*The German company is not a brand in the US but their products are well known under the the domain/product name.
*The domain was transfered to another American hosting company two days ago(May I post the name?).
*There are no incoming links to the domain.
*The Domain is filled with (yah or gog) advertisements atm.
*The American distributor has its own website which is well known, the grabbed domain was redirected to his domain.
Well my question now is if or how we could get that domain cause we want to provide information there for our international English speaking customers.
*Is it likely that the domain will be dropped/deleted by the domain grabber as it is very unlikely the he will have allot of visitors there?
*Should we contact ICANN - is there a change that they'll give us the domain?
*Should we contact a lawyer?
*If there is a change to get the domain, what costs would we have to count with?
Thanks allot ahead for any information and sorry for my rough English.
Greetings
Daniel
Without a US registered trademark, success is far from guaranteed.
He is most unlikely to drop it - especially if he knows you wnt it.
If the domain is worth anything to you, then you can surely see that he will benefit from those same searches.
With the current cost of mainataining a domain, he does not need a lot for it to pay for itself.
You may find it more cost effective to buy a slight variation on the name; widgetcompany; companyusa, whatever - there are millions of options, all much, much, much cheaper than fighting a specialist legal case in another country.
I hate to rub it in, but the lessons here for others are:
1. Own your own domain - never entrust that to a third party.
2. If you operate (or intend to) in a foreign country, always register your trade/service marks as a priority.
Good Luck :)
Ahhw! How I hate these guys!
Daniel
It is important to know that not all domainers are money-grubbing cybersquatters. This person more than likely regsitered the domain without knowing the history.
Try and send them a polite email explaining your situation and see if he is willing to come to some sort of reasonable agreement to transfer the domain to you.
For sure, before I would contact a lawyer, I would try to figure out things peacefully. I'm a big fan of "let's talk about it" solutions.
If we would wave to give away a few bucks that would be OK too but before doing so I want to figure out where we stand. If there is the possibility that the domain is dropped again within a short time cause the owner today (or the owners bot) doesn't see a value in the domain, than giving him the information that it's not just a combination of characters and numbers but a product name could be counter-productive from our perspective.
May I post the registar company or would I violate any WebmasterWorld rules?
Greetings
Daniel
Issues that people have with specific companies are often circumstance specific and, sometimes, subject to debate with the specific company. The more specific the issues the more likely that you would do better to either deal directly with the company or deal privately with legal counsel, etc.
Short answer: Let's not get down to identifying the registrar. We really don't need to know that anyway.
[edited by: Webwork at 1:17 pm (utc) on Oct. 12, 2006]
Trademarks and their protection are anything but black and white and I'll bet it is very possible to get that domain back. Find an attorney and consult, be advised trademarks are always Federal cases and by definition expensive.
I do think it will take an attorney to get you anything even started, if an attorney is not in the picture for you, drop it else it cannot hurt to ask.
[edited by: Jon_King at 1:36 pm (utc) on Oct. 12, 2006]
If there is the possibility that the domain is dropped again within a short time cause the owner today (or the owners bot) doesn't see a value in the domain
Registrars are granted a grace period in which they can register a domain name and cancel the registration within a certain time period and not have to pay for it. There are registrars that do take advantage of this policy to see how much traffic the domain is generating. Although I do believe the grace period is only for a few days.
<edit> to clarify statement
@rocker That is what I'm still hoping for.
The domain became available at the 5th then got registered right away and when dropped registered again at the 9th. So I guess monitoring the domain through internic and if there isn't any change asking politely is the way to go for us.
Greetings
Sebastian
Even if you do not have a registered trademark in the U.S., you can claim an unregistered trademark if you can show that you have been doing business in the U.S. under that mark.
You may still be able to use the the UDRP to get it back under these circumstances. But it will cost over $1000 to initiate the complaint plus whatever legal fees. In short, it may just be cheaper to buy the domain name back.
