Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: Domain Ownership and Squatting Question

Mr. Whipple is essentially correct. I have handled a number of cases where people have been threatened with suit - none has yet been sued.

If you want to have an attorney look at your situation, I would be happy to talk with you at no cost.

Timothy Walton

http://www.timothywalton.com

Re: Domain Ownership and Squatting Question

I handled a VERY similar matter for a client about two years ago. He had registered a domain name that was a shorter form of a name held by a medium-sized technology company. They threatened to sue him under the "cybersquatting" law.

We pointed out to the prospective plaintiff that their threatened case was weak on two grounds: first, their trademark was not "famous" in the trademark-law sense of that word; second, my client did not register the name in question for an improper purpose, such as marketing it to the plaintiff or piracy of its customers.

We ended up selling the domain name to the prospective plaintiff in a friendly, negotiated deal for almost a quarter million dollars.

The market for dot-com names is less heated now, but there are defenses to cybersquatting claims which could result in a favorable outcome if well developed and forcefully presented.

The less recognizable the name, the better the defense.....however, I think "Vogue" (or another name of similar fame) could be a borderline case. Also, the purer your motive for regustering the name, the better your defense. If you have been trying to market the name, that's not good; if you have been using it and it bears a relationship to the name of your own business (not chosen to capitalize on the famous name), that is to your advantage.