Sports Player's Name...contacted by his marketing firm...

[jhansen]

Hello,

I own in the range of ~200 domains that are (firstname)(lastname).ext variations for players of a single sport. I received a curious email, copied and pasted below:

"Hi there,

I am looking for the registered owner of (firstname)(lastname).com.

Many thanks

(Sender's Name)"

With a bit of searching, I determine the sender is from a marketing group that bought the (sport I deal in) clientele from a different marketing group. A bit more searching and I find out that the player whose name (domain) name I own is part of that group.

My reply to the email was this:

"Hello (sender),

That's me, how may I help you?

Sincerely,
(me)"


In all reality, I'm aware that at any time, all the names could be taken from me. I haven't developed any of them yet, but I honestly plan to...I'm not just squatting the names for traffic or such.

I suppose I'm curious if anyone thinks they'll make me an offer on the name...or if they'll just threaten legal action and tell me to hand it over. So long as I don't ask them for money, or refuse to give up the name, I should be in decent standing?

I'll have to wait and see their reply I guess...thanks for any replies!

-Justin

 

[DNQuest.com]

First of all, where are the domains pointing right now? If they are parked and/or with advertising (which if I had a guess, they are), right there you lose. Your "story" about "planning" on developing is a little thin. That is a cybersquattter cop out which does not hold much weight in UDRPs. Fair usage is granted on the grounds that the domain are actually being used in good faith. At this point, I do not see this from you. You have done nothing with the domain, hence, you have not established rights to the domain. You also might be collecting off the traffic, that's bad too.

So the question now is what is your intent with these domains? To me, it seems like you want to squat (yes, registereing 200+ celeb domains with none developed is a swuatter to me). So at this point, it is what you want to do and work form there.

 

[jhansen]

Hi DNQuest,

Thank you for the reply! Unfortunately, it appears that Moniker auto-parked the domains (to no profit of me, of course) for me upon purchase. I haven't changed any dns, etc, since the purchase..as I didn't want to screw up any SERP before I even had sites up. (so much for that idea).

Well, it's really not a "story"...it's my true intention. I would like to develop a large network of minisites, such as one I found online (not mine): http://www.gregoden.com/

I haven't heard anything back from the friendly marketing company employee since my reply. A bit nervous.

-Justin

First of all, where are the domains pointing right now? If they are parked and/or with advertising (which if I had a guess, they are), right there you lose. Your "story" about "planning" on developing is a little thin. That is a cybersquattter cop out which does not hold much weight in UDRPs. Fair usage is granted on the grounds that the domain are actually being used in good faith. At this point, I do not see this from you. You have done nothing with the domain, hence, you have not established rights to the domain. You also might be collecting off the traffic, that's bad too.

So the question now is what is your intent with these domains? To me, it seems like you want to squat (yes, registereing 200+ celeb domains with none developed is a swuatter to me). So at this point, it is what you want to do and work form there.

 

[yandig]

I think there's a good chance they will threaten legal action to see if they can get the domain(s) from you for free. It may or may not lead to an offer from the person who sent the email.
Good luck & let us know if you receive any further correspondence.

 

[E-Thunder]

Hi Justin,

Just curious, what sport is it?

I think they may make an offer. I would expect a different type of email if they were considering legal action. IMO.

 

[jhansen]

Football/Soccer

 

[DNQuest.com]

The difference between that site and yours is that is a true developed fansite. It is done properly and used under fair usage. If I was the marketing firm, I would have snapshots of how the site is being used as a parking site. Yes there is commercial gain from the parking and yes, you do know how parking works. If I was them, i would research and find all this out.

This is all about risk/reward, and only you can set that level.

 

[jhansen]

After having not heard anything since my reply to the initial email, I decided to email again...


"Hello (original sender),

How are you doing today? How might I be able to help you?

Sincerely,
(me)"


I received a reply back in no less than 20 minutes with the following:

"Hi Justin,

Do you have a number that I can call to talk more about the domain?

Thanks

(original sender) "


I replied back with my contact number and proceeded to wait around the house all day for a phone call. Around a half hour ago (3pm est), I decided to call the company the sender works for, to see which office he is located at (they have something like 5 around the world). As I expected, he's located in their London office, so I can stop waiting around for that phone call (given that it's around 8pm there) and get on with some errands. I'll be sure to get up early tomorrow though.

-Justin

 

[FanAddict]

How did this go? any reply yet?

 

[DomainMaven]

Why is it an automatic loss if names are parked with advertising ?

Why are things safer if they are not ?

 

[DNQuest.com]

Why is it an automatic loss if names are parked with advertising ?

Why are things safer if they are not ?

Hi, the best thing to do to save time, money and headaches is to use the search box and type in "trademark" and read for a week, then type in"tm" and read the other threads you may have missed. There is a wealth of information on these boards and you will learn alot.

As far as your question, it is viewed as cybersquatting (shich is commercial gain from a TM which you have no rights).