TMed domain name taken, what can we do?

NewYorkBum · 02-09-2007, 09:29 AM

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this, so forgove my newbiness.

I work for a large college. We have a domain name in .edu zone. A few days ago we found out that variations of our institution name were registered and parked in .com/net/org zones.
Example: we have www_Namepros_edu
they are registered
NameprosCollege_com/net/org/us.
Besides that, they are also registered www_NameprosCollegeBlackboard_com/net/org/us
www_NameprosBlackboard_com ,
and some other variations of the name.
We do as a mater of fact run Blackboard system. Now question is how can we resolve this issue in polite way? Should we just email them and ask to change the domain name ownership , unregistered it or something else?

We do have the TM for NameprosCollege, NameprosInstitue, NameprosUniversity but not just name as Namepros.

One or two of above mentioned names are being parked by fabulous.com

Please let me know if i need to clarify anything.

robertjr · 02-09-2007, 09:46 AM

Public or private college?

Quote:

resolve this issue in polite way? Should we just email them and ask to change the domain name ownership

You can ask, but if it's parked a fabulous I would bet that they will not just turn it over. I would suggest you make offer to get things rolling, since trying to force the issue will likely cost you more than what they would sell for.

NewYorkBum · 02-09-2007, 09:54 AM

I guess i did not explain it correctly, by saying "ask polite way" i did not mean the fabulous but the registrant. There is no way that we will be making any $$ offerings, we do not care about $$ cost since we have our own law center

and they are more than willing to jump on them(registrants).

robertjr · 02-09-2007, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewYorkBum

I guess i did not explain it correctly, by saying "ask polite way" i did not mean the fabulous but the registrant.

I understood exactly what you meant. My point, given the domain is at Fabulous the odds of the owner being a newbie is low. Thus, they will not just give it up for the asking. As for the "$$ offerings", I would not even acknowledge it if it were my domain, the same for your "law center"

Or, I might just reply with my own "claim" to the domain(s). Additionally, your "law center" may process your legal work for free, but there are other cost that are out of their control and I'm betting(Given again, where it's at) the current owner already knows this.

nu-money · 02-09-2007, 10:13 AM

Try sending the registrant a threatening letter, that may scare him into handing over the domain name.

JimCato.com · 02-09-2007, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewYorkBum

I guess i did not explain it correctly, by saying "ask polite way" i did not mean the fabulous but the registrant. There is no way that we will be making any $$ offerings, we do not care about $$ cost since we have our own law center

and they are more than willing to jump on them(registrants).

Your not even gonna pay for the reg fee????

NewYorkBum · 02-09-2007, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimCato.com

Your not even gonna pay for the reg fee????

Personally I would pay 8-12 months revenue

since I know how much traffic they approximately get a day(I am suggesting based on our own traffic). But the institution might go even after their revenues, if it does not resolve polite way from the begining;(

dan_Vt · 02-11-2007, 05:16 PM

First, I'm not a lawyer so I'm only giving my opinion as an experienced domainer.

This case, as it seems to me, may be dependent upon the specific name of your institution. Since you have not TM'd the name of your institution without "College" or "University" following it, your trademark claim may not hold water. Again, I say "may" because I don't know the name of your institution. If it has some off-the-wall name that only you use then you probably would have more of a claim than say "New York University" obviously has over "New York".

You may, though, have more of a claim on yourinstitutionBlackboard.com since you've stated you are running that system, but even then I'd say it's a stretch.

Again, I'm no lawyer so feel free to ignore me, my feelings won't be hurt. But, if I were in your shoes, I'd let it go unless the guy was redirecting to inappropriate material, which he apparently isn't.

D

**labrocca** · 02-11-2007, 05:47 PM

If you work for a large school you should have a lawyer deal with this. One that is versed in domains and intellectual property.

Letters may work for some but not for others. And it's important the letters come from a lawyer. If possible send C&D via email and actual snail mail. You may want to hire someone like John Berryhill who is a member here and a lawyer.

http://www.johnberryhill.com/

Speak to him and good luck.

networkmsia · 02-12-2007, 02:37 AM

lawyers fees might get pretty expensive.

