Buying Someone Domain Name For Profit

dougchips

Can you buy a domain name with one of the new extensions just to sell it to the rightful owner? Example, lets say that www.pepsi.newext is available, can I buy it and place it for sale for $10,000?

A company that uses the same abbreviation as my company buys up all of the new extensions when they are available. Today, I noticed that there are 2 extensions that they have not purchased. Since the extensions are .tv and something else that I do not want for myself, I just want to buy them to make money.

Is all of the above cool or just evil?

ABLE1

I am doing my own investigation on this domain name thing. In my opinion the value you could sell it for is V-E-R-Y dependant of if the one that might buy it really wants it or not.

Roll the dice for the price and see what happens. Some will get lucky and some will not.

Only your hairdresser will know for sure.

__________________
ABLE1

mdshunk

In about the mid 90's, I remember clearly Coke having to buy their domain name from someone who purchased it right after it expired.

If you were looking into domain name purchases as an investment, I'd do more research first if it was me. Those .TV domain names have been available for quite some time. If your suspected purchaser doesn't have that one, perhaps it is because they don't want it.

dougchips

Small money for the new extensions. I think Pepsi would need to buy everyone possible so they can sleep at night. Disney bought everyone possible.

dougchips

homedepot.com TAKEN Whois
MORE CHOICES
homedepot.net TAKEN Whois
homedepot.eu TAKEN Whois
homedepot.us TAKEN Whois
homedepot.org TAKEN Whois
homedepot.biz TAKEN Whois
homedepot.mobi TAKEN Whois
homedepot.info TAKEN Whois
homedepot.cc TAKEN Whois
homedepot.ws TAKEN Whois
homedepot.tv TAKEN Whois
homedepot.nu TAKEN Whois
homedepot.bz TAKEN Whois
homedepot.ca TAKEN Whois
homedepot.de TAKEN Whois
homedepot.co.uk TAKEN Whois
homedepot.cn TAKEN Whois
homedepot.org.uk AVAILABLE
homedepot.org.cn TAKEN Whois
homedepot.in TAKEN Whois
homedepot.net.cn TAKEN Whois
homedepot.com.cn TAKEN Whois


Here is a recent one for homedepot the .org.uk is available for $8.88. How do you find out how long this .org.uk has been around?

Nathan

If it's a trademark they can take it from you at any time.

__________________
Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

dougchips

Lets say that you did not trademark this site, could I trademark it and take it from you?

Do they have to pay you a fair price or is it just taken?

Nathan

No, if someone trademarked a name I already had in use it would likely not get a trademark status. But even if it did I would have prior rights to the name so you couldn't take it away unless you could prove you had it first and I came after you.

I have two names going through trademark status right now. It takes a long time and is pricey. This site is one of them.

__________________
Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Nathan

If they rightfully own a trademark and you buy a domain afterwords using that trademark they could take it from you with no cost except legal fees if necessary. And they could technically sue you if you cause damages.

__________________
Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

King of Crown

Same thing with celebrities. Most celebrities are their own business.

__________________
Real nice guys

FCPWLLC

What is the ACPA?
The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act is a federal law that took affect on November 29, 1999. This new domain name dispute law is intended to give trademark and service mark owners legal remedies against defendants who obtain domain names "in bad faith" that are identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark. If a mark is a famous mark, the same remedies are available if the domain name is identical to, confusingly similar to or dilutive of the mark.

What Must a Mark Owner Show to Win a Case of Cybersquatting?
The plaintiff must prove the following elements:

The Defendant has a bad faith intent to profit from that mark, including a defendant name which is protected as a mark;

registers, traffics in, or uses a domain name that--
(I) in the case of a mark that is distinctive at the time of registration of the domain name, is identical or confusingly similar to that mark;

(II) in the case of a famous mark that is famous at the time of registration of the domain name, is identical or confusingly similar to or dilutive of that mark; or

(III) is a trademark, word, or name protected by reason of 18 U.S.C. § 706 (the Red Cross, the American National Red Cross or the Geneva cross) or 36 U.S.C. § 220506

The key element that must be proven is that the defendant has a "bad faith intent to profit from the mark." ''Traffics in'' refers to transactions that include, but are not limited to, sales, purchases, loans, pledges, licenses, exchanges of currency, and any other transfer for consideration or receipt in exchange for consideration.

What is Bad Faith Intent to Profit from a Mark?
The ACPA gives the court some guidance to assist it in determining if the requisite bad faith exists. In determining if the defendant has bad faith, the court may consider the following non-exclusive factors:

the trademark or other intellectual property rights of the defendant, if any, in the domain name;

the extent to which the domain name consists of the legal name of the defendant or a name that is otherwise commonly used to identify the defendant;

the defendant's prior use, if any, of the domain name in connection with the bona fide offering of any goods or services;

the defendant's bona fide noncommercial or fair use of the mark in a site accessible under the domain name;

the defendant's intent to divert consumers from the mark owner's online location to a site accessible under the domain name that could harm the goodwill represented by the mark, either for commercial gain or with the intent to tarnish or disparage the mark, by creating a likelihood of confusion as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the site;

the defendant's offer to transfer, sell, or otherwise assign the domain name to the mark owner or any third party for financial gain without having used, or having an intent to use, the domain name in the bona fide offering of any goods or services, or the defendant's prior conduct indicating a pattern of such conduct;

the defendant's provision of material and misleading false contact information when applying for the registration of the domain name, the defendant's intentional failure to maintain accurate contact information, or the defendant's prior conduct indicating a pattern of such conduct;

the defendant's registration or acquisition of multiple domain names which the defendant knows are identical or confusingly similar to marks of others that are distinctive at the time of registration of such domain names, or dilutive of famous marks of others that are famous at the time of registration of such domain names, without regard to the goods or services of the parties; and

the extent to which the mark incorporated in the defendant's domain name registration is or is not distinctive and famous within the meaning of Section 1125(c)(1) of the Lanham Act.

