C+D for a dictionary word

[codemerc]

I just received an email 'demanding' that I stop using ****.info and requesting that I hand it over, they offer to pay registration fees. The letter is from a law firm, it all looks very professional. The law firm and complainant appear to be substantial legitimate organsations.

**** is a dictionary word, I currently use the domain to advertise car electonics (affiliate site)

The complainant is **** healthcare, they claim that my site is 'fake' and is infringing their trademark. They also accuse me of cybersquatting.

They don't have the .com, apparently it now belongs to an international bank that took over a company **** about 5 years ago. it doesn't now resolve.

The net is registered but doesn't resolve.

The org is parked.

many other extensions co.uk, co.nz etc are in use by unrelated companies.

**** is used as part of the name of many companies. There are also a number of companies with just **** as their name **** llc, **** inc, **** ltd.

I registered this domain in good faith, as a generic word, it certainly and clearly doesn't infringe on the complainants trademark, it's difficult to see how they think that car electronics can be confused with healthcare. Their letter even has a screenshot of my domain advertising car electronics.

I think this is a reverse domain hijack attempt.

I'm really surprised about apparently legitimate substantial companies trying to pull this sort of scam.

I could just give it to them, no loss to me (it's a $1.19 info), or just put-up a blank page, doing anything else will cost me more time and money than it's worth, on the other hand I don't like bullies trying to steal my marbles.

Morally I think that I should fight, sensibly I should forget it and put the time to better use.

BTW.. I just checked with uspto.org, the complainant does have **** healthcare, but not ****, however, there are 10 live registrations with just **** as the mark, different industries, none related to car electronics, with a total of 51 results. Initially I mistakenly did a basic search of uspto.org, there are a lot of hits for ****, where it's used for it's English meaning as part of sentences.

It's not worth the time I've put into this already, but it's annoying, anyone know where I can report this as harassment? I'm thinking of changing the site into a blog with one post containing their letter, then ping it to every site I can think of, any thoughts?

 

[MJ]

Without knowing the domains and details there really is no way to judge. If the domain makes you some real money or you think it has some real worth then call Ari Goldberger, Zak Muskovitch, John Berryhill, Howard Neu, or one of the others for a consultation. It shouldn't cost more than $200 to $300 normally.

Great advice.

This is also why I say it doesn't matter if the name is generic, or it doesnt matter if the domain has a TM in it like "Wii", all that matters is who the better lawyer is. It's unfortunate, but that is the way things are going... same with criminals

 

[codemerc]

One thing I have learned is that these big companies did not get rich writing checks. They can steal it easier through a seedy lawyer.

That's what I thought, however on researching the law firm they seem to be highly respected, have four offices, 230 attorneys, and are involved in MULTI-BILLION dollar cases.

Their fee for writing and sending a 3 page letter, as a PDF file, is probably a little more than I would have valued the domain ($2). They even say they've sent a registered letter, the domain is probably worth less to me than the postage they've paid.

BTW: the complainant isn't even the most prominent company with **** in it's name, it's a private company with 250-500 employees, there are 5 companies with better google position, even the dictionary result for merriam-webster.com ranks higher. The top google result for **** is ****co.com, it's quoted on NASDAQ with a market capitalisation over $300 Million.

It just gets more and more strange as I look into it, There are many other things I should be doing, but I'm annoyed by this and can't concentrate on anything else, also the other things I need to do are boring :td:

 

[labrocca]

Here would be my response.

"Dear sirs, upon investigation into the matter I can see no wrongdoing on my part. I have looked over your correspondence carefully and I believe understand them very well. I do not believe your company has a right to my domain. However I am a reasonable person and judging from your threats you really need this domain. I am willing to discuss a reasonable way to resolve this amicably and any suggestions you offer will be seriously considered.

Realize that I am financially prepared to fight a legal battle and believe I would win a WIPO decision and would also attempt to layout a reverse hijacking case so that I may pursue legal action against your company for my legal fees because of the frivalous nature of your claims.

If you want to discuss this matter with me personally I will make myself available.

Sincerely,
John Doe
555-555-1212

 

[Kate]

Even a dictionary/generic keyword can be TMed for a specific use, for example Apple is TM in the computer industry. Without knowing the domain, the other important question would be: how is the domain used ?

 

[codemerc]

Even a dictionary/generic keyword can be TMed for a specific use, for example Apple is TM in the computer industry. Without knowing the domain, the other important question would be: how is the domain used ?

Yes of course, this word has 10 active TMs on the word alone, along with quite a few TMs on the word in conjunction with another word.

The Complainant's TMs are in healthcare, there are TM's in various other fields, consulting, software, etc, I'm using the site for affiliate ads in car electronics. My site has no relation to any of the TM's on the word, or word combination.

I think they believe that the word uniquely identifies them, it doesn't, and can prove it, they have SERPS position 8 for the word, there are at least 5 companies above them that call themselves the word and are referred to by the word in their own fields.

In google, the word + "car electronics" has my site as no 1 out of 207, as far as I've checked all the results use the word in a sentence, or in an article unrelated to "car electronics" that happen to be on the same page. "car electronics" has 6.5 million results, the word has 2.5 million results.