The Sell-Your-Trademark-Domains on Bido™ Thread

[MicroGuy]

Yesterday someone posted a domain that appeared to have obvious trademark problems in the appraisal section at Namepros.

The domain is: PayPalDeposit.com

Screen print: http://www.microguy.net/images/deposit.png

According to an official reply from Bido in the thread, these types of domains are just fine to sell on their platform as are domains like NamePros.org, Viagra.cc, etc., etc.

http://www.namepros.com/domain-appraisals/602356-paypaldeposit-com.html

This policy would appear to present significant liability exposure to Bido™ and the buyers/sellers of these domains. If this thread stays up, I'm interested in hearing the various views on this unique policy.

 

[Reason]

From the site:

"A member of our staff will follow up with you if your submission was selected by the Bido Experts."

This differs from Ebay and Sedo etc, where listings aren't pre-approved and rely on customers or aggrieved TM holders to flag offending items. The domains on Bido are being filtered by their team before even getting to the voting stage, so why something like 'PayPalDeposit.com' was given the green light is a mystery to me...

 

[Archangel]

You said it perfectly. BIDO could have easily refused a TM domain. I understand some arguments about TM's but a domain like RedApplePCs.com is too obvious to not see an infringement in.

From the site:

"A member of our staff will follow up with you if your submission was selected by the Bido Experts."

This differs from Ebay and Sedo etc, where listings aren't pre-approved and rely on customers or aggrieved TM holders to flag offending items. The domains on Bido are being filtered by their team before even getting to the voting stage, so why something like 'PayPalDeposit.com' was given the green light is a mystery to me...

 

[MediaHound]

From the site:

"A member of our staff will follow up with you if your submission was selected by the Bido Experts."

This differs from Ebay and Sedo etc, where listings aren't pre-approved and rely on customers or aggrieved TM holders to flag offending items. The domains on Bido are being filtered by their team before even getting to the voting stage, so why something like 'PayPalDeposit.com' was given the green light is a mystery to me...

Had it been kept in one thread you probably wouldn't have missed it, but, as already mentioned, this auction in question is a Reserve auction and as such, was not up for voting by the Bido community. Reserve auctions are a self-serve listing process.

 

[Dave_Z]

Why do they limit alcohol sales in the US to ppl 21 and older? The sale of alcohol, tobacco and firearms is very much monitored.

Probably because the law empowers or requires the government and certain private entities to do so?

I suppose a law is in order to empower or require the government third parties to monitor trademark domain names. But that entails more work for registrars and might possibly...possibly...restrict users' choices, especially those not aiming to make money off trademarks.

OTOH, there's no stopping trademark holders from trying to hold registrars, auction houses, etc. from supposedly cleaning up their act. Only time will tell who or what the law agrees with.

 

[Archangel]

Comes to show ICANN has a lotta fallibilities.

Probably because the law empowers or requires the government and certain private entities to do so?

I suppose a law is in order to empower or require the government third parties to monitor trademark domain names. But that entails more work for registrars and might possibly...possibly...restrict users' choices, especially those not aiming to make money off trademarks.

OTOH, there's no stopping trademark holders from trying to hold registrars, auction houses, etc. from supposedly cleaning up their act. Only time will tell who or what the law agrees with.

 

[Dave_Z]

Comes to show ICANN has a lotta fallibilities.

Who doesn't? :P

 

[MicroGuy]

The auction on this gem starts in only 2 days, 19 hours, and 42 minutes. Interesting that non of Bido's "Industry Experts" have chimed in on the domains value. Join MicroGuy™ in live chat during this landmark event.

 

[Reason]

I'd rather not be seeing it there either, but will be enlightening to see who bids - I'll have some more names for my 'avoid doing business with' list!

 

[hrethel]

The big problem I see with holding registrars responsible is, how do you look at thousands (probably tens of thousands in the case of the big ones like GD) and scan for TM violations? I mean, things like "PayPal" should be obvious (though things like blatantly protest-oriented sites would be caught in this), but how do you differentiate among TM and non-TM domains? Even if you had automated access to the USPTO site, there are plenty of generic terms that are trademarked in only one tiny, distinct product category. These terms could be used in domains without problems, if used correctly. However, the contention that "all English words are trademarked" is disingenuous. In many ways, this simply isn't true.

Now, don't get me wrong, I bristle at the thought of regging TM domains as much as the next person. The responsibility, first and foremost, is in the hands of the registrant. In most cases, it's either deliberate TM infringement, or simply lack of knowledge (dare I say incompetence). Once it goes to auction, though, there needs to be some way of limiting exposure to it. Have a blacklist that causes domains with well-known names (PayPal, Verisign, Mozilla, etc.) to be filtered into an approval process, and hand-approve or deny those names. There's a difference between occasionally allowing an obscure or hard-to-filter TM name to go through the cracks, but blatant violations need to be corrected.

 

[Kate]

Understandably some names can slip through the cracks. But Bido are fully aware of one particular domain yet they won't do anything about it. They are effectively an active party in the sale. Moreover they don't feature tens of thousands of domains every day - they have the means to screen their lists.

