A company asked me to return my domain to them

[hjordis]

Hi!

So I registered a brandable domain a while ago, and just found out the domain was belong to a company because they sent me an email and asked me to return it to them - apparently they forgot to renew the domain, I did a trademark search for the word, and it was abandoned long before I registered the domain. What should I do about it?

Thanks.

 

[IMEZI]

10 years will cost around $90, how bout placing 9K bin price on it?

 

[hjordis]

noooo dont develop it either, you might be fall into tiny flaw and got TM sued... just put plain landingpage stating your contact and your bin price

Even if the TM has already abandoned years ago?

 

[hjordis]

renew the name for 10 years max
and show a LP with contact info only.

and move on

sometime it takes 10 years
you may speed it up
when the renewal date speaks loudy

Good suggestion, I was actually thinking the same

 

[IMEZI]

if there is company exist pursuing your domain, even without TM there is still a risk because company means legal existence while most domainer were personal existence (with limited cash capability)

 

[winst]

I'd suggest to not talk about money and put up a landing page with "coming soon" with email text box for people to sign-up to be notified when a new product/service/website is launched.

 

[hjordis]

I'd suggest to not talk about money and put up a landing page with "coming soon" with email text box for people to sign-up to be notified when a new product/service/website is launched.

I'm working on a landing page like that now

 

[nem]

Why not put a 'Place an offer' page? Let them put offers in.

 

[DnEbook]

Send a link to DnJournals highest sales, then give them a price and explain "you are getting a bargain"

 

[hjordis]

Why not put a 'Place an offer' page? Let them put offers in.

That was my setting before, I know they were there, they didn't bother to make any offer, but to send me a direct email. I suppose they still consider the domain to be their property even though they let it expire.

 

[hjordis]

Send a link to DnJournals highest sales, then give them a price and explain "you are getting a bargain"

Haha, wonderful idea!

 

[nem]

That was my setting before, I know they were there, they didn't bother to make any offer, but to send me a direct email. I suppose they still consider the domain to be their property even though they let it expire.

It strikes me to think it is their property now. Every business should have a responsibility to look after their own assets.

 

[IMEZI]

Send a link to DnJournals highest sales, then give them a price and explain "you are getting a bargain"

i think i got better idea, get related domain name sales record (complete with the url of sales info) and placed it on the landingpage. It will give betterinformation and justification for the bin price you set.

 

[hjordis]

It strikes me to think it is their property now. Every business should have a responsibility to look after their own assets.

We like to think that, but some people are just born bullies

 

[hjordis]

i think i got better idea, get related domain name sales record (complete with the url of sales info) and placed it on the landingpage. It will give betterinformation and justification for the bin price you set.

It's a made-up word, so it can be a bit difficult to find something similar, maybe some brandable names. I highly doubt it would work for this dude, as "This is forever MY property" is the only thing exists in his head even though it was him who let it expire.

 

[Bluhorshoe]

Your in the winners circle. Just send them price and start negotiating.

 

[jd larson]

Many years ago I purchased the domain name barbie.us at an expired name auction for 80. bucks. I parked it. Then Mattel told me they wanted it back. I asked for 100. bucks to cover my purchase and registration fees. They refused. Instead they had their lawyers bury me in paperwork demanding the name be returned. I tried to fight it but lost. Then godaddy transferred the name to them and charged me $38. bucks as their fee for removing the name from my account and transferring ownership to Mattel. Not exactly a fun experience. These big companies can be real bullies and have no problem at all steamrolling over the 'little guys'. My suggestion is not to bother fighting it, if they send their lawyers after you instead of paying whatever price you're asking.

 

[hjordis]

Many years ago I purchased the domain name barbie.us at an expired name auction for 80. bucks. I parked it. Then Mattel told me they wanted it back. I asked for 100. bucks to cover my purchase and registration fees. They refused. Instead they had their lawyers bury me in paperwork demanding the name be returned. I tried to fight it but lost. Then godaddy transferred the name to them and charged me $38. bucks as their fee for removing the name from my account and transferring ownership to Mattel. Not exactly a fun experience. These big companies can be real bullies and have no problem at all steamrolling over the 'little guys'. My suggestion is not to bother fighting it, if they send their lawyers after you instead of paying whatever price you're asking.

