My first threatening letter...

[briman1970]

I got the following email from a registrar where I have a name registered (at least it looks like it's from them):

From : E-zone.fr (Info) <[email protected]>
Sent : Monday, October 3, 2005 3:50 AM
To : <[email protected]>
Subject : mairiedeparis.fr

Dear Customer,

You have registered via e-zone.fr the domain name mairiedeparis.fr.

We have receive a complain about this registration by the owner of the trademark mairie de pairis. Acoordingly with our general condition, you are please to send us in a 3days delay a proof that you also have a right on this name.

In the case of you canno't proof a rignt on this name in the 3 days, the domain name will be transfered to the owner of the trademark without any payback from our parts.

Please confirm us the reception of this message !

Regards,


Stéphane Riesen
Customer Service
e-Zone.fr
www.e-zone.fr

Mairiedeparis.fr is my domain. It was included in a bulk buy. The term means "Town Hall of Paris". It seems to me that this set of words is too vague to have trademark protection but who knows? I REALLY don't want to lose this name!

Does anyone know how I can find out if they have a valid trademark on the name and/or if they can take it from me in only 3 days? How should I proceed? Should I contact them or wait it out to see what happens?

Help!!! :yell:

 

[user-7256]

There are a LOT of spelling errors on that - I would not trust it...

 

[Jonathan]

It is a French registrar. It's legit.

 

[briman1970]

There are a LOT of spelling errors on that - I would not trust it...

Well... I considered that, but it is a French company so some spelling and grammar could be lost in translation.

 

[Ben42]

Well, since your an American you may have very little say in what happens with the domain.

I would ask them what "3days delay a proof that you also have a right on this name" is exactly. What sort of proof would they need and would it need to be in writing or if electronic format would be ok. (Anything to get more info)

Do not just reply to the email, but look for another contact over there and copy and paste the entire email in. That way you can be assured if you get a followup that it's legit.

Good luck!

 

[briman1970]

Well, since your an American you may have very little say in what happens with the domain.

I would ask them what "3days delay a proof that you also have a right on this name" is exactly. What sort of proof would they need and would it need to be in writing or if electronic format would be ok. (Anything to get more info)

Do not just reply to the email, but look for another contact over there and copy and paste the entire email in. That way you can be assured if you get a followup that it's legit.

Good luck!

Good adice but the site is in french and it's really hard for me to navigate. Anyone here speak French?

 

[user-7256]

You just have to say the magic word:

http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

 

[Ben42]

Looks like the email address is legit, but I'd still create a new mail.

http://www.e-zone.fr/page.asp?p=contact

Get as much info as possible from them about what they want. Don't go softly into that night!

 

[briman1970]

You just have to say the magic word:

http://translate.google.com/transla...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

Looks like the email address is legit, but I'd still create a new mail.

http://www.e-zone.fr/page.asp?p=contact

Get as much info as possible from them about what they want. Don't go softly into that night!

Thanks guys... good advice! Here is the email I sent to them...

Dear Sir or Madam,

This is a reply to your email of October 3rd concerning my domain name, mairiedeparis.fr

Please explain your statement, "you are please to send us in a 3days delay a proof that you also have a right on this name." Also, please inform me as to the name of the trademark owner, as my lawyer has informed me that "mairie de paris" is a common term meaning simply "town hall of Paris" and we are having difficulty locating a trademark owner for this term.

Kind Regards,
Brian

Whatdoyathink?

 

[user-7256]

good job :tu:

 

[briman1970]

good job :tu:

Thanks... I'll keep y'all updated but any further advice would be much appreciated!

Bri

 

[yeppers]

Are you required to be a french citizen to own a .fr domain? If so, you may be screwed .

Is it possible to trademark that phrase "Town Hall of Paris". Could'nt you just tell them that your going to use it to create a site abou the town hall of paris or something?

 

[Smith]

1. you are required to be a French company to own a .fr

2. there is a French trademark on the term

3. be glad they are just taking the name and not suing you because you would loose without question, and chances are the judge would award damages.

