Advice

tifosi · Jun 13, 2007

I'm after a bit of objective advice. I've not put it in the appraisals forum for obvious reasons.

I have a domain, which for obvious reasons I can't state here. It's currently parked receiving xxx clicks / month and a steady ctr. All common tlds of the domain have gone, and also a few non-standard. It's a popular compound word.

It also receives a steady amount of interest ~6 last year.

I received interest from another party a few weeks ago, and following discussions have upped their offer to £xxxx.

My problem is that doing more research in the domain the .com (&other country tld) are owner by a v.large USA company who have worldwide trademarks inc 35 in UK for 10yrs.

The domain however is generic.

I could put an affiliate site on it and try and avoid TM issues. The other party are obviously interested so I could stretch them a bit more.

I'm more in a quandary whether to speculatively approach the US HQ for the company and ask if they would be interested before I sell it on.

Any thoughts on the method of approach?

pm me and I'll let you know the domain.

S

deconstruction · Jun 13, 2007

contacting someone who might have a "possible" case against a name you have is always a bad move in my book.

FreetimersInter · Jun 13, 2007

I agree....

By contacting them you are in a way stating that you know you shouldnt have the name ..

Just my opinion

yesterday · Jun 13, 2007

I would say that if there is a viable income to be made off the areas that are not trademarked then keep it.

Otherwise, the problems you face are a) passing off and b) trademark infringement and c) being drsed for it.

Some companies are ok about you using their names in a url for ppc campaign, others aren't and would sue you for it.

From a basic cost revenue point of view xxxx sounds just about ok if you're getting xx per month out of it and will soon be drsed anyway!

However, if people are continually interested in it, then they must either be 1) applying on behalf of the company, 2) unaware of or unhindered by the rights issues they face if they infringe tm or pass off with it, or 3) setting up under alternative tm product.

If the domain is wholly descriptive of a category of business, that you have just as many rights to trade in as the tm holder then as long as you mention that you are not that company, and put up a site advertising those products, then you have a good case against all the a) b) and c) categories, and likely the tm holder has got the tm under the "look and feel" of their logo and brand rather than the words or conjunct per se.

If it's a close call between any of those then I reckon Beasty is your man

yesterday