Hi All, I've got a client who runs a very successful site.
He has registered several domain names over the years that describe the services he offers in a fairly generic way. "cheapservice.com", "paylessservice.com", "servicecheap.com" and so on (Those are not the actual domain names). Anyway, there happens to be a company called (following our fictional examples) "Cheap Services" and they contacted him -- through their attorney -- claiming that he had registered cheapservice.com in order to infringe on their copyright. Now, he wasn't actually using the name. His ISP had pointed the name to a generic "coming soon" page, and it was not linked to his main site in any way. He's NEVER used the name. He was holding it in case he wanted to use it for advertising or to improve performance in the search engines. "Cheap Services" -- a company in a business similar to his -- claims that he must pay them all commissions earned on "Services" (all of his revenue), which is preposterous. His response to their communication -- through HIS attorney -- was a letter offering to GIVE them the domain name, and including all of the necessary paperwork filled out (but not signed). They haven't responded, and he's not satisfied that his attorney is doing what he should be to protect his interests (His attorney is well versed in Intellectual Property, but not so much on domain name issues). So, if you know of an attorney who's good with these kinds of issues (trademark disputes where a domain name is being questioned), could you email me off-list with the name and number? (Please keep the referral off-list, but this might be an interesting topic for further discussion. I know it pops up from time to time. Perhaps somebody can offer ideas of what else my client should do to protect his company...he doesn't care about the domain name) Regards, Eric Longman Atl-Connect Internet Services +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Atl-Connect Internet Services http://www.atlcon.net | | 3600 Dallas Hwy Ste 230-288 770 590-0888 | | Marietta, GA 30064-1685 [EMAIL PROTECTED] | +-------------------------------------------------------+
