So I received a DRS complaint

If the domain name is a surname, make a quick website, proper geocities in the style of a personal site for Mr "Surname", with pictures of his begonias, lawn tips, stamp collection and holiday snaps from 1982. That should do the trick. Maybe even add some javascript snowflakes to show the site was like it over December.

 

This sounds like a storm in a teacup, based on brief details mentioned. DRS can be intimidating, but after amateur success against several top TM lawyers the experience seems more like a game of chess.

Overall I think the DRS system is fair, and mediation often delivers a sensible solution. As a bonus Nominet effectively provide a free Escrow service.

The best advice is to read and understand DRS policy, then write a response answering points raised by Claimant.

 

Above all else it is just the time it is going to take to draft a decent response, I'd much rather being doing more productive things with my time.

On the flip side, if mediation leads to a decent sale once the complainant realises he doesn't have a leg to stand on then it might not be so bad in the end.

 

It is a hassle which domain resellers run into occasionally. In your case a brief response may be enough. You will learn from the experience.

The Complainant may be expecting a summary decision in their favour, so the domain would cost them £250. If they are willing to pay for an expert decision it would make more sense for them to buy the domain in mediation.

Settlement means they are guaranteed to acquire the domain for an agreed price. An expert decision only offers the possibility of success. So a figure over £750 could still be a smart business decision. Unfortuntely, DRS history is littered with some regrettable choices.

 

There are 51 previous DRS cases that mention “surname” - might be worth digging into some of the logic behind the challenges that failed?

 

Thanks Edwin, that's a good idea. I'd imagine many that did fail involved trademarks.

From what I've seen of previous DRS cases thanks to various members from here (thanks!) pointing me in the right direction I'm not too concerned about the parking links any more as the links that are displayed could potentially be influenced by the complainant and displaying parking links is a perfectly legitimate practice. Other than that they have no trademark, are not all that well known so definitely not a house hold name so I'm hopeful for a favourable outcome on this occasion.

 

Take it to mediation, the SECOND you reply, its 750+Vat for ANY option they have, the only way they get it for the few hundred is if you don't reply.

Build a response, address it and file it.

Nominet will push to settle it, so £700 is very possible, as the only option is £900+ having to pay for it anyway.

 

With regards to parking domains on Sedo, what you can do to limit advertisers from appearing on the ads is this.

Go to Domain Management and a click on the domain name you want to change the ads for, on the next page, click Keywords in the menu, scroll down to Related Links, by default ads are set to Automatic, so tick the box marked Manual, add 10 completely unrelated/irrelevant keywords in the boxes underneath and save, it'll now only show ads related to those keywords.

Below that, go to Disabled Keywords and add all negative keywords related to any possible advertiser who may have an interest in the domain and click add.

What I sometimes do if I think a domain could show unwanted ads related to a big advertiser who has TM's is this.

I add my domain to Sedo, and at first I leave the ads set to automatic, I then visit the domain to see what ads are showing, copy all the keywords showing on the ads, then change the links to automatic and add them as negative keywords.

 

Do Nominet ever advise people not to proceed with these things?

On the face of it this seems like a complete waste of time

 

Why would they? It's easy money for them. Unfortunately the respondent is at a disadvantage 1) It's free to take out a complaint 2) If you don't respond you are in a very bad position and will most likely lose 3) I don't know if it's changed but they could rebut your response but you couldn't rebut their rebuttal. Nominet know they're likely looking at probably 750+ for their 'expert' decision. In my experience their 'experts' don't know their arse from their elbow and don't seem to understand how domains actually work but then I assume they are only really there to kick back some cash to their friends.

 

They'll earn a nice few quid post June 2019.

 

I think winners in many DRS cases are the IP lawyers. Advice (which builds their fees) is often not helpful, and may be at odds with the Client's / Complainant's goal - if that is straightforward secure acquisition of a domain at reasonable cost.

 

After doing some research myself into this and similar situations I found this thread (looking at getting set up on a tag and maybe buying some domains to sell on).

@Lovecraft with regards to the Sedo links - I think the drs 04962 might be worth a read - look at the appeal.

I hope you don't mind me asking here (to save opening lots of threads) but in the below two cases is this allowed / ok to do...

1) you catch or buy a generic word, name or surname to which you want to sell at a profit - the generic word, name or surname has trademarks to which you have never heard of at the time of registration but the domain has more than one use....

2) you catch or buy a generic word, name or surname to which you want to sell at a profit - the generic word, name or surname has trademarks to which you did hear of at the time of registration but the domain has more than one use....

As extreme examples say the domain was apple -
monsoon - dyson

The above domains might have use to more than one company or person... would you register them?

 

I would be inclined to contact the complainant letting them know that you regard their claim as baseless, and that you will be claiming them for your time and out of pocket expenses in defending yourself at £200/hour for your time, plus legal fees at cost.

See if they want to carry on.

 

I maybe wrong here, but I think if you went around DRS procedure like the above, I believe Nominet bow out to courts higher power. Upon request locking the domain pending legal action/results. I haven't done this myself, but that's what I was lead to believe. I was lead to believe this when enquiring about a domain which has a "legal hold" on it and was 2-3 yrs beyond expiry.

Maybe someone else can clarify what happens when you have on-going legal during a dispute ?

I would 100% rather defend a DRS rather than chance my hand in court where your a filthy black-mailing cyber-squatting extortionist, living it up on your £200/hour ill-gotten gains at the expense of the poor layman.

Least with Nominet they understand the business (the experts don't appear to at times) and once you reply to your initial notice, they are looking at best part of a £1,000 to try their hand, is likely to be enough to send them packing.

 

The complainant didn't even bother sending a reply to Nominet when they had the chance to do so and haven't responded to Nominet during mediation. They must have spent no more than 2 minutes drafting their initial complaint. A few minutes of their time.. that's all it takes for someone to chance their arm and launch a DRS complaint against you leaving you in a situation where you have to spend your time drafting your defence to minimise any chance of them winning the domain, at the initial stage you don't know how far they intend to take it. They still have until March to decide if they want to take it to expert level leaving a cloud hanging over the domain all this time.

I think there should be a fee, say around £100 for someone to be able to launch a DRS against someone to weed out chancers like this wasting everyones time.

 

I meant let the complainant know that you'd be pursuing expenses if you were successful with DRS...not instead of it.