Help Legal Advice

[Ray]

I got a letter in the Mail from Microsoft claiming that my domain microgoft.com is generating traffic from there site...

Is this microgoft a copyright of microsoft?

what should i do. THey offer to provide me with the registration fees if I hand over the domain

 

[IAmAllanShore]

A "Copyright"?

:lol: Nope.

A TM even?

Nope.

But does it have to be?

Nope.

You bought it as a typo of microsoft, and they called you on it for having no purpose for the site aside from profiting from their trademark.

 

[Didoz]

IMO ask for a better price :P if they didn't accept, sell it for the reg fees, to not make problems with them, becouse always big companies win

 

[Ray]

i have decided to brush them off.. lol, if its not a trade mark of any type, the domain is mine... wtf are they going to sue me for..

 

[scrsteven]

I like your attitude, albeit it's gonna result in a lawsuit against you.

 

[BurninDragon08]

I wouldn't challenge Microsoft.
They will probably win.
But I would try to get some more money out of them.

 

[downloadfreak]

The domain is crap so hand it over, pretty simple eh?

 

[Flaresolutions]

I hope you do brush it off and then end up living rough the rest of your life. If you are stupid enough not to give it up now, when they are offering to compensate you with reg fees (which very few companies do) then you deserve everything you get. The intention to earn money off of their back is obvious so just hand it over or things will get nasty for you.

 

[wisconsin]

i have decided to brush them off.. lol, if its not a trade mark of any type, the domain is mine... wtf are they going to sue me for..

Unless you have established common law rights to the name and a business/company under the same name, I would say don't even bother.

 

[cache]

so, the general question is: is a typo of TM a problem?
We know it is a problem if the name includes a TM.
What if I have micros0ft.com ( which stands for micros' zero free treat)?

can you explain what is a "common law right"?

Unless you have established common law rights to the name and a business/company under the same name, I would say don't even bother.

 

[wisconsin]

http://www.bitlaw.com/trademark/common.html

 

[Maverick]

A "Copyright"?

:lol: Nope.

A TM even?

Nope.

But does it have to be?

Nope.

You bought it as a typo of microsoft, and they called you on it for having no purpose for the site aside from profiting from their trademark.

Well said and I completely agree.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[cache]

thanks.

http://www.bitlaw.com/trademark/common.html

 

[Didoz]

Please tell us when they will reply :p

 

[budgetname]

Trademark legal advice is very expensive, it could cost you $1000 for them even to give you an opinion. I know I tried it once. Imagine paying court costs Imagine paying for microsofts legal representation :notme:

How much untargetted traffic does it bring in? Do they return to your site? Spend some money on targeted traffic from a search engine like google. A lot of people underestimate the amount of traffic you can bring in even with fifty or sixty dollars. With careful selection you could bring in some great traffic which will more than make up for the loss of this domain.

 

[Michelle]

If they have noticed your name, bothered to send you a letter, they have found you :lol:

 

[Element]

Try checking with them to make sure it was actually them that sent you that letter, and not some scammer.

 

[Dave_Z]

How have you used the domain since regging it?

 

[user-7256]

I site is used to love back in the day was WindowsOS.com. M$ sued him and he lost, but put up a great battle. A lot of us should get together and lobby against microsoft and sue them for monopoly Give them a taste of their own medicine.

Unfortunately, you don't have much hope in this case...

 

[FedPrimeRate.com]

Try checking with them to make sure it was actually them that sent you that letter, and not some scammer.

Right. And if it was really MS that sent the letter, then sell them the name, because:

1) It is a clear case of a "bad faith" registration

2) If a software behemoth like MS wants to take you on, and you have no case, I should think that you are going to lose. Yup.

AmCy