So first of all is to ask the person who bought the domain to sell it to you at a reasonable and agreeable price.

Only if that fails, you might want the lawyer to take action.

NewYorkBum · 02-12-2007, 06:18 AM

Personally, I do not care about them, since they are not running any porn related ads. Let them make as much $$ as they can. Students will find their way eventually. The problem is we keep getting calls from students that our website is not accessible, and most of the time they make it as an excuse for not doing their home works (go figure out), lately it is getting irritating. (Our name is only less than 10 letters.edu and they just type in the browser schoolname.com or schoolService.com and so on. ) I wish I had such a devoted type in traffic

, where each click worth .45c-$2.5

xous · 03-02-2007, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewYorkBum

Personally, I do not care about them, since they are not running any porn related ads. Let them make as much $$ as they can. Students will find their way eventually. The problem is we keep getting calls from students that our website is not accessible, and most of the time they make it as an excuse for not doing their home works (go figure out), lately it is getting irritating. (Our name is only less than 10 letters.edu and they just type in the browser schoolname.com or schoolService.com and so on. ) I wish I had such a devoted type in traffic

, where each click worth .45c-$2.5

If you don't really care, then why are you pushing the issue? At my college late is late even if the College services are down.

IMO: Stupidity is not a valid excuse for not doing your homework.
*Remembers days of 'dd if=/dev/random of=homework.assignment.doc bs=512 count=2' when I didn't feel like doing something *

BOT: I don't know how it is in New York but commonly schools don't have the money to throw at avoidable legal battles when it's as simple as explaining collegeBLACKBOARD.com is not the same as college.edu.

Maybe that students are resorting to these type-in domains should make you think about restructuring your existing site/dns design. eg. blackboard.college.edu is almost the same length as collegeBLACKBoard.com, and you can redirect mistyped *.college.edu at your own help/suggestions page. (My College's hodgepodge of pages is a nightmare to navigate)

Mike · 03-02-2007, 11:44 PM

IF the institution is losing revenue, status, potential or anything that could prove harmful to the college, i'd consult an attorney. If you have your own legal department, let them worry about it, after all they're getting handsomely paid for it. As long as you can keep the costs at paycheck level you should be fine. Court costs, etc. are a different story, although it may not have to come to that. All this is certainly depending on how important the variations are to your college and whether its worth the headache of chasing after something that may not be worth the monetary and timely involvement.
I understand the action based upon principles and someone leeching off the status of your college. So, again i'd conveniently hand it over to the attorney and let them decide whether its a smart move to go after the domains.

*AllThings.tv* · 03-05-2007, 12:00 AM

First step: Send a cease and desist letter. Make sure it is drafted by an attorney experienced in this area.

Second step: Wait and see whether you obtain a response. If no response, consider your options at that time.

02-09-2007, 09:29 AM	#1 (permalink)
NewYorkBum NamePros Regular Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 241 30.50 NP$ (Donate)	TMed domain name taken, what can we do? I am not sure if this is the right place to post this, so forgove my newbiness. I work for a large college. We have a domain name in .edu zone. A few days ago we found out that variations of our institution name were registered and parked in .com/net/org zones. Example: we have www_Namepros_edu they are registered NameprosCollege_com/net/org/us. Besides that, they are also registered www_NameprosCollegeBlackboard_com/net/org/us www_NameprosBlackboard_com , and some other variations of the name. We do as a mater of fact run Blackboard system. Now question is how can we resolve this issue in polite way? Should we just email them and ask to change the domain name ownership , unregistered it or something else? We do have the TM for NameprosCollege, NameprosInstitue, NameprosUniversity but not just name as Namepros. One or two of above mentioned names are being parked by fabulous.com Please let me know if i need to clarify anything.

