domains James Booth sells Galatea.com for $275K

[equity78]

James Booth posted on Twitter/X that he sold Galatea.com for $275,000. A name from Greek Mythology you can read more here. There is a developed website on GetGalatea.com. They describe themselves as the world’s fastest-growing reading app. Congrats to James


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[jberryhill]

Can anyone explain how gala and tea combined is generic?

One of the things that drives me batty in these discussions, though, is the use of a term like "generic" in isolation from any application of the word or phrase in question.

Typically, the discussion is about whether something is, or is not, a "dictionary word" - i.e. a word or phrase having a primary meaning of some kind independent of a secondary meaning as a trademark.

When you hear the word "generic", a little bell should go off in your head with the sound of "...for what?" indicating that when we talk about 'generic' in trademark law, then we mean whether it is generic for a specified set of goods or services, or not.

Take the word "Monster". Is it "generic"? (see note 1 below)

The word "monster" is generic for scary or dangerous creatures of some kind.

The word "monster" is NOT GENERIC for an energy drink. It is in fact a well known trademark for an energy drink.

So, the point here is that you can't say as some kind of absolute proposition that "'monster' is generic" or "'monster' is not generic" without completing the question "generic for what?"

Now, most of the interesting domain disputes - the bulk of ones I have spent waaaaay too many years defending - have involved a domain name based on some kind of 'dictionary word', phrase, surname, geographic location, etc. versus someone having a trademark that is identical or confusingly similar to that domain name.

Just looking at decisions I have obtained in the first three months of this year:

transco.com	WIPO D2024-0061	2024-03-19	Complaint denied
pitstop.com	WIPO D2023-5318	2024-03-14	Complaint denied
toros.com	WIPO D2023-5383	2024-03-01	Complaint denied
malo.com	WIPO D2023-5063	2024-01-31	Complaint denied
credable.com	WIPO D2023-4724	2024-01-24	Complaint denied

Every single one of them involved a complainant who has a perfectly good trademark of some kind.

Credable is a financial business in India. It is also a homonym of the dictionary word "credible". The panel decided, based on the evidence presented by both sides, that it was more likely than not that the respondent registered the domain name because it sounds like "credible" than because of the complainant's mark.

Malo is a well-known mark for cashmere fabric and clothing in Italy. It is also the Spanish masculine adjective for "bad" but, more to the point, is the domain registrant's own last name. The panel decided, based on the evidence presented by both sides, that it was more likely than not registered because it was his last name.

Toros is the largest fertilizer company in Turkey. It is also the Spanish dictionary word for "bulls". The panel decided, based on the evidence... you get the idea... Same thing for both Pitstop and Transco.

I have two pending right now - waterland.com and because.com - I am hopeful there will be similar results.

But, and I want to make this clear, in EVERY single one of these cases, and these are just my cases for the first three months of 2024, there was no argument about whether the Complainant had a distinctive trademark for whatever it is they do. There was no argument that the Complainant "can't have a trademark on a dictionary word" - most of the best trademarks ARE dictionary words - "Bud", "Coke", "Tide", "Ford", "Amazon", all have dictionary meanings. But it's not meaningful to talk about whether "bud is generic" without specifying if you are talking about friends or beer. You can have a Bud with your bud, but those are two different things.

I would assume that a company shelling out tall bucks for a domain name has likely already obtained an opinion on their alternatives. Nobody is going to pay six figures for a domain name if their lawyer is confident they can get it for four figures in a UDRP, and they probably base that determination on a deep look into the facts, and whether the totality of the circumstances adds up to a conclusion that the domain name was registered because of the trademark claim or not.

That's why, whenever a wave of the "stupid virus" hits Namepros, like "Libra" and then "Diem", I try to point out that registering a bunch of domain names right after a press announcement of a future product, etc., and then arguing "but its a dictionary word" is a transparently poor approach. Saying "but Libra is an astrological sign" to justify five domains registered the day after the Facebook announcement, when you somehow went on a "Libra" binge, but surprisingly don't have any "Capricorn" or "Taurus" domains, is not a persuasive set of facts.

So, yes, "Galatea" is a "dictionary word" albeit not a commonly used one. But it is "generic for something". Whether it was registered because of a trademark or an expected trademark, what evidence there might be for or against that proposition, and what the likely timeline or outcome of an alternative to purchasing it would be, is apparently a calculation that the purchaser made.

But that, in a nutshell, is the vast majority of "interesting" UDRP cases. They seldom turn on whether or not there is a trademark, or if the word or phrase in question is "generic" in a vacuum. They turn on what the evidence shows was or was not the probable motivation of the Respondent in having acquired the domain name. But, in the federal appeals circuit that includes the jurisdiction governing GoDaddy, Namesilo, Namecheap, and several other registrars, the original registration date can control the outcome. The way the relevant US law is interpreted in that circuit is different from UDRP outcomes, which can be controlled by when the current registrant obtained the domain name. Again, a trademark owner deciding whether to purchase or dispute a domain name needs to take into account the likelihood of success in a UDRP and the likelihood of the domain registrant (a) filing a further proceeding, and (b) prevailing in that proceeding.

