sales Sale Not Paid! PokemonGo.net did not sell for $20,950

[News]

PokemonGo.net was apparently not paid for, as the top bid of $20,950 dollars seemed to be way out of touch.

Pokemon Go is a trademark and the popular game is gaining fans around the world that chase Augmented Reality “monsters.”

DropCatch is currently re-auctioning the domain and the current highest bid is a measly $750 dollars.

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[alcy]

aren't companies like dropcatch supposed to remove tm domains? seems everyone else around does.. gd etc..

 

[Jman92]

aren't companies like dropcatch supposed to remove tm domains? seems everyone else around does.. gd etc..

I totally agree with you on banning TM names from auctions but here is what I found from their terms and conditions. I wonder if the bidders on this name have actually read this.

"Waivers. You agree that as a service provider, we do not check if domain names you backorder or bid on might infringe on the legal rights of others. You should seek the opinions of an Intellectual Property attorney, and do not hold DropCatch.com liable for your actions. You assume all responsibility for your actions on this site, and you hold DropCatch harmless and indemnify us for your use of this site. We do not review domain names that users backorder and bid on in the system, and if you own rights to one or more trademarks you agree that you release DropCatch.com from any legal claims because of users in our system. Should we be sued or threatened with a lawsuit in connection with a domain that was purchased through this site, you hold us harmless and indemnify us from your purchase and use of said domain name(s)"

 

[alcy]

hmm... there should be more to it than this.. maybe they could get sued by tm holders for making this domain available for sale to public..

cause I sure as heck do not believe gd sedo and others go through trouble of removing and pay people to monitor tm domains to help out domainers down the road.. but to help themselvews.

 

[Jman92]

I think they are trying to put the blame exclusively on the buyer. I mean they must have a legal team that looked in to this and decided it was OK to auction off TM names. right? I mean How else would explain this? they have been in the business for a long time now. I think their message is do your homework because we wont do it for you.

 

[alcy]

maybe they do have legal team.. but if that's what it told to them, then it means the legal team of gd sedo and others sucks.

I'm just saying that both teams can't be right, if they offer opposite advices.

 

[Jman92]

maybe they do have legal team.. but if that's what it told to them, then it means the legal team of gd sedo and others sucks.

I'm just saying that both teams can't be right, if they offer opposite advices.

I am just speculating here but maybe there is some kind of legal risk DC is willing to take but Sedo or gd are not willing to take.

 

[alcy]

I am just speculating here but maybe there is some kind of legal risk DC is willing to take but Sedo or gd are not willing to take.

yes .. we're all just speculating
one thing I am pretty sure of is that gd sedo or others who remove them do not do it for you and me.

cheers

 

[Jman92]

yes .. we're all just speculating
one thing I am pretty sure of is that gd sedo or others who remove them do not do it for you and me.

cheers

oh definitely! They do it to save their own backside.

 

[DnEbook]

Seems the buyer figured out the downside

 

[Haroon Basha]

maybe they do have legal team.. but if that's what it told to them, then it means the legal team of gd sedo and others sucks.

I'm just saying that both teams can't be right, if they offer opposite advices.

It is buyer's responsibility to check what he buys, because the seller may be a crook. Moreover, it is difficult for Godaddy or Sedo or DC to check every domain name they sell to see if they are TM names, but the buyer buys only one domain, he can check it himself before he buys.

 

[alcy]

It is buyer's responsibility to check what he buys, because the seller may be a crook. Moreover, it is difficult for Godaddy or Sedo or DC to check every domain name they sell to see if they are TM names, but the buyer buys only one domain, he can check it himself before he buys.

yes but we were discussing the reasons why gd+sedo+others do check and DC specifically does not and says so in their temrs

 

[wayne wooldridge]

I'm sure DC has a very good team of lawyers who wrote the t&cs which protect them from these types of deals. They will make their profits and rightly so, maybe it's because they are catching previously created TM names and not creating them initially, and not developing then as well. Also, the method which they acquire them is systematic and therefore not intentional ownership a TM name.

I don't blame them, it's the ones knowingly bidding ridiculous amounts of money for these names who will be responsible for infringement.

 

[wwwweb]

Well isn't drop catch the current owner of the domain, hence liable

 

[wayne wooldridge]

Well isn't drop catch the current owner of the domain, hence liable

Technically yes, but I'm sure there's a loophole; being that they are still in business since one can easily assume this isn't the first time this has happened.
That, or they have such amount of money to pay the fines if/when they get challenged in court.

