Brother_Murus on 4/2/2010 at 06:16
Quote Posted by redface
An international (and well known) company, apparently from the US, claims to own my domain name (redworks.sk)...
Now what are the chances of a company being named after you?
BrokenArts on 4/2/2010 at 13:48
Now what are the chances of a company being named after you?
Its more common than you might think. I had something similar happen to BrokenArts back about 8 years ago. Another company, same name, up in the Chicago area sent me a certified letter, asking me to cease and desist the domain, blah blah.
We contacted a lawyer, I owned the domain and had a trade mark as well. I did all that back in 1998. It was settled with *prejudice*, they didn't like it, but, it wasn't worth pursuing, given the time and expense that could of incurred. There is enough work for the both of us. I got to the domain name first, you snooze you loose. I just had to change the website design, which I was already doing at that time.
You own the name, if it comes down to it, talk to someone about this. I wouldn't sweat about it too much, you own the domain, but still, its a pain in the ass.
37637598 on 5/2/2010 at 06:19
Technically you don't own the domain name. You only own rights to use it within certain regulation, so any laws in place could easily sweep it right up from under your feet. Everyone here is giving the same good advice, seek professional consultation. Where's RBJ when you need him?
I would add that you should keep records of every e-mail they and you send, and try to dig up any e-mail or paper reciepts that you've recieved for the purchase of the domain name. Make sure you have dated records of activity within the server that's linked to the domain as well. I'm afraid they might be in the right, and you're SOL, but if it were me, I'd dig up every shred of info on the matter that I could, and would certainly present it all to a lawyer and a web domain or web marketing specialist. You should be able to get a pretty good idea without having to fork out a bunch of money for something you already pay for. If worst comes to worst, you may be given X amount of months to transfer your website to a new address, which is a piece of cake, but a very annoying piece of cake. :erg:
Melan on 5/2/2010 at 07:05
This looks like a classic case of strongarming. Lawyers like to do that, since it spares expenses and maintains their reputation as scary people not to be messed with. Based on what you have written, it doesn't look like they would have a case, but IANAL and this is not legal advice.
redface on 5/2/2010 at 17:39
Still waiting for a reply to my last email.
I'm starting to think that my chances aren't so bad, even though some of you say otherwise. I'm not going to contact a lawyer just yet, they're too damn expensive, however I do know people that can help a bit, if things get serious.
demagogue on 5/2/2010 at 18:12
The thing was extra-territorial cases, too, is that even if they have a strong case, unless they have a large Slovak presence (unlikely), their lawyers won't know jack about Slovak law and would probably dread bringing legal action there ... they'd have to hire local lawyers, start researching from scratch, and can't control things entirely in-house. So that's why a scare-tactic might come in.
If they're not replying that's also a good sign that they just can't be bothered with the trouble.
heywood on 7/2/2010 at 17:12
That just means WIPO doesn't cover .sk, but WIPO is only one provider of UDRP dispute resolution services. The answer should be at (
https://www.sk-nic.sk/) if you can read Slovak.
Rug Burn Junky on 7/2/2010 at 18:13
Quote Posted by 37637598
Where's RBJ when you need him?
What do you need me for? I'm sure demagogue knows his trademark stuff as well as I do, and he can run circles around me on the cross-border international stuff to boot.
The only thing I'd differ on in dema's analysis is that if push comes to shove, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss his prior use as non-commercial. You could easily make the argument that redface's use of the site constitutes personal branding and advertising as a free-lance design professional. But, I don't really know what the precedents are on that point, especially internationally, so I don't know how that would hold up, nor whether that would taint any claim of noncommercial use, which could be lethal since it's so very similar to their line of business. The real problem is that if you start making any of these arguments in correspondence with the company you may foreclose or undercut your arguments later if you need to go before a tribunal/arbitrator/court. This is a strategic/tactical question as much as it is a legal one.
Again, a local attorney would be far more qualified than anyone on this board.
