advice Domain purchase of a company

[Adam101]

Hi All,
I'm new to domains and needed some advice from the experts here at namepros.com

So, the company I work for is being bought out by another company.
I had a idea and check to see if they had bought the domain name which would associate our company and their company, it was available and I bought 3 domain names. I worked this out by looking at other companies they have acquired and looked at what domains they had.

My question is, as I work for the company they are acquiring would I get into trouble for this and can they legally do anything that could potential mean I have for give up that domain name.
My plan is to sell it back to them for a premium.

Thanks
Adam

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

Hi All,
I'm new to domains and needed some advice from the experts here at namepros.com

So, the company I work for is being bought out by another company.
I had a idea and check to see if they had bought the domain name which would associate our company and their company, it was available and I bought 3 domain names. I worked this out by looking at other companies they have acquired and looked at what domains they had.

My question is, as I work for the company they are acquiring would I get into trouble for this and can they legally do anything that could potential mean I have for give up that domain name.
My plan is to sell it back to them for a premium.

Thanks
Adam

Interesting!
Questions?

1. Is that name trademarked yet?
2. Did you read the fine print on anything you signed before you started work ? Usually companies add in the fine print some kind of NDA . You kinda have the inside track on your company dealings and used the info to benefit yourself. Don't know how that would stand in court. What do you think ?

My two cents.

 

[hawkeye]

My question is, as I work for the company they are acquiring would I get into trouble for this and can they legally do anything that could potential mean I have for give up that domain name.
My plan is to sell it back to them for a premium.

Yeah, good luck with that.

 

[EmotiveDomains]

I'd have thought it would be hard to negotiate with a company who pays your wages, but I guess you could always use private registration and sell through an aftermarket domain site to keep your identity secret.

That's all assuming there're no TM issues of course.

 

[Adam101]

Thanks for the response Avtar629.

I dont think its trademarked yet. Basically its like saying google buys yahoo and then calls yahoos website as googleyahoo.com that is basically what they company taking over will do, going buy the other companies they have acquired.

The company is work for is a PLC and this takeover is known publicly so they cant do me for insider tracking

 

[Nerevar]

In my opinion, your legal position is extremely weak, and if it gets to court it may hurt. The only possible exception is the rare case if the name is extremely generic. For example, if one company name is Credit and the other name is Card, CreditCard is very generic, it's a real product and possibly can be resold for profit. However, if one name is Blue and the other name is Credit, the resulting name BlueCredit is not exactly generic, it is not a real product. They would sue and easily prove bad faith, especially for a (former) employee.

By the way, it is not the "non-disclosure" clause that you should worry about, but the "non-compete" and similar.

 

[Nerevar]

By the way, if you delete the domain, your former ownership can still be found (unless it was registered in private, and possibly even then). What I would advise you to do: go to your boss and say that you grabbed the name to protect it, so that noone else grabs it, because you have heard that name squatters do it. Suggest to transfer the name to their technical team. Do it before they find out.

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

By the way, if you delete the domain, your former ownership can still be found (unless it was registered in private, and possibly even then). What I would advise you to do: go to your boss and say that you grabbed the name to protect it, so that noone else grabs it, because you have heard that name squatters do it. Suggest to transfer the name to their technical team. Do it before they find out.

Nice! Might even get a fat raise too!! Brownie points!

 

[wwwweb]

Hi All,
I'm new to domains and needed some advice from the experts here at namepros.com

So, the company I work for is being bought out by another company.
I had a idea and check to see if they had bought the domain name which would associate our company and their company, it was available and I bought 3 domain names. I worked this out by looking at other companies they have acquired and looked at what domains they had.

My question is, as I work for the company they are acquiring would I get into trouble for this and can they legally do anything that could potential mean I have for give up that domain name.
My plan is to sell it back to them for a premium.

Thanks
Adam

Do you value your job, on the lines of insider trading, look it up.

Nobody here can tell you one way or another, if you can't think for yourself, I feel sorry for the company that hired you.

 

[Cdomains]

Sounds tricky.

So many possible problems with this.

 

[johnn]

The domain name & website is the asset of the company and go with the sale.

 

[wwwweb]

Even better if he goes thru Escrow, and has to upload all his legal, and address documents.

 

[Kuffy]

I think I'd go with the discuss it with the company idea. Also, I'd try to persuade them to let me find some more names for them.

If you hang on, you run the risk of being left out on a limb. To use your Google/Yahoo analogy, what happens if they decide to call the new company GooHoo. You names may no longer be relevant.

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

I think I'd go with the discuss it with the company idea. Also, I'd try to persuade them to let me find some more names for them.

If you hang on, you run the risk of being left out on a limb. To use your Google/Yahoo analogy, what happens if they decide to call the new company GooHoo. You names may no longer be relevant.

Companies do that all the time

 

[wwwweb]

I think I'd go with the discuss it with the company idea. Also, I'd try to persuade them to let me find some more names for them.

If you hang on, you run the risk of being left out on a limb. To use your Google/Yahoo analogy, what happens if they decide to call the new company GooHoo. You names may no longer be relevant.

This is hilarious, you work for a company, and you are going to spend work time discussing domains that you registered based on insider information of a merger they are partaking in. So you can sell them the domains back, at a profit, maybe ask for a rasie at the same time?

Did anyone take an ethics class?

 

[johnn]

Sometime you should post
Sometime you should not post
Take 7 seconds thinking before posting

 

[Nerevar]

IMO, it is not about selling for profit now. It is about getting out of the situation without getting sued and / or fired.

 

[Kate]

Not only a conflict of interests, but a clear case of cybersquatting as well.
If the company finds out, they could even start a UDRP or legal proceedings. And say goodbye to your anonymity.

 

[Wannabean]

You could lose your job over this. Drop the names.

 

[RWD]

This is almost as stupid as the ruby thread from this morning. Must be a full moon coming soon.

 

[Alessandro Couteau]

Bad move... Pretend your boss is Tom Cruise for a moment and the briefcase is supposed to be the company's name ...

 

[The Durfer]

yea, unless you quit and take the names with you, I would do like said above and find away to get brownie points for saving the name and give it up to the company.