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Hi,
I wonder if you can guys can help with some advice. I registered a number of .al domains over the years and one of them turned out to be popular because it is the same name as a newspaper in Albania. The domain is very generic in the albanian language. So I was contacted by the a representative of the newspaper (they own the .com) and asked for the price, they offered 15usd for the domain and I refused and gave them my expected price. This was on Tuesday this week. By Friday AKEP (Albanian's domain governing body) had prepared a case and decided against me making a number of mistakes and false statements on their decision making document. The newspaper that wants the domain is owned by an ex Albanian Member of Parliament with a lot of influence in the country.
The registrar simply sent me a message stating that AKEP have decided to take away the domain from your ownership. Their reason was that the newspaper was established as a Limited company since 1990s and had trademark since 2016. They have not contacted me nor asked for anything from me. My argument is the following:
1. How can a decision be made within 2-3 working days?
2. Why was I not even made aware and not asked for any input?
3. Why was the registrar not made aware?
4. I never contacted the newspaper about the domain, they contacted me and made an offer and I made a counter offer.
5. The domain is generic, two albanian words
6. The newspapers trademark is from 2016 yet the domain was registered in 2013
7. One of the statements on the decision was that the domain was offered at "auction" which is not true. The domain was parked at bodis.com with an inquiry sales form.
So my question is, how can this case be approached? Any advice at all as this is not a .com domain...?
I wonder if you can guys can help with some advice. I registered a number of .al domains over the years and one of them turned out to be popular because it is the same name as a newspaper in Albania. The domain is very generic in the albanian language. So I was contacted by the a representative of the newspaper (they own the .com) and asked for the price, they offered 15usd for the domain and I refused and gave them my expected price. This was on Tuesday this week. By Friday AKEP (Albanian's domain governing body) had prepared a case and decided against me making a number of mistakes and false statements on their decision making document. The newspaper that wants the domain is owned by an ex Albanian Member of Parliament with a lot of influence in the country.
The registrar simply sent me a message stating that AKEP have decided to take away the domain from your ownership. Their reason was that the newspaper was established as a Limited company since 1990s and had trademark since 2016. They have not contacted me nor asked for anything from me. My argument is the following:
1. How can a decision be made within 2-3 working days?
2. Why was I not even made aware and not asked for any input?
3. Why was the registrar not made aware?
4. I never contacted the newspaper about the domain, they contacted me and made an offer and I made a counter offer.
5. The domain is generic, two albanian words
6. The newspapers trademark is from 2016 yet the domain was registered in 2013
7. One of the statements on the decision was that the domain was offered at "auction" which is not true. The domain was parked at bodis.com with an inquiry sales form.
So my question is, how can this case be approached? Any advice at all as this is not a .com domain...?
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