question Email from Harvard Professor today on Domain Name! HELP!

DomainBarracksRob · Oct 19, 2017

Need some advice here, Still new to all this and this is my first major"talk/negation".

So about a month ago I reg'd APOPS. org on the drop I liked it for several reasons.

Today I got a email from Jerold S. Kayden - simply saying -"Have you purchased the domain name apops.org?"....I looked at the Email name tag and it said, GSD Harvard . edu . Of course I was like Wow this is cool. Naturally I looked him up and Turns out he is Professor of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Also Founder of Advocates of Privately Owned Public Spaces....(apops)!!!! Wow again....turns out his other title is "Urban planner and LAWYER"!!

.......How safe am I here????I did not look up Trademarks or anything like that on the name, could him being a Lawyer make this more difficult??

Please read this link here with The info on him and APOPS, he has a large team of pre$tigiou$ people and ceo's
https://apops.mas.org/about/people/

I have not responed to his email yet. I need suggestions , thoughts, opinions , appraisals, and maybe even legal advice

Thank You

Robert

DomainBarracksRob · Oct 19, 2017

xynames said:
Well, please keep us posted on what transpires. Since we all went to the trouble of posting here, please don't disappear on us and let us know!

I am no Ghost my friend

! Not going anywhere, and I thank you all.

johnn · Oct 19, 2017

Ask him to send his daughter picture to you.
Depending on how her look you can price the name accordingly.
i.e. beautiful and single - give it to him free - ugly and married - charge full retail price.

FYI, I just sold an .org name to a non-profit organization for high $x,xxx after they told me they don't have money and low ball me for $100.

Dominique · Oct 19, 2017

I would say its more likely you will get cease and desist letter, than a $100 from a lawyer.

karmaco · Oct 19, 2017

If you registered the name after the drop and it has an active trademark by another party you need to have no lander or a lander that has no indication you are marketing it for sale. Getting the name before it dropped its age would have been better. Now it’s somewhat of a liability. Even though this guy does not have a trademark he was using the acronym for ten years. My email would have been that I bought it with a future personal project in mind. Make no mention of a trademark etc as the reason you got the name.

Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture and not register a name with a known active trademark.Honestly not sure what I would do now. My gut says make him bring up a dollar amount first not you and get rid of it. I would not give it to him. I would act uninterested unless he offered a reasonable fair price.

karmaco · Oct 19, 2017

DomainBarracksRob said:
....if you haven't looked up "Harvard Professor Salary" on google....you should!!!!

Also ..he is not Just a professor!...forget about the organization, this guy is Farrrrr from broke!

I've done sales and have a friend which is the best salesperson I know, he has told me this guy is a Shark..DO NOT BE A MINNOW.

It was mentioned that it would be nice to have a Harvard Law Professor as a friend.......this guy would forget my First name the second I "gave" it to him for nothing. No favors would come about .

I respect Honesty and I would be more generous had he not try to take me for a fool in the email.

But he is smart, a business man, trying to buy/regain at lowest price possible. That's not poor, that's could thinking thinking. Being to soft tin the past has just left me the runner up, and you know what a shark likes more than a minnow, a sucker.

If you haven't looked up "Harvard Professor Salary" just yet as of 2012 the average was $131,200 and the high was $198,400.

As I said before he is not just a professor at Harvard, he is a Business man with other investments , and has invested in this APOPS .org no matter how crappy or useful we can debate on about this name, it's valued by him and ...me!

I have learned a lot from reading on this forum as you all recommend to do. TOO many times have I seen the post, offthe push over story and the story of how they said they would Never pay that price, .....the domainer set a BIN, and the enduser came back a snatched it up at 5x times what everyone was expecting . My gut tells me this guy Wants it, and is someone who could easly drop 1500 on a item if he or she decided they want it.

I like what Silentptner said best, about didn't even offer, and not responding! Therefore I appreciate you all......and believe my choice of action is to set my BIN price on GD and ignore him for a week if nothing happens then I will write him! I personally will not let it go for less than $999 because it's my name and that's what I see in it..........and if I'm never able to sell it again if he passes, well I'm out $8.99 and life goes on! That's my risk I'm willing to take.

"Great reward comes at the risks of enormous failure"

Remember you are dealing with an attorney. He can give a heads up to the trademark holder if you handle him rudely. I guess no reply is best with your frame of mind on the matter, Hopefully that buy it now on a trademarked acronym won’t come back to bite you.

usernamex · Oct 19, 2017

@jberryhill - comments welcome : smile :

WhoaDomain.com · Oct 20, 2017

ummm I think this thread or at least all mention of this domain in this thread should be deleted by mods for your benefit as all mentions of it will be easily viewed on Google.

do it quick if it's not too late. if these people are rich? and their team screwed up? guaranteed they are googling your domain and I bet namepros will show this thread.

that would suck as it will show your "Game plan"

good luck!

