advice Do I reach out or not

[7363824]

I was looking for end user leads on some of my names and found a company on a longer version of one of the first names I bought.

I did check tm247 no matches broad or exact for either the short or long tail version. But I am wondering if I should be worried about them trying a UDRP claiming a common law mark if I try to reach out to them asking low xx,xxx to high xxxx for the name.

I legitimately did not know they existed until today but they are not some small company. My initial though was it could be used a a generic descriptor for a type of product for a niche ecommerce site.

Without giving the real name(s) lets just hypothetically say I own coolcig.com and there is a company at coolcigarette.com to get an idea but the actual domain follows the same format adjective followed by a noun that could describe a general industry where the long form of the industry name is a specific company and I got the short version.

I realize you can't provide legal advice or anything, but how would you handle this?

 

[Rhinnnn]

Is your domain relatively new? If yes, I would wait for some time (months, maybe a year) before reaching out.

Who knows, if the existing company is successful they may stumble upon your domain and approach you. If that happens, you'll have the upper hand when dealing.

 

[7363824]

I've had it since September. It was an expiring name, originally registered July 1999.

 

[karmaco]

If you want that much better to have them approach you. Who knows if they have or not in the past and if they even want the name. I just don’t see any benefit to approaching them when you have that kind of price tag in mind.

 

[7363824]

If you want that much better to have them approach you. Who knows if they have or not in the past and if they even want the name. I just don’t see any benefit to approaching them when you have that kind of price tag in mind.

The thing is the longer name is used for a site that is part of a division of a large company so thats my price for them specifically.

 

[The Durfer]

yes at least once. You dont want to regret it in the future not doing anything. good luck.

 

[BaileyUK]

Don't be surprised if you get no reply. It's of No interest to them.

Quite often with these type of 'shortened' versions, there's a myriad of variations that could be applicable to their 'Owned and used' term - They wont be interested in a domain that doesn't give them a large additional edge.

In my experience it's about a twenty to one chance of even getting a response if it is just a variation of a term of term, even if it's shorter and you 'personally' prefer it.

Nobody wants to change established marketing/identity etc (or even add to it) unless there's an overwhelming reason. Secondary identities can also bring about confusion to their own existing customer base so are avoided.

By all means give it a shot - just be aware these type of domain approaches usually only work when your offering a outright generic with a large amount of additional traffic for their business type.

One of the best measures with this type of domain thinking is - Can you identify at least a half-a-dozen other businesses that could possibly want the term. If not - there's no competitive reason for your target to want it either