I have no idea what the specific circumstances involving this mark and this domain name might happen to be. Nor do I care. But I do hope that my usual rant about what "generic" means, and how it means nothing absent context of "for what" may have reached someone who hasn't heard it from me a hundred times already.

(note 1) It is also generic for "A registrar CEO who lies and steals customers' escrow deposits."

 

[equity78]

You cannot be serious.

Do you think Galatea is generic? The domain creation date has nothing to do with a unique brand.

Tea is generic. Gala is generic. I hate that folks really believe the bullshit of selling these types.

you cannot be serious. This is nothing about Gala and Tea The name Galatea comes from Greek Mythology. With it's own Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatea_(mythology)

Secondly you believe that if someone registered a domain name in 1995 that if 25 years later someone named their business that, they get the name for free. They just send an email and say "Hey I know you owned this name before I was born, but I just named my Startup this and fully registered as a business, you now need to give me this name?"

 

[equity78]

I hate these sales. It’s tm infringing but good for him. They should’ve went the udrp route.

Well the TM would be enforced in Ancient Greece

The name comes from Greek Mythology

Galatea (/ˌɡæləˈtiːə/; Greek: Γαλάτεια; "she who is milk-white")[1] is a name popularly applied to the statue carved of ivory alabaster by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life in Greek mythology.

Galatea is also the name of a sea-nymph, one of the fifty Nereids (daughters of Nereus) mentioned by Hesiod and Homer.[2] In Theocritus Idylls VI and XI she is the object of desire of the one-eyed giant Polyphemus and is linked with Polyphemus again in the myth of Acis and Galatea in Ovid's Metamorphoses.[3] She is also mentioned in Virgil's Eclogues and Aeneid.[4]

Etymology​

Though the name "Galatea" has become so firmly associated with Pygmalion's statue as to seem antique, its use in connection with Pygmalion originated with a post-classical writer. No extant ancient text mentions the statue's name,[5][6] although Pausanias mentions a statue of Calm, Galene (γαλήνης).[7] As late as 1763, a sculpture of the subject shown by Falconet at the Paris Salon (see illustration) carried the title Pygmalion aux pieds de sa statue qui s'anime ("Pygmalion at the feet of his statue that comes to life"). That sculpture, currently at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, now bears the expected modern title Pygmalion and Galatea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatea_(mythology)

 

[Kyle Tully]

You cannot be serious.

Do you think Galatea is generic? The domain creation date has nothing to do with a unique brand.

Tea is generic. Gala is generic. I hate that folks really believe the bullshit of selling these types.

Sorry which of these 726 companies has the rights to the name?

 

[jberryhill]

Wow. If he just got the domain this past March and sold it this quick, he definitely had some insider information. Or he is one lucky man.

If there are 38 slots on the roulette wheel, and you have chips on 19 of them, you're going to win half the time.

Complainants make "timing" arguments in a lot of UDRP disputes. The flipside of what I mentioned above about timing is that because it is a popular form of "bad faith registration argument", sometimes the actual facts go in another direction.

For example, the complaint will say, "we had a press release on June 5, and the domain name was registered on June 7". Looks suspicious, eh?

But then, the actual facts show that the name had expired weeks before, run through the grace period etc., and was already on auction or in pendingdelete by June 5. Another common fact pattern is that the name was part of a portfolio sale of NNNN domain names which had been in negotiation for weeks before the sale.

Save your receipts, folks. Always save your receipts. Don't just save the ones you think you'll need, because you never know which ones those are going to be.

 

[Kyle Tully]

Why are you splitting it in Gala + Tea !?
Galatea is a single word
Here in Europe is widely known

Hmmm I wonder if that explains why there are 726 companies using it in their name

No that can’t be it. There must be 725 infringers on gala tea!

 

[Jannes]

Yeah, actually reminds me of Michael Saylor's now well-known stance before selling voice.com for $30M:

In the recent interview with Anthony Pompliano, Co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital, Saylor shared his story about the sale, which happened sometime around June 20, 2019. According to him, the initial offer was just USD 150,000 but he didn’t get on the call with the buyers until the offer was raised up to around USD 22 million.

“Selling intangible assets like artwork, it all comes down to how much are they worth to you. So if you needed the 10 million dollars you would have taken the 10 million dollars but at this point, you know, I have 500 million dollars of cash in the bank, and I love my things, you know, maybe you can tell that I’m a little bit passionate about some of this stuff. So I would rather own it and not have the 10 million then sell it for that so I said no,” the CEO said.

“I said this is like my daughter: I’ll marry her off but only to a man that’s going to treat her better than I will treat her. So if you guys really value this, then give me the 30 million otherwise I’m keeping it,” Saylor said, adding that “the word ‘voice’ in the English language is worth a hundred million.”

https://cryptonews.com/news/from-usd-150k-to-30m-how-microstrategy-ceo-sold-voice-com-to-7742.htm

edit: never mind

 

[Acroplex]

Gala (γάλα) is Greek for milk. The galaxy (γαλαξίας) is the depiction of milk droplets spread across the sky. It's how the ancient Greeks perceived the world in their mythology.