"Give them nothing. But Take from them Everything!"

jberryhill · Oct 20, 2017

usernamex said:
@jberryhill - comments welcome : smile :

Oh, I doubt it.

DomainBarracksRob · Oct 20, 2017

Avtar629 said:
ummm I think this thread or at least all mention of this domain in this thread should be deleted by mods for your benefit as all mentions of it will be easily viewed on Google.

do it quick if it's not too late. if these people are rich? and their team screwed up? guaranteed they are googling your domain and I bet namepros will show this thread.

that would suck as it will show your "Game plan"

good luck!

"Give them nothing. But Take from them Everything!"

Makes a very good point....it comes up on the 3rd page of google. Should we remove it or at leastthe domain from the thread MODS?(everyone always and say they can;t do much without the name so I put it up here, and now yea) this was done typing the name and a space then org.

DomainBarracksRob · Oct 20, 2017

WeSell-Domains said:
There is nothing in the web archives since 2005 and your "for sale" page in Sept 2017. In 2005 the domain forwarded to a geocities website. If the lawyer had the name he didn't make good use of it. The non profit may not have any money but I bet the lawyer does. Personally I may have been willing to deal with him until I got the "I'm broke" BS. Heard that so many times that it usually makes me go the other way now. But it all depends on how bad do you want to keep the domain or how generous you are. Even if you only get low $xxx for it, it may be better than keeping it for 5 years then letting it expire unsold.

Basically How I feel about it.

DomainBarracksRob · Oct 20, 2017

karmaco said:
If you registered the name after the drop and it has an active trademark by another party you need to have no lander or a lander that has no indication you are marketing it for sale. Getting the name before it dropped its age would have been better. Now it’s somewhat of a liability. Even though this guy does not have a trademark he was using the acronym for ten years. My email would have been that I bought it with a future personal project in mind. Make no mention of a trademark etc as the reason you got the name.

Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture and not register a name with a known active trademark.Honestly not sure what I would do now. My gut says make him bring up a dollar amount first not you and get rid of it. I would not give it to him. I would act uninterested unless he offered a reasonable fair price.

I'm in tune with your last paragraph there and like that route . Thank You.

DomainVP · Oct 20, 2017

DomainBarracksRob said:
Makes a very good point....it comes up on the 3rd page of google. Should we remove it or at leastthe domain from the thread MODS?(everyone always and say they can;t do much without the name so I put it up here, and now yea) this was done typing the name and a space then org.

It's on page #1 if you search the domain, and it's cached.

1Darko · Oct 20, 2017

@DomainBarracksRob Write back to him that you're a poor orphan living in a barrack and that you need at least $1,000 to survive the upcoming winter. If the professor has some heart he will transfer the money as soon as possible.

namelancer · Oct 20, 2017

In a situation that is not of your own making like the one you are currently facing, it's possible being a good Samaritan and, at the same, honoring the expenditure of your resources by way of time, money (put in a registration fee), business planning (waiting, participating, by bidding or otherwise engaging in an auction and , finally, acquiring a name) and emotional investment (something in your unconscious must have resonated with the name when you first saw it on the drop list of expired names pending deletion). The solution lies in having a clause to be attached to the eventual contract stipulating conditions accompanying the transfer of a name under which the original registrant could continue to use the name indefinitely provided it's done so under the legal tutelage (so to speak) of a non-profit organization, but should the non-profit be dissolved in the future (or if the name is found to be discontinued from usage) you would retain the rights of having the name reverted into your ownership at no additional costs.

carob · Oct 20, 2017

DomainBarracksRob said:
Makes a very good point....it comes up on the 3rd page of google. Should we remove it or at leastthe domain from the thread MODS?(everyone always and say they can;t do much without the name so I put it up here, and now yea) this was done typing the name and a space then org.

You can't delete threads here and you can't delete posts - posts are only editable for 30 minutes after you first post them.

It's one reason people are very careful in appraisal threads and sales reports.

Business Brands · Oct 20, 2017

BrandPlease · Oct 20, 2017

Hey don’t take it personal - like you said it’s a game. Just ask him if he would advise his students “as an attorney” to take his word and just give him what he wants” at the cost he wants. I’m from Boston and haven’t met a free giving to the little guy Harvard lawyer yet. If he thinks it’s fair say you want free representation in the future as a comparison. He is likely trying for the freebie and throwing Harvard and lawyer around to “scare you” - don’t get impressed. He is making non profits not taking down bankers..... I would not be too concerned hahaha

BrandPlease · Oct 20, 2017

in fact. What not ask him if he would like some help finding a new name that doesn’t have potential TM issues. Does he know of other possible TMs?

I’m sure you can dig up something better for him? And offer it as an alternative... choices, be interesting to see his response as well. May be impressed with a detailed response beyond what he expected and maybe presently surprised?

