question Has anyone ever contacted TM holder to sell?

[WhoaDomain.com]

Obviously if you regged a domain prior to TM being regged it's ok. (But even then TM holders can still try reverse domain hijacking). But if they regged theirs before yours that's an issue. Everyone here says so but there has to be some instance where domainers just did the unthinkable and reached out to the TM holders and it wasn't as bad as everyone says. Or does it always end up horrible?

Can you approach TM holders and just let them know you own it and leave it at that? Not saying it's for sale or whatever. Or is the mere act of reaching out "solicitation"?



I'm sure there's a story to tell there.

Can anyone share their experience bad or good?

I suspect mostly bad. But any good results as in they actually bought?

How did you go about it?

I mean I've seen domainers (many in China) squatting on obvious TM domains. What's the point when everyone says it's a bad idea?

Why they even bother? If you can't approach these people to try to sell? Most lead to blank pages not earning anything.

I guess the real question is how do you approach a TM holder knowing it's risky?

I'm sure the big boys have done it but they have the money for lawyers.

What about the little guy? Who regged without doing homework and now lost money on the regged?

This ought to be good.

Please share. Thanks.

 

[jberryhill]

I mean I've seen domainers (many in China) squatting on obvious TM domains. What's the point when everyone says it's a bad idea?

Do you ever see people smoking cigarettes?

There are millions of people who smoke meth too. Give it a whirl and let us know how it works out for you.

 

[WatchDogue]

If I follow your thought process, a " little guy - who regged without doing homework and now lost money on the regged" - should contact the TM holder to offer to sell the TM holder their own TM in a domain in order to recoup a reg fee loss?

If one is out 8-10 bucks, or less, on a TM reg fee, IMO that person has gotten off quite cheap compared to potential legal matters and, should consider their 8-10 bucks as " tuition paid " in a rudimentary TM class.

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

alright it's obvious I put myself out there to be ridiculed but it's a fair question. Seeing as how there are plenty of TM's registered that aren't owned by the TM holders.

I was just curious as how these registrant (if any) actually successful approached the TM holders and success sold to the TM holder.

To say "it never happened" is too "100%" there has to be some instance in domaining history where the domainer grew a pair and just decided to contact the TM holder and either walked away with no repercussions and or even better actually sold.

This is not about whether a domainer should register TM domains or focus on TM domains.

the assumption is the domainer has regged the TM domain either without homework or blatantly.

This is not a"judgement" thread. but a simple question. Has anyone successfully contacted TM holders knowing full well the risks and what their experience was? bad or good?

 

[jberryhill]

If 20% of the prostitutes in your town have STD's, then most of the time, you'll be fine having unprotected sex.

There are lots of people having unprotected sex with prostitutes knowing full well the risks. I would guess they are having a great time, and 80% of the time they aren't getting an STD.

 

[xynames]

I’ve contacted a big business to try to sell them a domain I think is better than what they’ve got but no - I wouldn’t try to sell a TM holder what they essentially already have! You’re talking about poking the sleeping bear.

(You’re talking also - I assume - about a domain registered after the TM was registered.)

 

[Domains - Wanted]

Do you ever see people smoking cigarettes?

There are millions of people who smoke meth too. Give it a whirl and let us know how it works out for you.

This is good analogy. My grandfather smoked 20 cigarettes a day all his life and lived to ripe old age of 94. He passed away due to pneumonia, complicated by an onset of diabetes and possibly inadequate medical care in a small town public hospital in barely post Communist Poland.

I agree what @Avtar629 suggests is like playing with fire or, say, skydiving or rock climbing. Things to be avoided if you can manage. Doesn't mean it's a death sentence if you can't. Some people can't help but to live on the edge. In domaining, this fits the bill

 

[Amphibia07]

And how about if you don't contact TM holder? If you wait for them to contact you?

I have several domains that are trademarked in certain countries, then what should I do - unreg them? What is the risk for the domainer on holding on to them? These are not super-premium names you'd pay 000's to acquire, some were actually available for hand-reg. No clue why the company didn't reg .com before, despite having some country tlds, they had ample time, but for some reason they didn't, maybe they had no intentions to expand internationally, but that can change with time and they may realize they want that .com.

I don't mind paying the reg fee for several years. I don't park the page with links to competing products, so I am not really tapping into the brand recognition value they created. The goal? Wait and see if they come and sell the .com in somewhere like US$900-1k range Not trying to force my hand for super high value which would encourage them to URDP. How much does it cost to file the URDP? Probably in the US 1k+ range. Then it's better value for them just to buy the .com.

I mean TMs are nuanced, usually registered in a country/category combination fashion. Even if it is for a domain that does not have common word associated with it, some letter combination or a nice sounding phrase, why couldn't others register similar phrase? For use in different sector? Plenty of companies share trademarks in common words.

Would the mere fact that you list domain on Sedo or Afternic constitute bad faifth? Really interesting what's the risk on holding to such domains besides reg fee.