Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

web domain and site/trademark

We did some volunteer work on a upcoming convention 08 ( i attended last year07) and upon some investigation we found that the person in charge ( he is the founder, this is not a corp, or any title biz) has been not forward with us and taking money ( from registration,vendor fee's) and using it for his own use, he claims that he is non profit (503) and we check this out with IRS and local. anyway we were so concerned (we had friends and family taken by this man in 07 and total of approx 10k from sponspor's) that we asked him numerious times to do the right and he rufuse, we contacted the people who he fired and askthem questions and come to find out that the gal ( his PR relation) owns the domain name so i bought it and transfered it to my hosting and shut down their site, we are taking the convention and redigning the new site and continuing with the convention, have i did anything illegal ? we are not usng there site, i do own the domain and this name isnt a trademark ( i applied for one lastweek) he has no means for legal rep. and he has rename the site and trying to take monies. what are we up against ? and what do we need to protect both us and the name? the convention will be held in New Orleans like it was in 07


Asked on 6/05/07, 12:22 am

3 Answers from Attorneys
Johm Smith tom's

Re: web domain and site/trademark

You will need to go through the facts more completely with an attorney familiar with domain name issues. I focus my practice on Internet law and especially domain names, and our CA attorney can handle any matters specific to CA law.

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Answered on 6/05/07, 10:01 am
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

Re: web domain and site/trademark

Mr. Nance is definitely correct in stating that you will need to consult an attorney. Your raise many questions and need to provide more information.I assume you are using the same name as he had for the convention and that might cause you legal problems; there might be a tort claim of intentional interference with business advantage. You will want to set up a corporation or LLC to reduce your own liability and figure out what the best tax approach is.

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Answered on 6/05/07, 10:36 am
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

Re: web domain and site/trademark

Appropriating and damaging his business and tradename will likely get you sued. Any attorney he consults would likely tell him so. You would be wise to consult with counsel and try to straighten this out quickly, if possible. Feel fre to contact me if interested in doing so, business and civil litigation has been my specialty for over 30 years.

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Answered on 6/05/07, 1:25 pm


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