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question What would you do if a well known company launches a product in your domain name?

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It's not a huge company, but it should be well known in its industry. I read a PR release that this company launched a new 3D software and the name happend to be the exact name of one of my domain name. The company did put a (TM) on the name.

As for the domain name, I do have a website and copyright notice on it. I acquired the domain name back in 2005. At around 2013, I converted it into a WordPress site and had a brunch of articles/videos on the site.

If I could sell the domain name, great, I'm not looking for a big payday. What would you do?
 
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I was going to say put up a blog that covers topics not related to the company or new product but it looks like you already did that long ago - so aces to you!

You figure the company already knows you have the domain...
 
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At this level, it seems that they are not interested

If product succeeded, they may change their mind

Wait and see
 
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You figure the company already knows you have the domain...

Maybe, maybe not. Many companies don't register their product name. I'd say most marketers only trademark or copyright their product names. I've always advise my client to register their product name, then redirect to the subdirectory of their main website.

Would you contact the company? or have a lawyer draft a letter to contact their marketing director?
 
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Send a letter to their marketing director stating that you do not find their product credible enough because they don't have the domain you own. Just sign it with another name so that they don't trace it back to you. That might get your domain some attention, not sure if it would work though?
 
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What would you do if a well known company launches a product in your domain name?
time to sell
 
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I can only speak from a personal point of view from my own experiences. I registered quite a few 'Touch' prefixed domains back in the early 2000. with an eye to the future Touchscreen market. and as you say quite a few then gained TM's as the products came to market. Again I noted that very few actually wanted (or asked for) the corresponding .com preferring to just see it as a product within a portfolio. The only times I've been approached is if there is a heavy spend on the marketing of the product in which case I've always settled for a reasonable amount that didn't try to over-capitalise on the company.

My experience has really taught me to look at each case on a individual basis .I've (touch wood) never been threatened with any sort of action as most of the Companies themselves wouldn't want any bad publicity. One of the key values I've also learnt is just 'How Viable' is the domain for another type of business. this may spur the company your referring to into a 'rather have than not' But I agree it is a difficult situation. I would never consider going down the road of utilising a legal representative to approach a company, though I would if I felt it was required to defend a registration.

In the main I've chosen to play the waiting game - which has resulted in about 50% of the domains being sold.
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I would, and do list at Sedo or any other sales site obviously check for non-infringing ads. if the company business want it enough they will make an offer.
 
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Maybe, maybe not. Many companies don't register their product name. I'd say most marketers only trademark or copyright their product names.

Yahbut, in this day and age you figure any decent product rollout process at least checks for the product name as a domain name, social media handles and a general internet search. This could be done at a basic level in less than half an hour.

And if the product is at all international, you check the name for meanings in other languages. :)
 
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At around 2013, I converted it into a WordPress site and had a brunch of articles/videos on the site.

By saying you "had a brunch (bunch?) of articles/videos on the site", do you mean that you no longer have them there?
 
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do you mean that you no longer have them there?

I had a site up using WordPress and it was auto-blogging by scraping news, articles, YouTube videos that were 3D related. The auto-blog feature broke sometime in 2017, I didn't bother to fix because I was busy doing something else.
 
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After some digging... The company had revenue of over $600 million in 2016. The software in question was launched 2016, after it bought a company in 2015, the PR on 2/7/2018 was for a new version.
 
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I had a site up using WordPress and it was auto-blogging by scraping news, articles, YouTube videos that were 3D related. The auto-blog feature broke sometime in 2017, I didn't bother to fix because I was busy doing something else.

I get that, but I still don't understand if the site is still functioning with that content or not, since you keep saying you "had" a site up. It's not a trick question - is the site still up or not?
 
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Yes the site IS still up. The site used to rank in Google Search.
 
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Ah, okay then. Make sure it stays up. Whatever their junior rights may be, you are entitled to keep doing what you were doing.

If it is important to them and they want it, I'm pretty sure they can type in (productname).com, figure out they don't own that domain name, and contact you.
 
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I have the same situation and its been a couple of years. They don't care. I even emailed them. No response.

I guess some companues don't need the coms of their products.
 
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I just added a link on the homepage that says "if you have questions about this website or domain name, fill out this form here" We'll see.
 
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I just added a link on the homepage that says "if you have questions about this website or domain name, fill out this form here"

....thus giving them an entree to use the 'changed use' argument against you. While it is an argument that doesn't get much traction anymore, changing the way you use the domain name and, particularly, the bit about "if you have questions", is a classic.

If it is at all a sophisticated company, they were perfectly aware of your domain name, decided it wasn't a problem for them, and proceeded with their branding. Changing the use of the domain name after they launch their brand is the archetype of domain registrant behavior that was used to develop the various post-registration-bad-faith activities that would provide a basis for a claim. Again, while that species of argument has largely been neutered, sometimes vampires aren't as dead as you might think they are.
 
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changing the way you use the domain name ...

Well, I did not change the use, just added a link... but point well taken. I've removed the link and the site is just a blog and the current version is up and with articles and banner ads since 2013.

I do have "if you have questions..." link on most of my domain portfolio website and landing pages. I just forgot to put one on this one for some reason.
 
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