.fr is a very dangerous extension due to French laws, I would be extremely careful with it if I were you.

 

[NameFarmer]

1. you are required to be a French company to own a .fr

2. there is a French trademark on the term

3. be glad they are just taking the name and not suing you because you would loose without question, and chances are the judge would award damages.

.fr is a very dangerous extension due to French laws, I would be extremely careful with it if I were you.

Agreed in part. But civil court in the EU region works a bit different than US law. The threshold to get sued is a bit higher. ex: Earlier Google lost the case in Norway for the domain google.no. Some guy was selling sunglases Google have it now btw.

Some countries in europe are minefields. You don't wan't to fight this as a single private US citizen. You will lose this battle. What you can do is to try a short and swift (but be nice) move and ask if the company in question is willing to pay, let's say $100, for a "painless" transfer. If they say no. You can still hand over the domain without any action be taken against you.
Good luck.

 

[JoshHendo]

Transfer it to another register before the 3 days are up :hehe:
Or just wait for the reply from your reply

 

[jgclifton]

heh, exactly what i was gunna say .

 

[Smith]

Agreed in part. But civil court in the EU region works a bit different than US law. The threshold to get sued is a bit higher. ex: Earlier Google lost the case in Norway for the domain google.no. Some guy was selling sunglases Google have it now btw.

Some countries in europe are minefields. You don't wan't to fight this as a single private US citizen. You will lose this battle. What you can do is to try a short and swift (but be nice) move and ask if the company in question is willing to pay, let's say $100, for a "painless" transfer. If they say no. You can still hand over the domain without any action be taken against you.
Good luck.

Actually because it is pointed at sedo, there is a good chance he would have to pay "damages", or at minimum all the money he has made from the domain name.

I would defiantly not ask for $ for this domain. In French court recently, Decathlon (a large sports department store chain in France / Europe) sued the owner of decathlon.pl and was awarded 40k euros, after the owner of the .pl asked 20k euros for the domain. I chalk this up to either a horrible lawyer or an ancient judge, either way, not fun I'm sure.

The City of Paris, who without question is the party going after the name has virtually unlimited resources compared to an individual, I would just walk away if I were you, unless you are a gambler

 

[NameFarmer]

I chalk this up to either a horrible lawyer or an ancient judge, either way, not fun I'm sure.

Lol, Decathlon must have offered him a lawyer free of charge.

Bottom line I think all agrees on. Stay away from everything that smells like TM issues in countries one know nada about.

 

[briman1970]

Thanks for the advice and comments fellas... looks like I'm screwed! Where are you Jberryhill when a brother needs ya!!!

Here's the reply from E-Zone.fr...

Dear,

You have registered the domain name "mairiedeparis.fr" with the
representation contract of e-zone.fr.

That means that we offer you the abbility to have your .fr if you are not
located in France But you still need to respect the condition to register a
.fr.
In this case, if you are not owner of a right ( trademark, company name ,
... ) you don't respect the point 19 of the "charte de nommage" (
http://www.afnic.fr/obtenir/chartes/nommage-fr#8 )

Effectively, we have received the copy of the trademark "mairie de paris"
(N°1445300) owned by

MAIRIE DE PARIS
Place de l'HOTEL de Ville,
75004 Paris
France

So as mentionned in our first email. Please inform us if you have a right on
this domain. If not, we will take the decision to give back this name to the
owner of the trademark.

Regards,

Stéphane Riesen
Customer Service
e-Zone.fr
www.e-zone.fr :bah:

 

[Kate]

Trade mark indeed
http://marque.societe.com/cgi-bin/c...S&dep=&cl1=&cl2=&cl3=&submit.x=23&submit.y=11

I'm afraid you don't have a chance.
Stay away from .fr unless you have a company in France and you research the names.
By virtue of the "charte de nommage" Afnic (.fr registry) can just take the name from you. Your case is lost and you can kiss the name goodbye :wave:

If you want to check for French company names / trade marks in the future you can use this site: http://www.societe.com/