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legal GrubHub is buying web domains for the restaurants it lists

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Nobody posted GH Terms, so here:

Restaurants cannot technically sell direct?, once they become a Grubhub customer? ! Business owners are signing up for a service which is independent contractor driver delivery. I dont see anything detailed in writing about what if any marketing services including domain name registration is in the GH Restaurant agreement. Proprietary must be the domain name registration. Lol.

“Restaurant acknowledges that all Customer Data is the sole and exclusive property of GH (or, as applicable, the GH Partner).”

GH is not an Agent for restaurant:

“GH and Restaurant are independent contractors, and nothing herein may be construed to create any agency, partnership or joint venture between them. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, neither party has any authority of any kind to bind the other party in any respect whatsoever. ”

Arbitration is agreed up front upon signing in and no class action.

“Restaurant and GH agree that all claims or disputes arising out of the Agreement will be decided by an arbitrator through arbitration and not by a judge or jury (“Arbitration Agreement”).”

“The parties agree to bring any claim or dispute in arbitration on an individual basis only, and not as a class or collective action, and there will be no right or authority for any claim or dispute to be brought, heard or arbitrated as a class or collective action (“Class Action Waiver”)”

https://get.grubhub.com/legal/grubhub-restaurant-terms.html
 
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It seems to me as most US consumers don’t realize that outside the US, there are many such non centralized “Express” delivery services. No app required. This isn’t anything new really elsewhere. Pharmacies even deliver where I travel. The entire business could be severely disrupted by drivers quitting and going independent working for a few restaurants in their local area after Restaurants quit and can work with them direct. Demand to get their domains back, hire web developers and bill direct. Unlike Uber, this service isn’t as instantaneous fulfillment. However, the mass market trust and acceptance and marketing like Amazon has achieved is a big value that GH provides, so 30% might be justified.
 
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I dont see anything detailed in writing about what if any marketing services including domain name registration is in the GH Restaurant agreement.

Well, then you aren't looking. First off, there is also a "services form" that is incorporated into the agreement. But looking at the agreement you posted here:

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e. GH owns all right, title, and interest in and to the GH System and any content supplied by GH, and will have sole editorial control over the GH System, including the presentation of any content provided by Restaurant (“Restaurant Content”). Restaurant Content may include, without limitation, menus, photographs, trademarks and logos. For the term of the Agreement and for six (6) months thereafter, Restaurant hereby grants to GH a royalty-free, worldwide, sub-licenseable, transferable, fully paid-up, irrevocable right and license to use the Restaurant Content on the Systems, and for marketing and promotional purposes via any means now known or hereinafter developed.
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So, breaking that down, the restaurant grants GrubHub a license to use the Restaurant's trademarks - i.e. the name of the restaurant - for marketing and promotional purposes "via any means now known". I don't see why a mini-site connected with the GH ordering system does not qualify as a marketing vehicle using a known means.
 
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It's also worth pointing out that the contract has a mandatory arbitration clause, so there aren't going to be any lawsuits either.
 
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...and, no, it’s not as if the words jump off the page to say “we’ll register a domain name that should be yours and point it to our service”, but the language is certainly broad enough to include that.
 
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It's also worth pointing out that the contract has a mandatory arbitration clause, so there aren't going to be any lawsuits either.

Thanks for replying. Yes, your assessment is correct. Anybody signing this is giving up a bunch of their rights. I mentioned that arbitration was required above, so my original repost from the earlier twitter lawyer post, wasn’t even applicable and they didnt read the agreement either. Without owning a restaurant and knowing how much business this generates, its hard to tell if their drivers and marketing is worth it. It must be though.

The agreement is written to cover themselves by leaving out Marketing DETAILS, like I stated. Registering a domain name is imo intentionally not listed, and the reasoning is self evident as that keeps it vague and part of what “proprietary” marketing services they offer. Well, at least restaurants can leave if it does not work with 3 days notice, it could have been an exclusive for 3 years. Lol. What they probably do is once you end the agreement, they have coded in the app to redirect the business to your competitors.

All the demographics, locations, marketing data, billing, pricing, etc is all owned by them, so they really dig deep into independent businesses. Being in similar arrangements before in unrelated industry in a situation like them, I always protected my data, private labeled, etc. so as to prevent the supplier from learning too much about my customer base.
 
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Registering a domain name is imo intentionally not listed

Maybe, but you also try not to foreclose “things we hadn’t thought of yet” when you write these kinds of things. If the restaurant hasn’t registered their domain, and if their policy was to turn over the domains If the restaurant wanted it back, I’m hard-pressed to see the harm in it.
 
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Tempting to buy all unregistered and play ball.
 
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