02-09-2007, 10:13 AM	#5 (permalink)
nu-money NamePros Regular Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Posts: 593 235.50 NP$ (Donate)	Try sending the registrant a threatening letter, that may scare him into handing over the domain name. __________________ bicee.com

02-11-2007, 05:16 PM	#8 (permalink)
dan_Vt Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Burlington, Vermont Posts: 1,043 1,086.90 NP$ (Donate)	First, I'm not a lawyer so I'm only giving my opinion as an experienced domainer. This case, as it seems to me, may be dependent upon the specific name of your institution. Since you have not TM'd the name of your institution without "College" or "University" following it, your trademark claim may not hold water. Again, I say "may" because I don't know the name of your institution. If it has some off-the-wall name that only you use then you probably would have more of a claim than say "New York University" obviously has over "New York". You may, though, have more of a claim on yourinstitutionBlackboard.com since you've stated you are running that system, but even then I'd say it's a stretch. Again, I'm no lawyer so feel free to ignore me, my feelings won't be hurt. But, if I were in your shoes, I'd let it go unless the guy was redirecting to inappropriate material, which he apparently isn't. D __________________ Vermont SEO Automotive SEO For Sale: Co-Sign.com \| Skiny.net \| CSIFAQ.com \| FuelBank.net \| Jibbar.com \|

02-11-2007, 05:47 PM	#9 (permalink)
labrocca Recovering Jerk Forum Moderator Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 5,503 1,196.64 NP$ (Donate)	If you work for a large school you should have a lawyer deal with this. One that is versed in domains and intellectual property. Letters may work for some but not for others. And it's important the letters come from a lawyer. If possible send C&D via email and actual snail mail. You may want to hire someone like John Berryhill who is a member here and a lawyer. http://www.johnberryhill.com/ Speak to him and good luck. __________________ Proxy Filter SEO Tag Cloud Domain Name Generator Debate Forums Free Online Sudoku \| My vBum Blog

03-02-2007, 11:44 PM	#13 (permalink)
Mike NamePros Expert Join Date: May 2005 Location: www.chrome.us Posts: 5,245 46.20 NP$ (Donate)	IF the institution is losing revenue, status, potential or anything that could prove harmful to the college, i'd consult an attorney. If you have your own legal department, let them worry about it, after all they're getting handsomely paid for it. As long as you can keep the costs at paycheck level you should be fine. Court costs, etc. are a different story, although it may not have to come to that. All this is certainly depending on how important the variations are to your college and whether its worth the headache of chasing after something that may not be worth the monetary and timely involvement. I understand the action based upon principles and someone leeching off the status of your college. So, again i'd conveniently hand it over to the attorney and let them decide whether its a smart move to go after the domains. __________________ Do you Chrome? [\|] Noomle No fees & More Revenue IntelBank.com<<Your Business & Your Money>>CreditHelp.TV American Pilot Center <- Learn to Fly -> PilotCenter

02-09-2007, 09:54 AM	#3 (permalink)
NewYorkBum NamePros Regular Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 241 30.50 NP$ (Donate)	I guess i did not explain it correctly, by saying "ask polite way" i did not mean the fabulous but the registrant. There is no way that we will be making any $$ offerings, we do not care about $$ cost since we have our own law center and they are more than willing to jump on them(registrants).

02-12-2007, 02:37 AM	#10 (permalink)
networkmsia Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: On the Moon Posts: 1,722 125.07 NP$ (Donate)	lawyers fees might get pretty expensive. So first of all is to ask the person who bought the domain to sell it to you at a reasonable and agreeable price. Only if that fails, you might want the lawyer to take action.

02-12-2007, 06:18 AM	#11 (permalink)
NewYorkBum NamePros Regular Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 241 30.50 NP$ (Donate)	Personally, I do not care about them, since they are not running any porn related ads. Let them make as much $$ as they can. Students will find their way eventually. The problem is we keep getting calls from students that our website is not accessible, and most of the time they make it as an excuse for not doing their home works (go figure out), lately it is getting irritating. (Our name is only less than 10 letters.edu and they just type in the browser schoolname.com or schoolService.com and so on. ) I wish I had such a devoted type in traffic , where each click worth .45c-$2.5

03-05-2007, 12:00 AM	#14 (permalink)
AllThings.tv AllThings.tv Blogger Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,252 12.00 NP$ (Donate)	First step: Send a cease and desist letter. Make sure it is drafted by an attorney experienced in this area. Second step: Wait and see whether you obtain a response. If no response, consider your options at that time. __________________ Visit the Dot TV Community 1st Annual Global DOT TV Internext Expo Coverage Skin Care

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