Been sued over a tradmarked MOBI domain name.

[connections]

Please close thread.

Please close thread, decision has been made with domain name.

thank you

 

[nrmillions]

Take the $150. Companies dont have to register their TM names during the TM registration period. mTLD is not above the law. Intellectual property law still stand whether a company has their name or not. The TM period is just a way to make it easier for companies to get their names earlier without having to deal with the hassle of cybersquatters at the same time. You are lucky they are offering you any money at all.

 

[James]

i'd say take the $150 you didn't reg for $150 not worth the trouble. take it mate.

 

[connections]

CASE CLOSED THANKS

 

[Pred]

Take the $150. Companies dont have to register their TM names during the TM registration period. mTLD is not above the law. Intellectual property law still stand whether a company has their name or not. The TM period is just a way to make it easier for companies to get their names earlier without having to deal with the hassle of cybersquatters at the same time. You are lucky they are offering you any money at all.

exactly.
lesson 1: if you try it again, have the brains to use privacy whois, use a good registrar like Moniker, as Godaddy will find you guilty before innocent..
also don't approach endusers (not sure if you did) & be careful if parking, better to develop.

Lastly if it's a tm, you are lucky to get anything.
These days it seems even generics aren't safe!

 

[PVFARKAS]

pm sent

 

[dag]

It doesn't matter whether you're making money off of it or not -- they still own the rights to their name. So take the $150 and consider yourself lucky.

 

[garrett200]

I agree with the above posters. Take the money they are offering. Unfortunately, you have very little leverage. If you try to bargain with them, they WILL accuse you of trying to profit from their Trademark.

Listen, don't get scared by their letters. Even though they are right, THEY ARE TRYING TO SCARE YOU by saying things like "profiting off the name", "bad faith", etc., etc. That's what lawyers do, they want to scare you into giving up the name.

But, you should give it up anyway, because you will lose in court. Period.

The reason they are offering any money at all is because it will cost them much more than that to get the name back from you in court. It most likely cost them more than that just to have that letter from their lawyer sent off to you.

Just take the money and give them the domain. It's the only option.

Disclaimer: I'm not giving legal advice, but GIVE THEM THE DOMAIN. :bingo:

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Moved to "Legal Issues" - for your own benefit.
-Allan

 

[Source]

Posting a current legal dispute on NP and mentioning the company by name is not wise and can only work against you.

 

[MDA]

Very good point Source...

IMO this is a no brainer. Your chances of wining are nil. Even if you had a legal leg to stand on (and you don't, since this is clear TM infringement), you still might lose unless you could match their legal resources.

And don't try bargaining with them since it isn't worth the risk. Their corporate mechanism might actually make it simpler to start legal action and pay $10k in fees then offer you an extra $100.

Also, I suggest you include a mutual release of claims clause in the transfer agreement when you hand over the domain. It is highly unlikely that they would come after you at a later date, but it's better to be in the clear, especially if it doesn't cost anything.

 

[Kate]

You did not state the domain in question.
But let's assume the domain is an obvious TM.
The fact that they did not take advantage of sunrise registration is not an excuse for any other party to grab infringing domains. Also it does not make sense for a company to register all possible typos and variations of their brands in all possible TLDs, even for defensive registration purposes.
You are lucky they offered compensation for your costs.
Of course I would seize the offer and run :red:

 

[danmanmktng]

Check if they actually have a trademark -- registered with the patent office -- on it. If they do, take the $150, if not, you can reject it and see what happens.

 

[connections]

CASE CLOSED THANKS

 

[Badger]

Man, you are sooo gonna get it .... Labrocca, DNQuest, John Berryhill will be here soon..

Unless you wake up to yourself, forget the amateur legal (rose colored) research and apologise to the people whove sent you the C&D and kindly accept their offer..

Hey, but whatever you do (and in all due respect), please dont talk of trademarks and patents - all advice concerning checking their TM's and filing of same is BS.. You bought the names because you knew of the company and/or of their services, you therefore showed bad faith. The end.

 

[hmcintyre]

Definitely accept the offer.

If I remember right Telstra is partially government owned as well. You definitely do not want a long, drawn out and costly legal battle that you are GUARANTEED to lose.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Man, you are sooo gonna get it .... Labrocca, DNQuest, John Berryhill will be here soon..

