Will you write to me when I'm in jail?

I bought a domain name that in retrospect I wish I hadn't

[hmpphf]

In a moment of madness a few nights ago I bought a rather attractive domain name that I spotted had expired. It is the .net version of the address for the government body that is responsible for overseeing one of the utilities in the UK. The government body in question has the .co.uk and the .gov.uk versions of the domain name, and somebody else has the .com pointing to a completely unrelated website. What probably makes my idea of buying the domain name stand out as particularly poorly judged is that I had thought of trying to get some search engine traffic within the industry that this utility oversees. It's true to say that if they want to take me to court, their financial resources will exceed my own.

Does anyone have any advice?

[martinibuster]

In this moment of madness, did you by any chance have something to drink, even just a tear?

[NFFC]

>their financial resources will exceed my own

I had a friend that purchsed a *lot* of similar domains, many of the UK's major companies decended on him. In every case but one they agreed to pay his "expenses" and he transfered the domain. None of the domains had web sites.

[BlobFisk]

I think that you will escape jail this time! :)

The first thing that will probably happen to you is that you'll get a call from the agency in question. The next step would be a solicitors letter.

Neither of these costs you anything, nor are they in any way recorded as criminal or civil proceedings against you. If there is a .com version of this domain already there (how long has it been there?), then the chances of them coming after you are slim. Companies may, but a government agency? Less of a chance.

This is only my opinion though... if you are really worried I'd find a lawyer in a pub, buy him/her some booze and try and get some info. from them...! ;)

[hurlimann]

They may have a case to get the name under the WIPO rules. It'll cost them 1,500 USD AFAICR to lodge a case.

[ChrisC]

In my humble opinion, and being someone who has foolishly bought names of others in the past, if you do nothing with this domain they will do nothing to you. Issues arrise when you try to profit from the domain by way of passing off, as long as this is not the case I would not be concerned. They have far better things to do regulating the industry they regulate to even notice you have bought the domian.

[shanz]

To save you any worry and hassle. I hereby offer to purchase the domain for 50 pence.

What was this website anyway? tonyblairsantinegativecommentsquad.com

he he ;)

In all seriousness i think NFFC is on the right track.

Shanz

[hmpphf]

Thanks for your comments everybody. Actually hurlimann's comment is the one that worries me - that they might take some sort of legal action without giving me the chance to repent.

ChrisC > When you say 'do nothing with this domain' do you think pointing it at my unrelated personal website counts?

martinibuster > Yes, I may have been a bit tipsy when I bought it, but I really don't want to have to rely on that as a defence in court: "yes milud, I was well into my second bottle of neat Scotch, so I really can't be held accountable for my actions..."

[AkanDian rain]

>They may have a case to get the name under the WIPO rules.

What are the WIPO rules?

[martinibuster]

I may have been a bit tipsy

Computers should have built-in breathalyzers as a safety precaution!

:o

[ChrisC]

Hi hmpphf

With regard to the > When you say 'do nothing with this domain' do you think pointing it at my unrelated personal website counts?

I would say that if you want to not wake the beast just leave the domain so it is not pointed anywhere and then you have done nothing that could be construed as attempting to gain from the name.

I had my names for a year and the organisation, which was very much more financially powerful than the one you have registered against, never contacted me once, and "I must add malud I was so drunk that I managed to register 30 variants of this name" so I think it was safe to say they so would have noticed me. As I said at the beginning as soon as I came to my senses I made sure they pointed to nothing and left them dormant for the year and then let them go at the end of registration. This is what I suggest you do, I honestly think they will leave you alone.

On a legal point, in court, they would have to prove the financial disadvantage, in what you have done, has caused to be able to sue you or there is nothing to sue for. (I believe)

Finally if you are really afraid ring them up and say you registered it for them to stop anyone else doing it and just charge them the $9.00 it cost I cant see them complaining about that.

[Ready To Roll]

I received an e-mail earlier from a very large company, stating that I must relinquish my domain to them, or they will explore legal options.
Although both names have the same number of similar letters and we're in the same business (along with several thousand other companies), my domain name is a real word, and not contrived like 'amazom' or 'gooooogle'. I bought the name from directnic after they sent me a list of available names. I purchase it because it had few letters in it, and sounded like a cool name. I've had it for over a year, never offered to sell it or detract business from the mega-corp, and did not in any way attempt to make the site or logos look like the company that is threatening me. I tried to reason with them that there are other instances where companies that have similiar letters, i.e. ford.com & food.com, etc., but they keep threatening.
I've worked very hard on this site, putting in countless hours. Now, just because I can't afford to fight them, I may well have to give it up to them.
Is there any hope?

[BlobFisk]

I think that if it is not seen as an exploit on a name, and that you have been using the site for your own ventured (as opposed to squatting or just using the name to redirect to another site) you should be ok.

Remember, that big companies use the 'fear-factor' to try and intimidate people. I'm no expert on this, but depending on where you are on the planet, could you ask your local TLD organisation what they think?

You don't have the resources to fight a big battle, but then again, they have no right to demand a domain name belonging to you if you are using it for legitimate reasons.

Best of luck with it (let us know how it goes), and try not to let the ba***rds get you down!

[Ready To Roll]

Thanks BlobFisk;
I will keep everyone informed. Yesterday they offered me several hundred dollars for my expenses if I would turn everything over to them. I let them know in no uncertain terms that the business (and domain name) is not for sale, and I would not let it go. They told me to expect to hear from the big boys soon (their lawyers, not La Cosa Nostra!).
I am encouraged by the fact that I read about similiar cases (two other companies had the megacorp's actual name in their domain, but added a few letters art the end) that fought them and WON!
I figure the worst that can happen is I lose my business; the best I can hope for is that the online news services will pick up on this. Who knows, maybe I'll get a bump in pagerank from the links in the newstories! Naturally, I much prefer they go and pick on someone else, closer to their own size.

[Ready To Roll]

Rats!
They filed a WIPO claim against me!
Anyone know of a good PR company that will get this David vs. Goliath story out to such places as Wired.com and BBCOnline.com?

[cornwall]

Have a look at the ongoing saga of Easy Jet and what they are up to.

The guy that they are currently pursuing has a good web site up, and there is a lot of information on that site about the problem in general

"EasyProtest2"

[Ready To Roll]

Wow.
There's some very useful information at that site.
Thank you.

[cornwall]

I have that problem myself, which is why I researched what info was available and came across the EasyJet saga. A large organisation is trying to bully me into handing over a good name that I want to keep.

If you examine the various cases that have been brought under the WIPO rules, there is no real consistency to them