DNcoupons.com legal matter

[Shane]

Hello,
I have recentally bought DNcoupons.net thinking i shall make it into a good coupon site ect. But MellowMasher said i should contact the owner of DNcoupons.com first.

I did and the email log read as:

----- Original Message -----
From: "shane hudson" <[email protected]>
To: <Removed By Request>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 3:10 PM
Subject: DNcoupons


Hello,
I am a domainer and i decided to register and develop a
website with domain name coupons on it. After many whois searches
i found that DNcoupons.net was available so i registered it and
am in the process of developing. Just now i was advised to
contact you as although you do not own a trademark, it is still
not very ethical to use it.

So, i would like your permisson to carry on developing this
wonderful name. I WILL NOT use this to make money or steal any of
your traffic. I just like helping people and i know that it took
me a very long time indeed to find a good coupon site. If you
would like i will link my site to yours and we could affiliate or
something?

Thank you very much for reading this and I would appreciate a
reply.

Shane Hudson

----- Original Message ----
From: <Removed By Request>
To: shane hudson <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, 25 October, 2007 9:29:55 PM
Subject: Re: DNcoupons

Unfortunately, if you feel that sending an email will make any
legal issues you may face as a result of registering
<dncoupons.net> go away, you are mistaken.

- DNCoupons


What should i do? He has no trademark or anything but is still trying to threaten me with legal issues!

Thank you

 

[Daniel]

Registration of a trademark, while highly recommended, is optional.

Drinking Good Beer, While Optional, is highly recommended

I needed that this mourning

Mourning makes you laugh? Oh dear... :explodinghead:

Maybe you meant Morning. :p

 

[Dave_Z]

not too happy, i still lost my much needed money lol but at least im not in court!

You'll make that money back somehow.

 

[exponent]

Registration is not a requirement either. Didn't you read or maybe believe this?

Very interesting. I always went off of my state's mark requirements as a baseline.

Of course, that's USPTO since you're from Ohio. Other jurisdictions might have other definitions and what not.

Unfortunately, Ohio has a lot of interesting rules (and exceptions to rules)

Ohio Revised Code 1329.66 (Rights and Remedies) effective 10-20-1978

Any owner of a trademark or service mark registered under the sections 1329.54 to 1329.67 of the Revised Code, may proceed by suit to enjoin the manufacture, use, display, or sale of any counterfeits or imitations of the mark, and any court of competent jurisdiction may grant injunctions to restrain such manufacture, use, display, or sale as may be by the the [sic.] court considered just and reasonable, and may require the defendants to pay to the owner all profits derived from and all damages suffered by reason of the wrongful manufacture, use, display, or sale; the court may also order that any such counterfeits or imitations in the possession or under the control of any defendant in such case, be delivered to an officer of the court, or to the complainant, to be destroyed.

 

[serin]

.....be delivered to an officer of the court, or to the complainant, to be destroyed.

I wonder how it is possible to destroy a domain name.. (Yes, i know that it says the court may order that.. but it still leaves the possibility of the order out there.)

'cause if you Cancel a domain name, it goes back into the system thus was never destroyed, if you Put a different web advert up there.. it still exists thus was never destroyed.. The only way I could see them destroying a domain name.. was to De-commission ICANN and all the DNS's in existance, But it also requires taking out every computer that ever viewed the site.. thus destroying all domain names, and the internet in one fell swoop..

 

[Castlemelody]

That's a right thing to do. Now, go get yourself another domain.
Don't worry. The money you spent will soon pay off for honest business.

...
I have pushed this name to Webfreak, i really didnt want legal problems.

 

[Source]

not too happy, i still lost my much needed money lol but at least im not in court!

But you gained a valuable lesson.

You can reg another .com name for 425 of your NP$.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

He has a copyright through usage, however the "trademark" is a harder argument entirely because he doesn't have an actual trademark on file with the government.

You're dotting your T's and crossing your eyes - it's been beaten to death already, but I wanted to repeat the point (Registration is great, but not always necessary - and Copyright doesn't seem to be at issue here.) as context for your next point...

Very interesting. I always went off of my state's mark requirements as a baseline.

Unfortunately, Ohio has a lot of interesting rules (and exceptions to rules)

Ohio Revised Code 1329.66 (Rights and Remedies) effective 10-20-1978

Not sure what that has to do with "anything", really. The Lanham Act (Most codified TM laws) is a Federal entity, and the quote above has very little (if anything) to do with the topic at hand.