Cybersquatting problem

[ChrisBolton]

First of all, I have no problem with buying and sitting on Domain Names and making a tidy profit, it is something I have done myself for quite a few years now.

I do though, draw the line a buying trademarked names or anything that can get me into trouble. It's just not worth the hassle. If the rightful owner wants it back, the law is on their side (unless the owner has 'some' right to the domain), right?

Well, a client of mine is trying to get hold of [hisname].com. He is very well known in his field. I have had a look at the domain name and it's currently sitting on a GoDaddy holding page with the keywords set to match his profession. The current owner said the keywords were set by GoDaddy and not himself. I find this hard to believe as the domain name is someones name, they would have to know the industry to know the link.

The registered owner is using DomainsByproxy to hide their identity which assures me that he knows that they are breaking some rules by profiting by impersonation.

We sent an email to the DomainsByProxy email in the whois, and the owner pretty much told me to get lost. We tried to contact both GoDaddy and DomainsByProxy with no luck, they don't want to talk to us at all.

I did a who-is search on the domain name we got the reply from. I got the guys name and searched his name in Google. He has been on the losing end of quite a few trademark disputes.

Now my client wants to get his lawyers involved, this is really important to him. What should we do next? There is no point in getting his details from DomainsByProxy as all of his domains are registered to a number of different PO BOX's across the US.

Should we just try and sort it through the host? I understand some domain traders don't like to help someone talking about cease and desists etc but this guy is just straight up breaking the rules and unwilling to communicate.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards.
Chris.

[buckworks]

You need to consult a lawyer who is knowledgeable about domain disputes and can examine the details of the case. That's the primary advice we can give in this forum.

In reference to [hisname].com, is your client's name actually registered as a trademark?

[bwnbwn]

Is his name Trademarked? If not there isn't much you can do other than be as polite as possible and buy the domain from him.

Figure the expense of a couple lawyers lets say 10 hours so a total of 20 hours at 500.00 and hour = 10k and make an offfer to him for 1.5k as your starting offer.

Godaddy parked pages are the same as Google ads and it is a javascript that pulls the displaying ads and not something you can set.
Say his name was "hotdogs" the ads would be dispalyed something to do with "hotdogs", if his name was "ocean" the ads would be about ocean stuff.

Approach him/her with some respect and work to make the deal and not make it harder than it needs to be.

I am pretty sure this is a professional domainer as he/she wouldn't be using Godaddy ads as Godaddy gets the Lions share of the profit.

Be respectiful and approach it with a business sense and you will be much happier.

Trying to bully someone that has a legal right to the domain only leads to more problems.

Let us know how it unfolds.

[kaled]

If your client is some sort of minor celebrity and the squatter refuses to be reasonable, then ignore him and take it straight to the registrar via the courts. There are plenty of precedents out there so the decision should go your way at which point the registrar will have no choice but to transfer the domain.

If you are not a lawyer yourself, other than finding someone suitable (and possibly acting as a translator of technobabble) there's not much you can do directly.

Kaled.

[callivert]

A trademark doesn't have to be registered with the trademark office to be legally valid. If someone's name is a brand (ie they trade on their reputation to do business), then it's potentially a trademark.
(therefore, consult an attorney, etc).

[ChrisBolton]

Thanks for all the great advice.

My client is a well known sports person with a pretty rare name. There are hundreds of articles about him on the web, and lots of videos of him on YouTube.

<snip>

I think our lawyers wants to go down the route Kaled talks about, to the registrar via the courts.

bwnbwn, you said that GoDaddy ads are like Google ads. This is surley not possible as his name has nothing to do with his profession, but ALL of the ads on the page match his profession exactly. Someone must have set the keywords, and I'm sure GoDaddy would not get involved with something like that for legal reasons, they have a lot more to lose.

Thanks everyone.
Chris.

[edited by: engine at 10:30 am (utc) on June 10, 2009]
[edit reason] No specifics, thanks [/edit]

[kaled]

I'm not familiar with GoDaddy ads, however, if a name is associated with a sport, it is entirely possible that the advert system is aware of the association and automatically shows relevant sports-related ads. Alternatively, if you check the source code, there may be some customisation (i.e. keywords, etc.) or maybe such information is stored elsewhere. In any case, it is of little consequence.

I'm not a lawyer (and I live in the UK) but legally, the first move could be to apply for an injunction freezing the ad revenue. If you get that, the guy is likely to roll over.

Kaled.