discuss Intimidation Tactics: Share the most absurd attempts at intimidation!

[DanSanchez]

Intimidation, legal or not, happens daily in the domain industry. I am an avid defender of private property and individual responsibility, personally, this is one of the most disgusting acts an individual can undertake to try to appropriate a domain name.

Now that I work at Epik, I am often tasked with answering emails from foolish individuals who purposely or not, try to misconstrue UDRP/Trademark rights try to intimidate the registrar into handing over a certain domain. This means they have already tried to contact the owner of the domain and they have failed, but it's not always the case.

In this particular instance, the individual attached a 2013 company registration from Turkey! The domain was owned by a client since 2009. The claimant is in textile and serves a very small local audience. Not only that, but the domain in question here has a .com.tr counterpart, which they recently registered in December 2019.

Here is the email he sent me directly:

During my research, I discovered they were going to rebrand to the (shorter) name they recently registered and felt entitled enough to steal the .com by coercion and intimidation.

Let's learn from each other to proactively protect our assets. Domains are unique, powerful, and valuable business tools. I am happy to share what my process is for establishing an appropriate response to help you fight this constant battle.

Share your recent experiences of fraudulent attempts to separate you from your rightful property.

Some relevant questions:

• How can we establish a standard operating procedure for aggressive defense of digital assets?
• How can the community come together to learn from each other?
• How can we establish legal rights to our property when someone (unscrupulous or not) comes demanding our property by force and coercion?

Warning: I am not an attorney.

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

So the bottom line is NEVER EVER "educate" or "inform" potential complainants, and instead ALWAYS string them along and allow them to make mistakes.

I tell my kids this advice... except for the stringing along bit. "Don't arm (educate) those that mean you harm".

It reminds me of Vito Corleone chastizing Sonny: "Don't tell anyone outside the family what you are thinking!".

 

[BrandEntrance.com]

The need for a polite and professional attitude goes both ways.

Sometimes the inquiries are condescending, unnecessarily intimidating or start with such appallingly low offers that they end the negotiation before it can start.

I bet there are many situations where a decision is made to try to aquire a domain and the process is intended to be a professional transaction...

...until this guy tells the board he can get the domain name for a lower price...

...and then the whole thing turns into a ...

 

[pooky]

If "that guy" had shown a shred of intelligence and politeness, I would have even lowered my price a bit. Instead, he went on a further rant.

The domain was not listed for sale before that. After his rants, I put it up for sale for 15k, updated with a 1k increase in the BIN at regular intervals, in his honor.

His client probably thinks he tried his best.

 

[bulkdomainz]

If I have time, I'll play dumb. If I don't, I ignore the threats with respond with something like:

'Thank you for you email. The domain is available for sale at xxxx. I look forward to doing business with you'.

I never hear back.

 

[Name Trader]

I spent a few months last year effectively destroying the lawyer of a global top 100 brand who was trying to intimidate a fellow domainer.

He behaved extremely unethically and I put him in his place.

Really surprising how far some people are willing to go.

Can I refer my next TM dispute/UDRP to you?