Kate · Oct 20, 2017

DomainBarracksRob said:
As I said before he is not just a professor at Harvard, he is a Business man with other investments , and has invested in this APOPS .org no matter how crappy or useful we can debate on about this name, it's valued by him and ...me!

Judging by some of the comments in this thread, it is obvious that many domainers don't understand how businesses or organizations operate.
The guy may have a comfortable salary but he's is not going to pay out of his own pocket for a project that belongs to the university he works for (unless maybe he's desperate to fix a personal blunder that could cost him his job and you're only taking advantage of his unfortunate position).
If the project is non-commercial and not earning revenue, they have no incentive to pay a significant sum.
And if he's not a decision maker he is not in a position to release funds from the uni dept. So what, you won't squeeze blood from a stone.
Likewise, when dealing with big corporations, how much the CEO is earning in salary is not relevant in negotiating domain price. What matters is how much he's authorized to spend (may have to secure board agreement).

DomainBarracksRob said:
and if I'm never able to sell it again if he passes, well I'm out $8.99 and life goes on! That's my risk I'm willing to take.

Is that an admission that you picked the domain for the sole purpose of resale, even though there are only two, I mean one obvious end user ? Again, I don't see upside in names like these, they are more like liabilities. I would try to work out an arrangement with the guy who obviously needs it, than wait for a buyer that will never come.

Frankly, I don't like some of the comments in this thread. They make domainers look bad and greedy.
Yeah. You picked 'his' domain name, just because you could. He's wondering why. Maybe he's thinking he was personally targeted. This isn't a premium domain with a lot of built-in value, that you should understandably be reluctant to hand over. Now how do you turn this situation into something positive ?

Nikhil Jain · Oct 20, 2017

The best thing to do could be to put up a reasonable price for it - Somewhere that it could actually sell.

Something is always better than nothing.

There's really no point in sitting with something that has the least probability to sell, when its real end user moves on without taking it.

BrandPlease · Oct 20, 2017

@Kate agree with your concern. But with 2 mins of research (so not informed on all the possible details) I don’t find Apops.org is a Harvard “owned” entity. It looks like it’s this persons personal thing and using title and position to get a better deal. Which is smart... assuming no TM or purposeful infringement by the new owner. It again, I have only read a handful of posts I don’t have any knowledge of the actual details. So disclaiming

DASHCAMCLIPS · Oct 20, 2017

DomainBarracksRob said:
Need some advice here, Still new to all this and this is my first major"talk/negation".

So about a month ago I reg'd APOPS. org on the drop I liked it for several reasons.

Today I got a email from Jerold S. Kayden - simply saying -"Have you purchased the domain name apops.org?"....I looked at the Email name tag and it said, GSD Harvard . edu . Of course I was like Wow this is cool. Naturally I looked him up and Turns out he is Professor of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Also Founder of Advocates of Privately Owned Public Spaces....(apops)!!!! Wow again....turns out his other title is "Urban planner and LAWYER"!!.......How safe am I here????I did not look up Trademarks or anything like that on the name, could him being a Lawyer make this more difficult??

Please read this link here with The info on him and APOPS, he has a large team of pre$tigiou$ people and ceo's
https://apops.mas.org/about/people/

I have not responed to his email yet. I need suggestions , thoughts, opinions , appraisals, and maybe even legal advice

Thank You

Robert

Hello Robert,

despite all well meant advise and tips the best thing to do is straight forward business. This gentleman has asked you a question you can in all honesty reply to. Playing hide and seek is for children.

DomainBarracksRob · Oct 20, 2017

https://apops.mas.org/about/people/

^^^^^^LOOK & READ^^^^^^

Has anyone here that has commented Actully looked at the "Advisory Committee " for apops, which is teamed with MAS? Link is above .

It's a powerful team and they deal with Billions of dollars a year and are well trained in negotiations. This is REAL ESTATE RELATED, and it is not some science project for a fair. Call it a non -profit or whatever you like at the end of the day it's a Business!

A large one and its teamed up with MAS ( which is a large entity in itself ).

Also Ive heard this somewhere else on the forum ....for those saying I should play on the heart and kindness route.......would the same advice apply to the guy that bought the forclosed house , when the og owner comes back and wants it for nothing ??? What would "Your" Lawyer tell him ......I don't think the banks work that way , hence how they make money. So aside from the TM which is not his anyway, why do suggest given back the "repossessed car "???

Not trying to be rude , just trying to better understand everyone's reasoning here.

Kate · Oct 20, 2017

There is a market for repossessed homes or cars. Unless they are completely destroyed.
There is no market for random 5L.org.
So in business you keep the assets and you ditch the liabilities.

DomainBarracksRob · Oct 20, 2017

@Kate I don't need a market to sell an apple , I just need to find one hungry man with a quarter in his pocket

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