Should I Register The .com of an online company's .net?

[gdave]

I was name searching and found the .com available where the .net is being used (by a foreign company) to sell a particular product online. It looks like they are only selling to their own country. It is a nice web site and it is a product that they are not simply "reselling." There is a bit of "manufacturing" involved.

The name of their site is 3 words and the name would not be worth the reg fee in my opinion. Any of you had any experience in this area. I am new and have never made a sale yet even though I have 70 names.

P.S. It is an english-speaking country

 

[Morph]

Cyber Squatting springs to mind.

 

[gdave]

I'm not sure of the meaning of your expression. Yes $20 will buy many peanuts if I don't waste it on the domain name. It would even buy a round of golf which I could use more than 20 bags of peanuts.

Or do you mean something else...like $20 invested in this name might bring me a thousand bags of peanuts if I sell the name to that company.

 

[HBK216]

gdave the $20 comment is apart of his signature & not directed towards you.

 

[gdave]

Ok, I looked up "Cyber Squatting" on the web to see what it meant. I owned a computer store called Computers Delivered for 10 years and then went to get the domain name and it was taken. They wanted to sell it for $10,000. I just changed the name of my 10-year-old business to a name that had a domain name available that I could afford. I picked a name that started with "Computers" so there was less expense in changing my neon sign.

Isn't "domaining" in general a type of Cyber Squatting if we have no intention of making a web site with that name? We are buying names hoping to sell them for a tidy profit to the company that was too slow to register the name they wanted.

I do want to always do what is legal and also do what is ethical. So now I am even questioning whether buying up all these name with the hopes of reselling them is ethical. (I have 70 names. I have thought of it until this point similar to buying "real estate" Someday someone will want that piece of land. Where are the ethical lines drawn?

 

[Easydoms]

I can see your point with reference to "no intention of making a site" I would agree with you on that.

So it does raise the question WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE?

 

[plato1]

in general I think it depends on what you use a domain for. If you actually use it for a product or service unrelated to the other company, I think you might be ok. Otherwise if it is seen as holding someone to ransom, you might have a problem. I seem to remember a case where someone had registered the name of a well known product (cant remember what product exactly) but for example "gillette.net" (example only) and in court he claimed he was holding it for a Mr Gillette (but could not produce him in court) I dont think the domain was being used for any website and the court didnt go for the other argument - especially as it had been offered to the company for some large amount of $.

In this example - I think with such a high profile name it would be difficult because of trade mark and other issues but to follow on .......if you had gillete.net (for example) and you were selling construction equipt, that might be seen as ok...BUT dont take my word for it - always best to check with an attorney. Remember there are a lot of "I thinks" in this post...

 

[floatingworld]

yes, if the name is essentially generic then maybe go for it, but this one is 3 words and the name is crap so if it has no value outside the .net website application then forget it, or be kind and email the .net co to reg it themselves.

 

[Dave_Z]

To the OP: the question to ask yourself whenever you're about to register a
domain name is "why am I doing this?".

Since you've just read a little bit about cybersquatting and the lot, I suggest
you read a little more so you'll be better able to judge what to do and what
not to do. The site below can give a little more help:

http://gigalaw.com/articles/domainnames.html

 

[AdoptableDomains]

If a dispute is filed against you, here is part of the criteria used do decide the case

b. Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(iii), the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith:

(i) circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or

(ii) you have registered the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you have engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or

(iii) you have registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or

(iv) by using the domain name, you have intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your web site or location or of a product or service on your web site or location.

Note that what has been mentioned is a clear violation of the part I've bolded. Secion IV might apply if you intended to make PPC profit from the domain without selling it to them. This assumes the domain is not generice and that they have some form of TM, formal or not.

Isn't "domaining" in general a type of Cyber Squatting if we have no intention of making a web site with that name? We are buying names hoping to sell them for a tidy profit to the company that was too slow to register the name they wanted.

Squatting is generally when you infringe on the property rights of another. Another party that has a TM or has developed a recognizable name can suffer damages if another tries to make a profit off of their work. If a domain is generic and doesn't do that, it's not cybersquatting. If you try to take advantage and sell it to them or compete against them with a name they've developed, you are proabably squatting.

 

[cache]

you best bet is to sell the .com to the .net holders. But this is hard for the names of foreign holders. I tried to sell to a Korean holder, it did not work