 

[hrethel]

Indeed, that's essentially my point. This is so blatant of a problem that you can't feign ignorance in it. I would have never regged this domain, and if I was Bido, I would've taken it down a long time ago. This domain is nothing but trouble.

 

[exsedo]

I'd rather not be seeing it there either, but will be enlightening to see who bids - I'll have some more names for my 'avoid doing business with' list!

If only we could see inside everyones portfolio. I know I made mistakes in the beginning with Tm domains, and I suppose nearly every newbie has done and will do in the future, unless things are done at an authorative level to reduce the problem. A major problem lies with the people who do know what they are doing, and who continue to do it. Tm Typo squatting and deliberate Tm domain squatting are bad for domaining in general, and anyone with any kind of power or authority should do as much as possible to discourage it IMO. It is common belief that 90% of domain parking involves these type of domains, So how many can hold their hand up and say that they are not involved ? The reasons people are involved is obvious. $$$$$ over integrity.

 

[Reason]

It is common belief that 90% of domain parking involves these type of domains, So how many can hold their hand up and say that they are not involved ? The reasons people are involved is obvious. $$$$$ over integrity.

That's probably why 'domaining' was redirecting to 'cybersquatting' on Wikipedia, lol. And probably why its not simple to convince people approached with domain offers that not everyone is some amoral internet highway(wo)man.

For those with large portfolios, chances are there's something in there that infringes in some way, whether the ownership is witting, or unwitting.

However, could anyone in this forum honestly say they aren't aware of Paypal? How much less likely people who've been in the game long enough to set up an auction site? Paypal isn't in any way generic or multi-purpose; it's 100% specific to that company, and the name variant in question is a blanket-sized bright red rag to scammers the world over.

I really don't want to be knocking Bido, as I'd like to see them take it to the next level, and get Sedo to think again about its deeply unimpressive complacency and suspect activities, but this was a definite mis-step.

No bids on the name was suitable justice.

 

[Kate]

Now this is crap:

Domain Name: WELLSFARGO.CNwellsfargo.cn (view lowercase)
WellsFargo is the 5th biggest bank in U.S.. The Company's annual net profit is about 8 BILLION USD.
Many other banks bought their own .cn domain (GoldmanSachs.cn, BankofAmerica.cn etc) to expand their visibility within the chinese market!

You can sell this domain to WellsFargo for a big sum of money...

Bido.com - Social Auction Platform
What's going on at Bido :td:

 

[bmugford]

WellsFargo.cn? There is no way Bido can justify that one. What a joke.

Brad

Now this is crap:

Bido.com - Social Auction Platform
What's going on at Bido :td:

 

[Archangel]

I'm tempted to write a commentary on this PoS but my conscience isn't letting me... yet.

Now this is crap:

Bido.com - Social Auction Platform
What's going on at Bido :td:

 

[Reason]

"You can try and sell this domain to WellsFargo for a big legal roundhouse kick to the pants, and a never-forgotten lesson..."

I think that's what he probably meant to say...:gl:

"No comments yet from our Expert Members..."

Lol, I wait with baited breath for anybody dumb enough to talk this one up as a good buy :wave:

I wouldn't touch it with a barge-pole for the old '$1 no reserve', and I'm not touching Bido full stop til they stop this barefaced bullsh1t 8-X

 

[Archangel]

I changed my mind & left a commentary. Click the link to read it.

Now this is crap:

Bido.com - Social Auction Platform
What's going on at Bido :td:

 

[MicroGuy]

Well, it's nice to see Bido allowed your comments. That should help dissuade any naive buyers from getting into trouble with that domain. Good job.

(..tried to leave rep but got the ole' I'm too fond error. lol. )

 

[Reason]

Yeah, it's nice to see they're generous enough to allow a dissenting voice, but the normally very talkative Bido TM :talk: have been strangely absent from this thread for a while now.

I wonder why that could be...?

*Consults The I Ching*:gl:

 

[floname]

Yeah, it's nice to see they're generous enough to allow a dissenting voice, but the normally very talkative Bido TM :talk: have been strangely absent from this thread for a while now.

I wonder why that could be...?

*Consults The I Ching*:gl:

...and the I Ching says,

Bido is contributing to the stereotype that domainers are cybersquatting, moneygrubbing, amateur hackers that prey on other peoples' ideas.

*Scraping the steaming pile of sh1t off my back*

 

[Reason]

...and the I Ching says,

Bido is contributing to the stereotype that domainers are cybersquatting, moneygrubbing, amateur hackers that prey on other peoples' ideas.

*Scraping the steaming pile of sh1t off my back*

Good to know it's not the just the horrible things like taxes and death that can be depended on in this messed up world :tu:

 

[Archangel]

Let's start taking wagers:

Domain name auction for wellsfargo.cn on Bido.com - Social Auction platform.

 

[Kate]

We can't place negative bids...

 

[Archangel]

I'd give the seller $1 to drop the domain completely.

We can't place negative bids...