predators.

Your attorney should have not filed this as a 1b though. It will take longer to get the trademark issued.

They should have advised you to simply use even a site mockup or beta site to create a screen grab for the application. (I have 21 registered trademarks).

Re: How we got the Hall.com domain

#42

Post by pg_bot »

While I see the benefits of having a short one word domain, I think it is more important to allocate your resources on talent or marketing. While a name won't make or break a company, having a poor product and running out of money will. If you are willing to search for a while you can still find good domains out there. (This is from the perspective of someone who is bootstrapping with less than half the capital of what you guys spent on your domain)

Re: How we got the Hall.com domain

#43

Post by delinka »

bethling wrote: post #37
benvanderbeek wrote: post #22

Everyone besides me probably already knew, but "Wall has been trademarked by Facebook" ? Wow.

I was surprised that they list 32665 with their trademarks (I had to search to figure out that was the FBOOK SMS short code). Can you trademark a number? I thought that's why Intel ended up with the "Pentium" instead of "586".

You can claim trademark on anything you like. You can threaten legal action over the claimed mark. You can start litigation over the claimed mark. These facts do not mean you have grounds to win.

Registering a mark gives you better protection and drastically increases your odds of winning against an alleged infringer. Registering numbers, AFAIK, still is not allowed.

Re: How we got the Hall.com domain

#45

Post by smackfu »

GiraffeNecktie wrote: post #18

Over the years, I've had plenty of offers for my three letter cool sounding word .com domain, unfortunately most have been in that "insult" category. I wouldn't call $20k an insult but at ten percent of my asking price I'm not sure I'd bother responding.

Did you just buy it in 1998 or something and keep renewing it?

Re: How we got the Hall.com domain

#46

Post by bethling »

delinka wrote: post #43
bethling wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was surprised that they list 32665 with their trademarks (I had to search to figure out that was the FBOOK SMS short code). Can you trademark a number? I thought that's why Intel ended up with the "Pentium" instead of "586".

You can claim trademark on anything you like. You can threaten legal action over the claimed mark. You can start litigation over the claimed mark. These facts do not mean you have grounds to win. Registering a mark gives you better protection and drastically increases your odds of winning against an alleged infringer. Registering numbers, AFAIK, still is not allowed.

Ahh.. okay. For some reason the claimed vs. registered didn't click here for me. Thanks - that makes sense to me.

Re: How we got the Hall.com domain

#48

Post by timc »

larrys wrote: post #7

"We started the conversation by offering a fair price to show we were serious. We didn’t want to get ignored by starting with a low, insulting offer. After a few emails negotiating a price, we struck a deal for $20k. No equity, just cash exchanged with escrow.com." This is my business (since '96). You did a great job and bought the name for a very fair price. If you would post the contents of the emails you sent I wo…

larrys what is best way to reach you?

Re: How we got the Hall.com domain

#50

Post by GiraffeNecktie »

smackfu wrote: post #45
GiraffeNecktie wrote: post #18

Over the years, I've had plenty of offers for my three letter cool sounding word .com domain, unfortunately most have been in that "insult" category. I wouldn't call $20k an insult but at ten percent of my asking price I'm not sure I'd bother responding.

Did you just buy it in 1998 or something and keep renewing it?

Yes, actually I think it might even have been 95 or 96.
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