Is there anything we can do?

[EricH]

The company I work for (i.e. "Name Professionals") bought a shortened version of their name (i.e. NamePros.com) for some odd reason before I worked there. After I started there, I did research and the full name hadn't been used by the registrar and was set to expire in June of 04... so I waited... June came... it supposedly expired, but was not accessible due to the 180 day wait period (or whatever it is). Before it became available the original registrar re-registered it, which is fine. Fine except they now have a site up which looks very similar to ours and (lately) has confused our customers to a great extent. The site they have up is simply a link farm so that they can make $$ from type-ins. This would not be a problem if the links were different than that of our comanies (which are VERY specialized), but they are the same. They obviously found us and are now working off of our name and confusing our customers and possibly costing us sales. Is there anything our company can do, or are we (pardon) screwed?

If NP's doesn't mind, our company is
"G T Distributors" using "gtdist.com" and the registrar in question is "gtdistributors.com" (see the problem). <-- I make no comissions from my company (just a lowely webmaster). Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[crazy]

If your website is copyrighted and you have proof you can contact the registrar and have it look into it, most likely the site will be forced to take off you template as it is copyright infringement.

 

[FanCube]

If your company name is a registered trademark should you be able to get the domain back. You can contact the registrar and see if they will help you out as well as contacting the current domain owner and let the person know that you have a registered trademark. If this does not help should you contact a lawyer.

 

[snoop]

Fine except they now have a site up which looks very similar to ours and (lately) has confused our customers to a great extent. The site they have up is simply a link farm so that they can make $$ from type-ins. This would not be a problem if the links were different than that of our comanies (which are VERY specialized), but they are the same. They obviously found us and are now working off of our name and confusing our customers and possibly costing us sales. Is there anything our company can do, or are we (pardon) screwed?

those pages are completely automated and simply based on historical searches, I doubt the registrant has any clue who you are. The name sounds completely generic to me, I would be making an offer rather than thinking about legal disputes.

You can contact the registrar and see if they will help you out as well as contacting the current domain owner and let the person know that you have a registered trademark. If this does not help should you contact a lawyer.

what does this have to do with the registrar?

 

[maddudeonline]

so eric let me get this straight

 

[maddudeonline]

u own this site?

 

[maddudeonline]

And someone has taken on a longer version of its namem, thats no problem you can get them sued

 

[maddudeonline]

i mean look what good old AOL did to aol9fans.info closed it down and sued AOL's biggest fans, for the biggest bucks

 

[maddudeonline]

and theres microsoftsupportsite.net that went with the wind sadly

 

[maddudeonline]

and apple nearly sued me for owning faultycrap.co.uk and mentioning the Ipod. They warned me and now its off the net :td:

 

[{insert name here}]

@ maddudeonline, I don't want to sound like a real big d!ck or anything, but whats up with the three post for one response!!

 

[maddudeonline]

eric when your in the sweltering sun of barbados with your law suit winnings think of me

 

[maddudeonline]

plus dude do i need a reason? i think on the go and forget to say stuff :hi:

 

[{insert name here}]

Im not a mod or nothing, but I think its unapropriate!, If you forget something, edit your post! :music:

 

[Jeff]

Warnings issued!

plus dude do i need a reason? i think on the go and forget to say stuff :hi:

maddudeonline:
Warnings #1 and #2 issued for SPAM ... your account will be disabled with the next incident of same, so it's up to you going forward IMHO. :blink:

Thank you for your cooperation!
-Jeff

 

[ashaw]

I think that if the site that was "copyed" is specialized, meaning it was specially made by you and your company/ web developer, and not based on historical searches... Then I suggest you try contacting them. Chances are they dont know the harm they are doing.

May I also suggest that if you are so highly affected, you may want to consider getting a tradmark of some sort Imho...


Andrew