Deleting typo domains I bought

[juanber]

Hi,

Excuse my English, it's not my first language. I also didn't know if I should put this in the legal issues forum or technical forum, since it's a mix of both.

Last week I was paid a good amount of money for a domain i had bought to develop, and that got me into thinking about buying and parking some domains and see if I got some money.

I say the thing about typo domains and without putting much thought into it I bought 4 domains that are typos of very famous websites.

Then, only after buying them I read that you can be in serious trouble for these things. So I unparked them inmediately. Here are my quesitons:

- Do you think I can be in trouble for just owning them?
- I want to delete them, and I'm trying to see in "Name.com" the option to delete names, without success until now. I would just rather delete them if it's possible, but I'm just not seeing the option in Name.com.

I suppose it's difficult that I could get in serious trouble (am i right about this?), but I would prefer to just get rid of them. Any options I have apart from disabling "auto renew"?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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Do you think I can be in trouble for just owning them?

Possibly, especially if the TM holders can get a screenshot of the parked page. It's probably not likely, though

I would recommend that you open a support ticket with Name.com and ask what you can do.

A lot of us started where you are right now, mistakenly thinking that typos are okay.

I applaud your efforts to do the right thing, so I sincerely hope that my fellow members don't ride you too hard.



*

 

[biggie]

:talk:

some entities will aggressively monitor typo registrations of their domains and others won't bother.



not something for newbies to speculate or chance on


imo....

 

[juanber]

So knowing that, the only question that remains is, is it hard to get rid of a domain? In my ignorance I thought it would be similar to acquiring them, but it doesn't seem to be the case since I'm not seeing the option in my panel.

I have sent them a mail but I appreciate any info.

---------- Post added at 01:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:06 PM ----------

One more post about this,

I have been reading a bit more and it seems it should not be very bad. The domains are basically typos of famous adult domains, you know, these domains that put two words together, like "xvideos", "youporn", "pornhub", things like that.

Going by what I'm reading now, those are kind of generic words, and for example there is even a xvideos with another extension running without problem.

The other one I was worried about is a free encyclopedia (ehem), but hasn't even been parked.

I'm still going to erase them because I don't like the mere possibility of trouble, but am i right in being relaxed enough about these ones?

 

[Blake]

Hello Juanber,

First off most registrars do have either a grace delete for when you've just registered the domain and they also offer a way to just delete the domain from your account. I would as suggested consult with Name.com and they should direct you or help you remove the names from your account. Now as far as when to be relaxed about a typo of a famous site adult or otherwise ...well all I would say is treat them all as if it was a very serious matter.

Even adult sites will pursue you to defend their marks...and by using a typo you are in essence capturing their traffic and making a profit. Some will say it's ok and that's because they either have not been caught or simply don't care about their reputation. I would highly suggest as you seem to be wanting to do is get rid of the names and purge all TM names.

In the future if your concerned with registering or buying a TM name do a quick check on the USPO here is a link that can help you get started as well:

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4808:m2nlwh.1.1

I also applaud you for understanding that having these names can be a very bad thing...lots of new members ask for advice then get mad upon hearing the verdict. We have all been there and made the same mistake ..just so long as you learn from it you'll be fine. Also if you get a chance visit the legal section of namepros.com there are many case studies of what happens when the TM holder finds out etc.

Good luck to you!
Blake A. Worthington

 

[juanber]

Great, thanks for your kind reply, I'm in contact with Name.com to delete them.

---------- Post added at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:43 PM ----------

Oh, and if anybody knows if there's an option in the Name.com panel for this I would appreciate the info. I suppose they will reply to my email soon but there should be an option for this. If there is a grace period then I have to bee in it because it's been 2 days that I bought them xD

 

[Kate]

Best thing would be to get in touch with your registrar and ask for a grace delete. If we are talking about .com/.net domains etc they can be deleted within 5 days, but there is a non refundable icann fee ($1 or $2, something like that). So you could recover the rest of the fees.
If it's been more than 5 days, then domains can still be deleted early at any time, you don't have to wait until expiry. Ask the registrar to send them to redemption or have them deleted at once. In this case there will be no refund at all. But if you think the domains are problematic, get rid of them asap.

 

[joshny]

I recommend you auction them off here at a cheap price, there are always people willing to buy typos

 

[juanber]

Couldn't that also lead to trouble, since it's profiting from them?

 

[alien51]

If you cannot delete the domains, just point your DNS settings to a blank page. Then leave it blank, until the domains expire in a year.

Most of these lawsuits, are because you are "making money" out of someone else's brand (typo and all). So if it's just a blank page, then you are not making money out of it.

If a lawyer DID contact you, just tell the guy you regged the domains by mistake and you are just waiting for them to expire. Lawyers are humans, they can be reasoned with. It's not automatic that you will be sent to jail, or have you fined or whatever.

If English is not your native tongue, i assume you are not living in the United States. It is very unlikely that you will be extradited from where you live, for some typo domains that shows nothing, and you have declared you are sorry for. There are more people in the U.S. Congress that should be put to jail for bigger crimes like shutting down the government.

 

[juanber]

Hi, yes they are all pointing to a blank page now. They were parked like for several hours. I guess if they cannot delete them I will let them expire and hopefully shouldn't be in much trouble.

---------- Post added at 02:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:40 PM ----------

An yes I live in Europe, forgot to mention.

 

[alien51]

Hi, yes they are all pointing to a blank page now. They were parked like for several hours. I guess if they cannot delete them I will let them expire and hopefully shouldn't be in much trouble.

Good. Now go, and sin no more. :tu:

 

[Ms Domainer]

Couldn't that also lead to trouble, since it's profiting from them?

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Don't listen to poster #8 (joshny).

VERY bad advice

*

 

[juanber]

Happy ending: Name has already cancelled the domains and are refunding the money.

Thanks for all the advice people.

 

[jcgt2010]

Good to see Name stepping up for you. I had a similar experience a few months ago and at first I didn't think it was a big-deal, but after reading some case law I was shocked.

 

[mashdun]

What would happen if you just pointed the typo to their website if you couldn't get it deleted? They would get free traffic, right?

If these companies spend so much time monitoring them, why don't they just buy them and been done with it? I believe some (maybe just a few) companies look to profit as much from lawsuits as they do their own real business. I can't think of why they wouldn't just spend the $10 annually for the typo other than that.

Just my thoughts...