“The rules are simple: avoid claims and litigation as far as you can. UDRP and DRS complaints impact on operating revenues and time. Good faith and ignorance are not excuses...it is no good disregarding the contextual nature of trademarks. Trademark holders are becoming more active and aggressive so understand what is a trademark and what is not. Check your domains by performing on-line searches or even use professional search companies and then segment your portfolio and the companies that hold them so any names that you have that also happen to be trademarks are held separately. Keep clean names away from potential problems and consider using off-shore registrars and holding the names in an off-shore company”.
He continued: “If you receive a complaint, decide whether it is worth fighting or not – but always reply to the complaint once it is correctly delivered to you. You don’t have to answer fishing exercises from attorneys though. They are probably just trying to confirm your contact details. If you choose to fight a complaint, slow down the process, demonstrate the context in which you use a domain and get some professional advice. Remember it is going to cost the trademark owner about $5,000 to file a complaint and pay for an attorney so you can always settle. If you push trademark owners too far they might choose to litigate. The Discovery Process that is an inevitable part of litigation is something that all Domainers should avoid. It is disruptive, expensive, gives you a negative reputation and will probably ruin your business”.
