alert Why You Can't Trust GoDaddy Brokers

[jberryhill]

It is important to understand that GoDaddy brokers are not working for you.

I'm currently defending a UDRP which, although it will be an easy win for the domain registrant, would have been completely unnecessary if GoDaddy was honest with its own customer.

In the course of fielding an inquiry to buy a domain name, GoDaddy broker John Campanaro received this email:

The "buyer" was claiming to have a trademark and threatening legal action.

Now, in the course of this negotiation, the parties ended up being extremely close. The margin between the final offer of the "buyer" and the domain registrant was around $1000.

Had GoDaddy's customer realized that the "buyer" was now claiming to have a trademark and threatening legal action, that would have given GoDaddy's customer an opportunity to consider whether to lower their offer simply to avoid a frivolous legal dispute, or at least to have some warning that GoDaddy knew what the "buyer" was going to do next.

So, what did GoDaddy broker John Campanaro do next?

He lied:

If you were formerly a Uniregistry customer and have been moved to GoDaddy, you need to understand that some very basic principles of customer service did not survive that transfer.

GoDaddy will withhold information from you, and will not tell you if the other side in a negotiation is making legal threats, so that you can make a rational and informed decision. Instead, they will drive you right over the cliff and even, as happened in the longer course of this negotiation, make up stuff, attribute it to you, and then it will turn up in a UDRP or other legal dispute filed against you.

GoDaddy will dig a hole and push you right in.

 

[Maggie Mae]

I had a Bad broker experience with a GoDaddys "broker" named Morgan Irwin a couple years ago.

I took the time to research some of Morgan irwin WORTHLESS DOMAINS LOL

Curious how you researched domains he owns (newbie); TIA

 

[Maggie Mae]

The weird thing is that since "trafficking" is one of the acts referenced in the ACPA, and not just "registering" or "using", they might want to have their brokers not continue as if it was a normal negotiation when someone makes a trademark claim.

The Uniregistry brokers had a system for flagging inquiries that contained legal threats for further review.

Thank you for this post. I found it when searching for questions about GD brokers after experiencing a weird exchange about a domain I do not have listed for sale. One thing I've wondered about is does the Buyer/Seller both receive a copy of anything showing what a domain sells for?

In the instance here, seeing a broker tell a buyer he got the deal down from $25,000 to $7,500 is troubling.

 

[keepsmile]

Hey,

I've had almost the same situation.

A potential buyer contacted Sedo broker and Sedo broker contacted Godaddy broker and then the Godaddy broker contacted me. Chain of brokers. I have learned about it from the complaint.

Their potential buyer took a price from my conversation with the Godaddy broker and used it as a prove of bad faith registration.

At the moment of domain name registration no TM existed. There wasn't even an application.

Only three years later their registered their TM.

These creatures from Sedo and Godaddy work and actions led me to the UDRP and I lost my domain name.



So I wanted to ask you: @jberryhill Have you tried to sue that broker from Godaddy ?



I'm also looking for any information or cases with the same context.

I remember I saw a case where an owner requested all the conversations between a broker and a buyer and it was added to response. If I didn't miss anything... where was it ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jberryhill]

These creatures from Sedo and Godaddy work and actions led me to the UDRP and I lost my domain name.

So, wait a minute. You showed that you owned the domain name prior to the trademark claim, and you lost the UDRP?

Really?

So I wanted to ask you: @jberryhill Have you tried to sue that broker from Godaddy ?

For what?

First off, it's not up to me whether to sue someone. But, secondly, this particular situation has not resulted in any consequences of which we are aware as yet.

But, I've dealt with plenty of UDRP's in which the complainant uses communications they received from a GoDaddy broker, to try to show the registrant was selling the domain name to the complainant. The basic flaw in that situation is that the domain registrant has no idea who is asking, when they reply to the GoDaddy broker.

But I guess you didn't point that out in your UDRP response either?

 

[keepsmile]

So, wait a minute. You showed that you owned the domain name prior to the trademark claim, and you lost the UDRP?

Correct.

 

[Bannen]

Correct.

- Did you have ads/content on the site/lander that were related to the TM holder's use? Even if you registered/bought the domain long before their TM, if you try to skim ad revenue off their business through your domain, you'll still qualify as attempting to profit from their trademark.

- Is it a highly custom/unusual/made-up term, that you learned of through seeing this business first? Maybe they were in business long before they applied for a trademark, and you saw their business back then, and checked and found the domain unregistered?

I can think of more scenarios, but the basic questions that may influence their decision is: did you find/register your domain in any way due to knowing about that specific business; and did you attempt to profit on your domain based on the same usage as that business has?

Mr. Berryhill can probably add about a million more scenarios that might affect the outcome of a UDRP in your case, if we know the domain and the circumstances of your case.

 

[keepsmile]

- Did you have ads/content on the site/lander that were related to the TM holder's use? Even if you registered/bought the domain long before their TM, if you try to skim ad revenue off their business through your domain, you'll still qualify as attempting to profit from their trademark.

There was only a text - The domain *****.com is for sale and a contact form.

 

[draco]

I'm sure a lot of us, myself included, would be curious to see the UDRP case.

@jberryhill is there any disadvantage to it being posted publicly in this forum? For example, if they plan to file a lawsuit to try to get the domain back.

 

[jberryhill]

@jberryhill is there any disadvantage to it being posted publicly in this forum?

It's up to people what they want to post. Given that it is a closed UDRP, there's probably no particular downside, but for whatever reason, people on Namepros don't like to be associated with their actual identity. I really don't know why that is, for the most part.

 

[URL Stream]

for whatever reason, people on Namepros don't like to be associated with their actual identity. I really don't know why that is, for the most part.

Rob already addressed this very subject, you must not be following him.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/whats-your-true-identity.1178310/#post-7646848

 

[marijuanadomain]

Rob already addressed this very subject, you must not be following him.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/whats-your-true-identity.1178310/#post-7646848

Is rob in jail? Yet?

 

[Bobo Bobo]

"GoDaddy brokers are not working for you." Pearls of Wisdom.