question Should I try to sell this domain to a company using an inferior version?

[sellian]

Hi Pros,

I recently regged a name that is the same to a company's website, with the only difference being that mine doesn't contain the word "the" in front, which makes it shorter (2 words instead of 3) and more professional.

They themselves don't include the word "the" when talking about their company on their own site and Facebook.

I have checked on HosterStats.com and it appears that my domain was already taken when they registered theirs in September 2021.

My domain was then dropped in June 2022, leading me to believe that the company had to opt for registering the longer version with the word "the" in front.

I was wondering if any of you have had experience with this type of situation before and if you think it's a good idea to reach out to the company to offer my domain for sale.

If so, how would you approach the situation?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Sutruk]

Then never buy a domain taken in many extensions and stick to hand reg to be safe?

You can buy it (if it's a generic term, or combo of generic dictionary words). The only thing you have to do is to not reach to the owners of the exact domain in other extensions.

If that is the case then every outbound email can end up getting the domain in UDRP.

In my understanding, you can reach out to people with business where your domain can be useful or descriptive about their business, a domain that may be worth for them to purchase. But again, not the exact term they are using for their business in other extensions.

 

[Revisiting]

The chance of any Business pulling the trigger on a UDRP in the first instance is quite small. The infringement would normally be quite severe and blatant for that to be the case imo. That's why we have the cease and desist mechanism. The C&D is not necessarily challenging your right to hold a certain domain but to stop using it in a manner that infringes on the TM holders lawful rights. It's too easy in this discussion to use borderline cases as definitizes representing all outcomes.

You might just as well be discussing the merits or otherwise of certain UDRP panel members to understand where the outcome may lay. And there lays the reason why certain cases are chosen to be judged by a panel (three UDRP members) opposed to a single member. When you think reasonable minds would come down on one particular side..

The problem tends to reside with both sides believing (their interpretation of) the legal status being on their side and digging in. Personally, In these cases I would rather trust the lawyer than a domainers wisdom.