Unless you wake up to yourself, forget the amateur legal (rose colored) research and apologise to the people whove sent you the C&D and kindly accept their offer..

Hey, but whatever you do (and in all due respect), please dont talk of trademarks and patents - all advice concerning checking their TM's and filing of same is BS.. You bought the names because you knew of the company and/or of their services, you therefore showed bad faith. The end.

I don't think I need to add to this...

 

[onassis]

Singapore is the biggest partner of Telstra now. I guess Telstra have large expendition plans in the future and therefore request for all relevant domains to be under it posession asap.

In this capitalist world, It better to keep cool and sell it for 150USD.

 

[Dave_Z]

Hmm...now why do I get the feeling I saw this thread somewhere else? :D

Anyway, wise decision to take the $150. That's...how many times your "initial
investment"?

 

[hmcintyre]

http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2003/d2003-0604.html

http://www.telstra.com.au/global/copyright/index.shtml

There is really no way you can win this, by the way. They DEFINITELY have the trademarks.

 

[dochlaggie]

can you tell us the name?

I am from Australia. Telstra does have the monoply here in Australia and is part government owned.

Could you tell us the name?

 

[Peter]

As per their documents the trademark was lodged in October 2006 and I registered this domain in November-December period 2006 so its not like I am registering a well known domain name here, It was a very short time period between the trademark been placed and the registration done by me.

And that helps you why? That proves you DID register the domain name AFTER the trademark was in place.

Reason been I had one of their so called "trademarked" domains on SEDO for sale for $3000, small change for Tesltra...They said all this stuff how I was profiting off the domain name (dont even have any traffic to it) and misleading Telstra customers to believe I own the company or some jibberish. Thing is I even have some services via Telstra at my place they have also quoted this in the email they know my name they knwo I use their services blah blah blah...

Although you have not made 1 cent from the domain name the fact that you are trying to sell it for $3,000 shows that you are trying to profit from it, or did you reg it for $3,000 (if you did I would find a new registrar).

This domain is not well know at all its a slang based word basically its not even correct English, it is not like I registered the company name.

The weird thing is the company states to have 3 variations of the trademark all for different spelling.

I am checking for sure that they even own a trade mark on this because they quite possibly do not.

Also I want to check the dates on registration and the final date their trade mark was registered because it seems to be VERY close.

You have already admitted you regged them because of telstra. So if you got the term from telstra what makes you think they never trademarked it?

exactly.
lesson 1: if you try it again, have the brains to use privacy whois, use a good registrar like Moniker, as Godaddy will find you guilty before innocent..
also don't approach endusers (not sure if you did) & be careful if parking, better to develop.

Lastly if it's a tm, you are lucky to get anything.
These days it seems even generics aren't safe!

How will using whois privacy help. If you use whois privacy the company will go straight to WIPO. As a WIPO has then been initiated then the registrar are obliged to provide the registered owners details.

 

[ji]

I just think they have acted slow on registering the domain, they say I am "currently" making money of their trade mark...
I have not even made a cent...

Yes due to the fact that the company is so large I think I will just have to take this small cash offering.

It would be like taking GOOGLE to court in terms of USA legal system

Telstra is that large.

Just because they didn't take it doesn't make it right for you to take it.

 

[deu12000]

You can't get any clearer of any TM violation than this. You might as well take the $150 and be happy they gave you anything. No matter what you still registered after the trademark was registered and of course there might have been prior knowledge before that. Just take what they offer and be happy. Having it on Sedo for $3000 definitely doesn't help the case either. This is a open and shut case for cyber-squatting and the chances of you winning are slim to none.

Jonathan Robinson, chief operating officer at NetNames, said: "Any organisation which has yet to secure its .mobi trademarks has left itself wide open to abuse from cyber-squatters, domain name speculators and competitors."

This quote doesn't help you at all. Notice two derogatory terms there? Abuse, cyber-squatter. So because you are quoting him you are abusing the domain name and/or cyber-squatting? Regardless of the quote the domain was registered in bad faith and you should give it up before the situation possibly gets worse.

 

[connections]

reminds me of this article:

http://www.tylercruz.com/beware-of-dmca-scammer/