While extremely rare as a first name, I went to school with a girl name Galatea (Γαλάτεια) which also means the alternate spelling of Galateia is possible (e+i equals "ee" in Greek; so does o+i together.)

That being said, a generic term such as Galatea's name might become a trademark. It is very hard, however, to establish a case in a UDRP where the term involved originates as a generic. It's necessary for the brand to have acquired a secondary meaning and this happens after years in existence and widespread recognition.

Back to the sale; I'm seeing a quick flip as the domain wasn't owned by James until past March 1st. So James must have gone in and gone out based on some insider info. Publishing the selling price means that the buyer didn't care about an NDA.

 

[equity78]

Irrelevant. There is an established company named the same.

Keith how is it irrelevant? Galatea.com was registered in 1995, 23 years before the reading app was founded in 2018.

 

[equity78]

Wow. That is some expensive tea.

It has nothing to do with tea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatea_(mythology)

 

[Future Sensors]

I guess there’s a reason that the biggest and most successful domainers don’t engage here.

Instead of this, you could also choose to discuss the content of @equity78's Wikipedia link.

 

[D Haynes]

Have to say I see no TM issues here. Great sale.

 

[Yanosh]

Can anyone explain how gala and tea combined is generic? It’s not tea. It’s not gala.

If it was green tea I’d understand. How is gala related to tea? I’ll wait… oh hold on it’s a unique brand created and marketed to have its own identity.

Holy moly how people applaud infringement on established brands!

This is ransom at its finest.

Why are you splitting it in Gala + Tea !?
Galatea is a single word
Here in Europe is widely known

 

[Future Sensors]

Terrific sale. It's a steal.

Congrats to Galatea, all her sisters, and of course the buyer.

 

[JB Lions]

Can anyone explain how gala and tea combined is generic? It’s not tea. It’s not gala.

If it was green tea I’d understand. How is gala related to tea? I’ll wait… oh hold on it’s a unique brand created and marketed to have its own identity.

Holy moly how people applaud infringement on established brands!

This is ransom at its finest.

It's like you're not reading any of the prior replies.

 

[JB Lions]

I guess there’s a reason that the biggest and most successful domainers don’t engage here.

Slamming them for no good reason isn't helping. Basically going at Booth and Mann in one thread. This was a good sale, your posts come off as hating, many people have made posts explaining it, you seem to skip them all over or don't address the posts directly.

 

[Jannes]

The price seems fair. It got me a bit curious about athena.com (Athena being the Greek goddess of wisdom, warfare, and handicraft) and apparently it hosts a cheap-looking blog, and in the footnote there's a "athena.com is not for sale." I imagine he's gotten quite a few offers.

on About page:

No, athena.com is not for sale. Really. Even if your girlfriend's name is Athena. Even if you have a cool start-up that you really can't tell me about but that would benefit from the domain. Even if you are an entrepreneur like me. No, I'm not interested in discussing why. Sorry for sounding like a jerk about it, but I get a couple of requests per week to sell the domain and I've been saying "no" for 30 years. It's not likely that I'll say "yes" to you.

And, really. Just don't ask.

reverse psychology?

 

[Keith]

I hate these sales. It’s tm infringing but good for him. They should’ve went the udrp route.

Galatea isn’t generic fyi. He’s taken a page out of Mike Mann book.

 

[Future Sensors]

 

[JB Lions]

I always like to do image searches on names

galatea
https://www.google.com/search?clien...d6BD9QQBSgAegQIBxAC&biw=1536&bih=676&dpr=1.25

It's pretty much all - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatea_(mythology)

You have some sites like - galateafineart.com

then

gala tea
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=gala+tea

first one is actually galateaandgifts.com

 

[MKA]

Crypto.com had a similar message, but the owner sold the domain eventually.

It's always difficult to say, because even though you may not want to sell the domain, when that eight-figure offer hits the table you're going to take a moment to reconsider.

 

[Kyle Tully]

Most of this type of big sales are insider squat info. IMO

Perhaps he is just paying more attention than most.

Posted in Feb:

https://www.booksandpublishing.com....rm-secures-funding-for-ai-powered-publishing/

 

[Keith]

I get where you're coming from, the fact that we live in aa multilingual world where multiple spellings must be considered, I think there is a good argument for the Greek meaning or any other word in another language. Your Apple Computers analogy doesn't apply because that combo of syllables likely don't exist in any other language.

I don't know how many languages you speak Kieth, but this reminds me of the kind of American monolingual arrogance and ignorance that the international community finds both amusing and annoying.

I speak one language but after reading the replies it’s clear that this is a sale in good faith.

Congrats to the seller!

 

[rh2000]

Wow. That is some expensive tea.