 

[ProDomanico]

May be the buyer realised he would be in SOUP at a later point of time

 

[Name Trader]

I think what they say is not necessarily legal because they are the owners of the domain, during the auction process, and if trademark holder made them aware of their trademark, and they still sold the domain, they would be in breach of the trademark laws. (IMHO. But I'm not a lawyer). I also think, if this scenario was to play out, that it would be dubious if they could pass their liability to the auction winner (But I'm not a lawyer, and it may be legal to do that. Bu it sounds doubtful to me).

I think they would be obliged to stop the auction, or possibly fall foul of infringing your trademark. The trademark holder would need some fleetfooted attorneys to process the paperwork during the period of the auction.

But this troubles me...

We do not review domain names that users backorder and bid on in the system, and if you own rights to one or more trademarks you agree that you release DropCatch.com from any legal claims because of users in our system. Should we be sued or threatened with a lawsuit in connection with a domain that was purchased through this site, you hold us harmless and indemnify us from your purchase and use of said domain name(s)"

But hear they are talking about the rights of the trademark holder in the first sentence, but jump to the rights of the auction winner in the second sentence. I think they are confusing thing up by not having these 2 sentences in separate paragraphs. I really wonder if they can legally pass all liability for their own trademark infringement onto the winner of the auction (It may be possible. But I'm not a lawyer).

Is it even a reasonable legal argument that because they haven't done any research into the domains they have captured, they are not aware of any trademarks for that domain. What if the domain was a household name, like IBM, Nintendo, Bluetooth, or Nissan?

Shouldn't they be obligated to do a trademark search before capturing a domain? (Rhetorical question).

 

[Kate]

Shouldn't they be obligated to do a trademark search before capturing a domain? (Rhetorical question).

I think it's a judgement call. In theory they could decide to stay away from the blatant TMs. Not the grey zone domains, but the most obvious violations.
In practice, they are happy to take money for backorders, even for TM domains since there is little risk apparently. I have seldom seen registrars being prosecuted for being accomplice to cybersquatting.
And to put it bluntly, the domain industry is not very regulated and ethics are somewhat lacking too.

I don't even think it is realistic to ban backorders on TMs altogether. Because there may be TM holders among the bidders, who are simply trying to recover domains they are entitled to. And yes, competing against other bidders who shouldn't be bidding in the first place

PS: I still remember that when .me was launched, a man from Brazil wasted more than 100K in the landrush auctions on domains like toyota.me porsche.me and of course he lost them later. The registry was never prosecuted.

 

[golan]

Haha. What a story. But i'm sure the new auction will also gain some few K's.

 

[AuctionBio]

TM law says that you can not take profit with others TM unless you have permission from the TM holder.
being a part of illegal thing is also illegal I think and defining your own terms and condition should not stand here as DC did in this case IMO. (I am not a lawyer though)

For instance if no body can buy some thing from the market by law, and I try to sell the same thing with in same market and say "it will be buyer responsibility if he/ she buys".

Technically seller platform should be held more responsible than the buyer as he put it on show for sale. Some buyers might be unaware about the TM thing.

Take the example of domainers, you often see new domainers asking about appraisal of TM domains but after learning they stop doing this. (again this all IMO, I am not a lawyer though). Otherwise gd, sedo and some others don't allow it for no reason.

 

[Domain Lead Finder]

I have sold some Trade Mark domains but to actual trade mark holders or official distributors. For example every domain with the word "Realtor" is TM. Not every trade mark holder is aggressive with his pursuit, some even helped me get in touch with their distributors.

With that said, I would not advise anybody to register other peoples Trade Marks unless they know exactly what they are doing, and if they do not have a buyer ready, who has rights to use the TM.

 

[jamesosix]

Ts and Cs are not legally binding.

 

[MR Harrist]

even 9 years old Girl can tell, that domain have TM issue! , and lets be real, are the buyer really bid 20k, for dot Net? I am sure if the buyer sneaking arround in Namepros, I am sure he/she already knew that 20k bid are just a games!

#Gotcha

 

[baseballworld]

Guess someone forgot to do the homework first.

 

[wwwweb]

The bigger question here is who was bidder 2, and why are these people so active on drop catch. Deadbeat bidders