Bad faith intent will not be found in any case in which the court determines that the person believed and had reasonable grounds to believe that the use of the domain name was a fair use or otherwise lawful.

What's the Quickest & Easiest Way for Domain Name Owner to Lose an ACPA Lawsuit?
If the domain name owner, including a domain name owner that may not otherwise be liable under the ACPA, offers at any time to sell or transfer the domain name for value, most courts will find that the owner has acted in bad faith and if the other elements of the case are proven, the plaintiff will win.

Another easy way for the plaintiff to prevail is if the domain name owner supplied material misleading contact information on the domain name registration application or if the defendant intentionally fails to maintain accurate contact information with the domain name registrar. Because of this bad faith factor, it is important for all domain name owners to check their domain name registrations at their registrars Whois database to determine if the contact information is correct. See Who Owns Your Domain Name and Who Controls Your Domain Name.

What Remedies May be Granted by the Court for Violations of the Act?
The Act authorizes a court to order the forfeiture or cancellation of a domain name or the transfer of the domain name to the owner of the mark. In lieu of actual damages, the plaintiff may elect statutory damages and the court has discretion to award damages of not less than $1,000 and not more than $100,000 per domain name, as the court considers just. 15 U.S.C. § 1117(d).

An infamous cybersquatter named John Zuccarini lost an ACPA lawsuit in October of 2000, when the court awarded the plaintiff statutory damages of $500,000 for each of five domain names that were obtained in bad faith and that were confusingly similar to the plaintiff's trademark. The court also ordered Mr. Zuccarini to pay attorneys' fees of more than $30,000. See Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. v. Zuccarini, Mousetrapping Cybersquatter Slapped With $530,000 in Damages and Fee and In Search Of: 'Cybersquatter' John Zuccarini

This is only a portion of the article published on April 20, 2001.

About the Author
Richard Keyt is a business, transactions and internet law attorney licensed to practice law in Arizona, but he may represent clients from any state with respect to federal internet law, cybersquatting and domain name disputes, domain name law, e-commerce law, copyright and trademarks. Rick can be reached by telephone at 602-906-4953, email at rickkeyt@keytlaw.com and fax at 602-297-6890. Rick's internet, e-commerce and domain name law web site is KEYTLaw, located at www.keytlaw.com. Communicating with Richard Keyt via email or otherwise does not cause you to become a client or cause your communications to be confidential or subject to the attorney client privilege.

__________________
First Choice Power Washing LLC
Lexington, KY 859-983-5955, Member of Better Business Bureau, Greater Lexington Apartment Association ,Insured and Licensed
Pressure Washing Cleaning Service Lexington KY

Nathan

yea, Cybersquatting is another issue. Basically, you can't do what your talking about doing.

__________________
Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

dougchips

So much for that idea! I bought up a few (11) names last night. 5 or 6 are for me and the others I will place for sale if I do not use them. My first and last name was available and it is just cool to "own" the .com for it.

I was also able to get our company phone number as a .com, not sure if I have ever seen that before.

Gordo

Another thing that I have been noticing with big corps., they are using off key domains in their ads. Example: Wendys uses wwbg3.com.

Big corps paid for what they wanted in the day.......now they make up sites that are off key.

Gold rush is over.

__________________
Looks like some pros were here.

ruskent

A friend my mine actually bought jimmcgreevy.com about 3 years ago. You know the gay governor from NJ. The guy was such a tool he didn't even own his own web address.

My friend stuck it on ebay. I forgot what happened, but ebay shut the auction down or something. But my friend did end up selling it for 5-6k and got his name in a couple newspapers.

dirt diggler

LOL

MassMan

I agree, buying a domain name as a strict investment is a risky business

SmithBuilt

I did see a local newscast stating that you could not trademark a persons given name.

It was referring to recent American idol winners names being scooped up by someone to resale. Fantasia and Chris Daugherty both just added "official" to the end of their web addresses.

DamionR

They use it for tracking purposes (which I recommend, but the numbered website name isn't hte best way)

That way - they can track and tell how many people are coming to their website in each different area they are advertising in.

so wendys1.com is used in ads in California, wendys2.com is used in ads in Virginia, etc.

If sending people to your website is something you want to do, I'd strongly recommend this tactic. otherwise, how do you know your offline advertising is working for you?

The numbered systems I don't like... but I do like using simple names that relate to your business (like virginiabeachflooring.com or flooringinvirginiabeach.com, etc.) - and then pointing those domains to my real site.

DamionR

Cybersquatting.... oh the memories...