Domain name bought to make money

[Bundles]

Hi
I'm about to purchase a business. It has been going for 10 years and the owner has had it for 6 years. They have their own site which is .net. I am refreshing the business and wanted to go for .co.uk but found out someone else owns the domain name.
I contacted the person who owns it and they actually live 2 miles away from the owner of the business I am buying. Coincidence?...No! The person who owns the name is in the exact same line of work and told me they bought the name 5 years ago as a business move incase someone would want to buy it. There business name is completely different by the way.
I asked how much to buy and it was a silly amount of money. I decided to go for .com instead.

The question i have is there anyway for me to get the domain name which this person owns?
If I trademark my name (not sure how to do) would the person have to give up the domain name because they are in the same line of work as me.
I hear that UDRP rules are that the registrar cant use the name in bad faith which surely they are doing?

All help and answers are appreciated.

[topr8]

>>If I trademark my name

no because they owned it before the trade mark was taken out
(this is not a legal opinion)

[Webwork]

Hello Bundles. Welcome to WebmasterWorld.

Please read the Domain Forum Charter, [webmasterworld.com] with specific reference to the section entitled ~"Legal and Trademark Issues", before taking this discussion any further.

[Bundles]

hi thanks will check out now

They didnt own the name of the business first though.

The previous owner set up the business and then the rival business bought the name.

[kaled]

Make the guy an offer that you would be comfortable with and include a few quotes from UDRP guidelines with respect to bad faith. The chances are, this guy thought he was being clever but didn't know he was braking the rules. If you offer to pay his costs to date plus a bit extra so that he's making a profit, if he's basically an honest guy, he'll probably accept.

Kaled.

[Bundles]

Hi there.

I made him offer of £40 which I think is more than reasonable considering it cost £20 for the .com domain.

He was rude on the phone and wanted £100. I really cant bring myself to give him any money now.

[kaled]

Over five years, he will probably have spent more than £20 including renewals. Frankly, if you want the domain name, £100 is not unreasonable, but make sure you handle the transfer properly. Also, if you offer £70 he may accept £80.

Kaled.

[HuskyPup]

£100?...Give it, get it and run fast, I charge more than that an hour!

[trader]

We cannot discuss trademark legal issues here but can discuss other subjects.

Unless I read the original thread wrong you were trying to buy the .net name which is the developed site of the business. In the thread you indicated since the .net price was too high you "decided to go for .com instead." That indicates to me you hand reg'd the .com - which was at least to me surprisingly unregistered. If that is accurate I don't understand the problem because the .com almost always is far more valuable than the .net and you will also get free spill-over traffic from the .net site. Please correct me if there is a misunderstanding.

[TheMadScientist]

You're talking about a nothing price. He can say he bought the domain to make money, but, think about the 5yr ROI after expenses... Besides isn't it cheaper to just pay the guy than to try and take it away?

Personally, I'd pay without even thinking about it.

[Bundles]

At the time I thought £100 was too much but if thats what it cost him it seems ok.
But now I have the .com site reg'd and own the .net does it even matter that he has the .co.uk.

[TheMadScientist]

but if thats what it cost him it seems ok.

Yeah, IMO it's got to be about half that at least...

Think about what you paid for a single domain, what it would cost to renew 5 times, privacy? IDK, but add that on, and you can get a fairly good estimate of what it cost them for 5 yrs. Also, look at how long it's registered for, it could be on it's 6th registration if they registered it initially a bit over 5 years ago, and could even be registered quite a way into the future if they did a multiple year registration.

They might be making a bit, but not enough to call it business IMO. If it was £1000 you might have something to yell about, but basically they're getting a nominal 'reserving it for you fee' more than anything else.

Do you need all 3? That's up to you, but personally, I'd probably do it if I had the cash laying around and if not, then I'd wait a bit, because if they've had it for 5 years and you recently got the .com and .net IMO it's probably not going any where, but you never know in this business, so IMO it's better to own it.

[Shipintern]

regardless of the right/wrong of the situation which i wont get into, as others have already pointed out, that price is pudding pie, and it would certainly be a lot easier to purchase at that price than go through a udrp or trademark a name, pay a lawyer, etc etc. How much did you pay for the actual business? I'll bet 100 is not going to hurt you. If you are a UK business then it is probably worth having your local domain as well, imo, especially if you plan to do any paid advertising. good luck.

[nomis5]

I agree with other posters, at £100 you just buy without thinking.

But one point has occurred to me before in a similar situation. I saw a .com name advertised for $150,000 by a domain broker. The name was good so I just checked on other extensions. To my surprise both .net and .co.uk (plus others) were still available. I bought the .co.uk and .net immediately - my proposed new website is UK based.

When I start to publish on the .co.uk domain, won't that devalue the .com domain (no working website on it)immediately because any prospective buyer will see that a working site already exists for the .co.uk extension?

Which leads me back to the OP. If you publish on the .com domain, the same applies to your speculator who has the .co.uk domain - it is then almost worthless to any one but you.