I believe it was an active TM by the time you purchased the domain? Mine wasn't/isn't

 

[Kate]

You were clearly violating on a TM (Barbie).
Here we don't know the name, it could be TM too - or not. Probably a different situation but without knowing the name we cannot be sure. There is some bad advice in this thread.
Just because a domain name holder allowed a domain name to lapse, doesn't mean they have forfeited all their rights.

 

[IMEZI]

Many years ago I purchased the domain name barbie.us at an expired name auction for 80. bucks. I parked it. Then Mattel told me they wanted it back. I asked for 100. bucks to cover my purchase and registration fees. They refused. Instead they had their lawyers bury me in paperwork demanding the name be returned. I tried to fight it but lost. Then godaddy transferred the name to them and charged me $38. bucks as their fee for removing the name from my account and transferring ownership to Mattel. Not exactly a fun experience. These big companies can be real bullies and have no problem at all steamrolling over the 'little guys'. My suggestion is not to bother fighting it, if they send their lawyers after you instead of paying whatever price you're asking.

same with me, i got LEGO69(dot)COM as free gift from a friend, suddenly i got URDP along with godaddy 50$ charged in the end i still lost the domain and the money....

 

[wayne wooldridge]

This is when it pays off to know an actual lawyer who can look at the specifics of your situation. You need someone who is well-versed in these types of cases, and understanding of the ins and outs of exactly how things can play out in court; even if the tm had lapsed/domain registration expired.

It's definitely tempting to be on the "losers weepers" side of the argument here, but that might not play out in your favour in the long run.

Proceed with caution.

 

[branding]

If it's not a small company I'd extend it for 10 years and just sit and wait. They'll come for it one way or another.

If you're sure they don't have a trademark you should be fine but be careful about development.

While we're on subject, has anyone ever filed an UDRP? I'm getting herassed by a domainer who regged my TM in .org and has been bothering me to buy it eversince.

Told him no as he's violating my TM but offered a couple of hundred for his trouble. He keeps asking for 3K and now put up a lander to the competition.

I'm not set on obtaining the domain but was wondering if it's a lot of work (money is no issue).

 

[Branko Jovanovic]

Have you checked if the domain had traffic? It may be used by them as a redirect to the main website, which holds more value than a parked domain. My guess is they can fork-out $3000-5000 with no problem.

 

[hjordis]

If it's not a small company I'd extend it for 10 years and just sit and wait. They'll come for it one way or another.

If you're sure they don't have a trademark you should be fine but be careful about development.

While we're on subject, has anyone ever filed an UDRP? I'm getting herassed by a domainer who regged my TM in .org and has been bothering me to buy it eversince.

Told him no as he's violating my TM but offered a couple of hundred for his trouble. He keeps asking for 3K and now put up a lander to the competition.

I'm not set on obtaining the domain but was wondering if it's a lot of work (money is no issue).

Definitely not a super-sized intl company, but not that small to pay thousands or more for a domain for sure. I haven't ever filed an UDRP, hopefully someone answers you here.

 

[GoKaizen]

@hjordis since they are rude and demanding reply with this;

"Let go of the people responsible for letting the domain expire. Then give me those salaries."

 

[Mr. Deleted]

same with me, i got LEGO69(dot)COM as free gift from a friend, suddenly i got URDP along with godaddy 50$ charged in the end i still lost the domain and the money....

I had 3-4 TM typos of a company a decade or so ago, and one of them had a little traffic, so I was going to keep it. It was in the financial services industry, so it got a good CPC. Anyway, they started a UDRP on the best one, so I offered to give it to them, but when they said they wanted me to sign a letter that I would not have any more of their typos, I told them no, I said I am giving a gift, not signing anything. I pushed 2 of the worst ones into an account and gave them the password, and they went away. I kept the one they wanted.