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Company wants to steal my brand and domain. What do to?

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Re: Company wants to steal my brand and domain. What do to?

#11

Post by fapjacks »

Even though this sucks, I want to remind you of the story of nissan.com, which is at least one point of data showing that the name oversight organization (I forget their acronym just now) will not bow to pressure, even from enormous, multinational, moneyed corporations with huge brand recognition. I also want to reiterate what the other commenter said about suing. You can't let them operate under your brand name, or that can be used as granting a kind of defacto permission to use the name. I hope things work out for you.

Also, even if you remember the story, visit nissan.com for possibly some useful information for your situation. Good luck!

Re: Company wants to steal my brand and domain. What do to?

#13

Post by vincent_s »

jason_slack wrote: post #7

Do you have any interest in selling the domain and trademark to them? Perhaps you could give them a high number and they might say yes instead of a long legal battle. This is moot, however, if you don't have any interest in selling to them.

This could backfire because it's a strong argument that you're not really interested in using the domain yourself. If you argue that this domain is important for you because of your brand you shouldn't put it up for sale at the same time.

Re: Company wants to steal my brand and domain. What do to?

#15

Post by sharemywin »

under_siege wrote: post #6
sharemywin wrote: post #2

I think you have to sue them. My understanding is if you don't defend it you lose it.

I hope it doesn't come to that. Having that discussion next week with counsel.

I doubt they just go away so whats your business worth? Next question what is it worth to defend it?

Re: Company wants to steal my brand and domain. What do to?

#16

Post by under_siege »

fapjacks wrote: post #11

Even though this sucks, I want to remind you of the story of nissan.com, which is at least one point of data showing that the name oversight organization (I forget their acronym just now) will not bow to pressure, even from enormous, multinational, moneyed corporations with huge brand recognition. I also want to reiterate what the other commenter said about suing. You can't let them operate under your brand name, or…

I did not know about this. Frankly, it's terrifying. It almost makes me want to cry. The prospect of walking into a situation where I have to chose between utter financial ruin and just handing over something I've owned for nearly thirty years is unsettling.

Is there any financial help for these kinds of cases? I can't possibly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending this.

I mean, the only way to even begin to approach it is to sell everything we own and have my wife and three kids live out of a van. And that might not even be enough.

Re: Company wants to steal my brand and domain. What do to?

#17

Post by under_siege »

vincent_s wrote: post #13
jason_slack wrote: post #7

Do you have any interest in selling the domain and trademark to them? Perhaps you could give them a high number and they might say yes instead of a long legal battle. This is moot, however, if you don't have any interest in selling to them.

This could backfire because it's a strong argument that you're not really interested in using the domain yourself. If you argue that this domain is important for you because of your brand you shouldn't put it up for sale at the same time.

I think there are a couple of ways to look at this. Businesses are bought and sold every day on the principle of a mutually agreed upon valuation that is win-win. There's nothing whatsoever wrong with saying "No, what I have is worth a lot more than $200" and communicating a value you might be comfortable with.

In my case I selling my property was never even on my radar until these guys started to hound me. I'm still not interested with the exception of, as I said in another post, the kinds of offers that you just have to consider.

I would imagine a lot of folks on HN have domains registered with the expectation to use them for various projects. If someone came along and offered you $200 for a domain you've owned for a few years you'd probably say no and move on. Maybe you are using the domain to sell ebooks or something and make some money with it every month. If, on the other hand, the offer was for a few tens or hundreds of thousands, it might be a situation that would warrant (or should) consideration. This depends on your circumstances, of course.

In my case the "offer you can't refuse" would have to be in the seven figures range. Because it would be bad business not to consider such an offer. Anything below that is of no interest to me at all. I make over mid six figures a year with my engineering services.

That's very different from a well-funded corporation effectively bullying you and inflicting financial pain to take your domain or property away from you. One is a business transaction where everyone can walk away happy. The other is using force and brutality to, effectively, steal what isn't yours.

Re: Company wants to steal my brand and domain. What do to?

#18

Post by fapjacks »

under_siege wrote: post #16
fapjacks wrote: post #11

Even though this sucks, I want to remind you of the story of nissan.com, which is at least one point of data showing that the name oversight organization (I forget their acronym just now) will not bow to pressure, even from enormous, multinational, moneyed corporations with huge brand recognition. I also want to reiterate what the other commenter said about suing. You can't let them operate under your brand name, or…

I did not know about this. Frankly, it's terrifying. It almost makes me want to cry. The prospect of walking into a situation where I have to chose between utter financial ruin and just handing over something I've owned for nearly thirty years is unsettling. Is there any financial help for these kinds of cases? I can't possibly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending this. I mean, the only way to even begin…

Sorry, IANAL, so maybe this advice is useless. I just spent a little bit doing some research and discovered that EasyDNS has a history of defending their customers from similar sorts of thuggery[0]. It may be worth your while to research an option like this, i.e. switching your DNS service (and domain registration, if they offer it) to EasyDNS or someone that would be willing to help you defend against sociopaths bent on stealing your domain and brand. It seems like now would be the time to research a more defense-oriented domain registrar and DNS provider that won't simply hand your domain over to the person with the most pull, as No-ip.com learned when Microsoft stole their domain. I can't really help you in this regard, but you will definitely want to transfer your domain to a registrar that doesn't have a history of caving to the first lawyer letter they get, which is probably most of them. Perhaps you may find both a name registrar and a DNS provider that will help you. Good luck!

[0] http://blog.easydns.org/2014/08/22/we-are-being-sued-for-ref...

Re: Company wants to steal my brand and domain. What do to?

#19

Post by under_siege »

fapjacks wrote: post #18
under_siege wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not know about this. Frankly, it's terrifying. It almost makes me want to cry. The prospect of walking into a situation where I have to chose between utter financial ruin and just handing over something I've owned for nearly thirty years is unsettling. Is there any financial help for these kinds of cases? I can't possibly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending this. I mean, the only way to even begin…

Sorry, IANAL, so maybe this advice is useless. I just spent a little bit doing some research and discovered that EasyDNS has a history of defending their customers from similar sorts of thuggery[0]. It may be worth your while to research an option like this, i.e. switching your DNS service (and domain registration, if they offer it) to EasyDNS or someone that would be willing to help you defend against sociopaths ben…

That's interesting. I'll research. Thanks.
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