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question What to do with minecraftmovie.c0m??

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leelee123

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Hi Everyone, I am new as a poster but have been on and off the site for a while.

I am the registered owner of the domain name minecraftmovie.com and have owned it for the last 6 years.
I am stuck on what to do with it on the basis that it potentially could come under TM.

Originally i did monitise the domain and until it got hit by google's algorithm change in 2013 it was earning reasonable income.
However I am up for suggestions...
For those that dont know, here is what's happening in hollywood...'Minecraft the movie' is being released in 2019 and is Directed by Rob McElhenney. With Steve Carell. Feature film based on the popular video game, "Minecraft

Plus the billions of minecraft tutorials and videos available online.

What would you do??
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I would put it up for sale as "make offer" and see what you can get. Try to keep forcing up the bids until you cant take it anymore and sell. If the new owner gets hit with a copyright issue, that's their problem. :-P
 
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LOL jim, you did make me laugh.. so ebay it is?? LOL
 
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They're a billion dollar company.
Just drop it, it's clearly bad faith, so why open the possibility of getting crushed?

EDIT: There are several UDRP disputes over minecraft domains by Mojang. Not many sales on namebio, but there are all domains which would be used by individual players, but many of them are unused. I bet you'll be getting a UDRP by the end of the year.

EDIT2: They've never lost an UDRP once they've filed it. Good luck.
 
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Manean. That's the trouble with this play. It's all down to money and who can steam roll the heaviest. They did not even look at movies until 2016. Perhaps I could croudfund a bank of barristers and lawyers if the inevitable comes! Or just roll over and have my belly tickled! I like both ideas!
 
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Manean. That's the trouble with this play. It's all down to money and who can steam roll the heaviest. They did not even look at movies until 2016. Perhaps I could croudfund a bank of barristers and lawyers if the inevitable comes! Or just roll over and have my belly tickled! I like both ideas!

Or be utterly destroyed by their lawyers. Whatever game you want to play man.
 
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Look, it's simple:

1) put domain up for sale
2) make sale, you are done

or

1) put domain up for sale
2) get cease/desist/UDRP
3) walk away from domain, you are done.

Either way its no big deal.

Put it up for sale, take any decent offer, sell, get on with your life.
 
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Thanks both. Much appreciated for your input.
 
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Just put a for sale lander on it and leave it.
 
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Wait it out and see if they get in touch. I was in a similar situation some years ago except it was an exact match for the movie. I had it regged for 2 years or so and was merely using it for a hobby project.

They asked me to hand it over so yeah, I told them no worries and kinda joked about that I'd hoped for at least 2 tickets to the movie for my trouble.

They went silent for about 2 weeks, then replied that if I was willing to sign a NDA they'd make sure I got to see the movie.

Never expected that but it was nice :) I handed the domain over as promised. Then, 2 weeks later I opened my mailbox and there was a thank you letter with 2 tix for the national premiere as well as a hotel arrangement.

They're not all evil :)
 
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Put up a page with fan-made minecraft movies on youtube, then add a Facebook or disqus box for the visitors to engage. Make sure your eMail is visible and that you have a link to the main Minecraft website that clearly states that you are not affiliated with them - to avoid confusion.

You will get an offer, and then you can negotiate from a position having fair use and not being a TM squatter.

Don't list it for sale, don't approach them.



I picked up a TM phrase that was registered by two parties for different uses; bought for $500 sold for $8k.

BUT, before I did that I studied TM law and procedure for the first two years as a domainer, and have read countless UDRP cases.

Know the law, and operate within it, and it will be the difference between $8k and two movie tickets.

This is not legal advice, just sharing what I would do in my experience. Always do your own due diligence.
 
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@DomainVP offers very good theoretical advice above .. but taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture this is an extremely clear case of the non-legal term "cyber-squatting". You very clearly bought the domain based on MineCraft game while also expecting there to eventually be a movie. So while you could sidestep some of the legalities by doing or not doing certain things .. it does not change the fact that you deliberately went out of your way to try to eventually profit from someone else's trademark.

