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Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

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Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#31

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

Funny story.

I have three domains (.com, .org, and .net) of my [first initial][last name][.tld]. Have had them for a long time.

A defense law firm in Australia, set up a domain, with [first initial][last name].com.au

I used to get regular emails, with terrifyingly personal stuff in them. Many of these emails came from Australian government/court orgs. They probably could have been sued into the mantle for some of the stuff (like juvenile criminal proceedings), that got sent to some random Yank in New York.

I was always careful to forward everything I got to the lawyers, along with contacting the courts, and letting them know their mistake.

In a couple of instances, I was thanked. In most, I was ignored.

No one ever tried the barratry route with me. I actually probably would have sold them my domains at cost, if they had asked, but they never did.

I haven't gotten one of those emails in years. I have no idea why.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#32

Post by nubinetwork »

anonzzzies wrote: post #25
nubinetwork wrote: post #10

> I already know of two companies in different countries which have the very same name as I occasionally receive emails written to them on my catch-all email address If they ever decide to do business in your country, expect them to want their name. They will probably take you and your registrar to court, but in the end, they will have to pay you for the name. Domains don't cost a lot, but I would just take what they…

‘Their name’ If it’s your family name, what can they do but bleed you in legal costs? It depends on the country maybe, but I would not part with that domain in my country if it’s my family name and registered ages ago (clearly not to try to blackmail that company). Not sure anyone should. Horrible advice.

Why spend the money defending a $5 domain name, especially when you're not making any money by having it?

It's just a name, and if you're not a registered company, you're going to be seen as a squatter no matter what.

All I'm suggesting is to be prepared to have the domain ownership contested and have a backup if you have to change domains.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#33

Post by nuclearnice1 »

nubinetwork wrote: post #32
anonzzzies wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

‘Their name’ If it’s your family name, what can they do but bleed you in legal costs? It depends on the country maybe, but I would not part with that domain in my country if it’s my family name and registered ages ago (clearly not to try to blackmail that company). Not sure anyone should. Horrible advice.

Why spend the money defending a $5 domain name, especially when you're not making any money by having it? It's just a name, and if you're not a registered company, you're going to be seen as a squatter no matter what. All I'm suggesting is to be prepared to have the domain ownership contested and have a backup if you have to change domains.

Was it $5? I had the impression the OP paid more.

> I spent like a year or so to save up for it, which cost roughly 6 months of average net salaries in my country about 7 years ago.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#34

Post by nubinetwork »

Tade0 wrote: post #21
dutchbrit wrote: post #4

You should be fine. See nissan.com as an example. You aren't a domain squatter and even they barely have issues.

To add to this: Mr. Nissan passed away in 2020 and yet the site is still up.

Expiry date is in 2029, if he passed on, they'll have to talk to the estate. It's also possible they don't know he died.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#35

Post by Hikikomori »

codetrotter wrote: post #12
panki27 wrote: post #5

See also https://gail.com/

> There are only two valid e-mail addresses on the gail.com domain, so it is extremely likely that your photos were rejected by my e-mail provider and deleted. > […] > If you have a question not answered above, feel free to send it to: faq at gail period com. Thanks for visiting. Now I wonder what the other address is. Probably gail@ or mail@. Actually the last one rhymes, I hope she uses that.

Probably snail.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#36

Post by nubinetwork »

nuclearnice1 wrote: post #33
nubinetwork wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why spend the money defending a $5 domain name, especially when you're not making any money by having it? It's just a name, and if you're not a registered company, you're going to be seen as a squatter no matter what. All I'm suggesting is to be prepared to have the domain ownership contested and have a backup if you have to change domains.

Was it $5? I had the impression the OP paid more. > I spent like a year or so to save up for it, which cost roughly 6 months of average net salaries in my country about 7 years ago.

They picked a bad registrar for a .com then, because they're dirt cheap.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#37

Post by oblio »

ceejayoz wrote: post #15
dutchbrit wrote: post #4

You should be fine. See nissan.com as an example. You aren't a domain squatter and even they barely have issues.

https://jalopnik.com/uzi-nissan-spent-8-years-fighting-the-c... > At the time, it didn’t seem like the start of an all-consuming legal battle, a David vs. Goliath fight that took nearly 10 years and cost the small business owner millions of dollars—to say nothing of the incalculable toll on his personal life. Not exactly a great example of “fine”.

He was someone with several millions of dollars to burn and apparently not a lot of business sense.

He could have just sold the domain for a ton of money and had Nissan give him uzi.nissan.com in perpetuity, for example.

I mean, I'm all for freedom and all, but being smart about things is also a solid guiding principle.

Edit:

Ah, he agreed at some point:

> “Who the hell wants to buy a computer from a company that’s in a lawsuit with a giant like Nissan Motor?” he said. “I would have let it go first day if I knew what I would have to go through, and what it would do to me and my family,” Uzi told Jalopnik. “I was driven 99.9 percent out of business.”

> “Court proceedings were going every week,” he added. “I had to read hundreds of pages of proceedings and make sure they are correct. The best attorneys will make mistakes. You know your story more than anybody else. And then you don’t have time for anything else.”

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#38

Post by valenterry »

nubinetwork wrote: post #36
nuclearnice1 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it $5? I had the impression the OP paid more. > I spent like a year or so to save up for it, which cost roughly 6 months of average net salaries in my country about 7 years ago.

They picked a bad registrar for a .com then, because they're dirt cheap.

They probably bought it from someone as it wasn't free at the time.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#39

Post by cr3ative »

nubinetwork wrote: post #17
somehnguy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your advice in how to protect their domain name is be willing to sell it and don’t bother putting up a fight…?

When it comes to registered trademarks, yes. I can't call myself Coke or Pepsi either. Don't confront them to offer them anything, let them come to you.

They've clearly stated it's a name. You can't make a company, copyright a name, and then attempt to claim all rights to it. See gail.com, nissan.com above.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#40

Post by anonzzzies »

nubinetwork wrote: post #32
anonzzzies wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

‘Their name’ If it’s your family name, what can they do but bleed you in legal costs? It depends on the country maybe, but I would not part with that domain in my country if it’s my family name and registered ages ago (clearly not to try to blackmail that company). Not sure anyone should. Horrible advice.

Why spend the money defending a $5 domain name, especially when you're not making any money by having it? It's just a name, and if you're not a registered company, you're going to be seen as a squatter no matter what. All I'm suggesting is to be prepared to have the domain ownership contested and have a backup if you have to change domains.

> All I'm suggesting

Not really, you are stating, matter of factly, that the big evil corp will own it and you are basically screwed. This is not true (in places I know, but might differ somewhere) if it’s not squatting and it’s actually your family name. It’s beyond reasonable.

Also, I find this capitalist overlord cynicism really quite annoying. I would help OP with legal fees to prevent this from happening. Just laying down and get pummelled just because it’s a big corp should not be the default.

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