Don't feel too horrible .. just about every domainer has bought a trademark or someone's name when they start while not fully understanding the reasons, laws and scope of trademarks. But at the end of the day it is both legally and mostly morally wrong to buy a domain associated with someone else's trademark while the reason for getting that domain is to be affiliated in any way with their business. Particularly if you stand to gain even a single dollar from the sale of the domain or via advertising, etc.

That's why it would never be a problem to buy Apple.com if you're going to use it to sell fruit. But if you buy it to sell computers, that's trademark infringement.

The big difference in this case is that "Apple" is a generic word where no one (particularly a judge or UDRP panellist) could ever assume you bought it to sell computers (and the fact is that you most likely didn't). But when you get to compound words or full names then the opposite is true and if the trademark is even moderately known, then it is very reasonable for a judge to assume you bought the domain with the intent to use it (or to sell it to someone who will use it) in a way related to the business operations of the trademark holder. MineCraft definitely falls into this category .. MicroSoft would be another example.

The trademark doesn't even need to be legally registered, as long as a company or someone is use the term in business then you are likely in the wrong. That's why I'm now against domainers holding full names. Because while single names (first alone or last alone) are generic enough to be used independently as a new mark .. full names are 99% of the time registered with the intent of selling to a specific person.


Considering you've openly posted the domain here in a public forum AND that you've admitted to monetising it in the past .. and that you've also admitted to knowing that you knew what the MineCraft game was (essentially declaring your pre-awareness of the trademark) .. your safest bet at this point is to let it expire or even outright delete it from your account.

Even contacting them to give them the domain for free could be a risk as they could still try to sue you as an example. Granted, the more likely outcome is that they will thank you and give you movie tickets, but I've heard of some media companies wanting to make examples of trademark infringements, so you need to ask yourself if it's worth the bother/risk for a couple of movie tickets.
 
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Thanks Namedek.
Good advice, a few tickets would not go amiss, esp if I could meet Steve Carroll.

Domain VP, thats how I got started, It brings back memories of the old days.. I set up a fan page, re indexed content from youtube, ran adsense on the site and got paid for it. The Ultimate Job..
Then I met the unforgiving Panda.. It did its job well.

Perhaps I can do similar again call it V2..

Lots of options.. keep them coming.

Cheers
 
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Ategy, thanks for the advice.

who would of known they were to bring out a film?? Never an intention, we were just posting videos and creating a fan base on Minecraft, that is how I see these companies go large. need the fan support.

I have done nothing with the domain name since being hit with panda, just thought I could do something with it now.

Cheers
 
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drop the name, nothing good will come out of it,
 
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Start up a raft company called 'Minec' and create a viral ad for it. Simple. Or do what @DomainVP said if you want to be sensible.
 
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Given that Microsoft is a $836 billion company I would suggest forgetting it and hope they don't even notice you have the domain?
 
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I am the registered owner of the domain name minecraftmovie.com and have owned it for the last 6 years … What would you do??
I’d google “minecraft udrp”, eject matter from my stomach through my mouth, delete the name, delete the account it was in, pancake my computer in a drop hammer forge, burn down the physical address that was listed in whois, change my legal name, get plastic surgery, go to the library, google “lawless states” and move to one of them. Good luck!
 
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I’d google “minecraft udrp”, eject matter from my stomach through my mouth, delete the name, delete the account it was in, pancake my computer in a drop hammer forge, burn down the physical address that was listed in whois, change my legal name, get plastic surgery, go to the library, google “lawless states” and move to one of them. Good luck!

I would not consider a lawless state, but the rest seems quite reasonable...
Thanks for the advice.
 
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Given that Microsoft is a $836 billion company I would suggest forgetting it and hope they don't even notice you have the domain?

They probably already do to be honest.. I would if I was making the film 'minecraft the movie'..
 
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