Cybersquatting attempt and legal issues

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glowleaf

glowleaf

My head annoys people
Jun 27, 2007
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www.glowleaf.net
I have a serious problem, and I need the opinion of someone with experience in domaining issues. I got this email, and I dont know if it is a serious email telling the truth, or a small registrar's attempt to make me register those domains by creating a feeling of urgency in me. Note that xxxxxxxxx is a domain name, through which I do serious business, its my full time job, not a temporary or unimportant affiliate site.

The second issue is that of the internet trademark. I do not have an internet trademark for my domain, and the question is whether I should get one. If these guys get the trademark name, can they create problems for me in the future? Should I hurry and get the trademark, and where and how do I get one?

In the case that this is an email telling the truth, should I get the domains just in case? I am not currently interested in developing china domains for my business, but you never know.

Any help is appreciated.

Dear CEO,

We are a domain name registrar centre in HongKong, and in charge of the registeration in Asia,We have something important need to confirm through your company.

We received a formal application from a company called "Getsgain International Holdings Ltd" applying to register the domain names:
xxxxxxxxx.asia
xxxxxxxxx.cn
xxxxxxxxx.com.cn
xxxxxxxxx.com.hk
xxxxxxxxx.com.tw
xxxxxxxxx.hk
xxxxxxxxx.tw
Internet trademark: xxxxxxxxx
in China and also in Asia on May. 4 2008.

During our auditing procedure we find out that the alleged "Getsgain International Holdings Ltd" has no trade mark,Intellectual property, nor patent even similar to that word. As authorized anti-cybersquatting organization we hereby suspect the alleged "Getsgain International Holdings Ltd" to be a domain grabber. Hence we need you confirmation for two things,

First of all, whether this alleged "Getsgain International Holdings Ltd" is your business partner or distributor in Asia

Secondly, whether you are interested in registering these domains. (The alleged "Getsgain International Holdings Ltd" will be entitled to obtain a domain not needed by original trademark owner.)

These days we are dealing with it. Now we have not finished the registration of Getsgain International Holdings Ltd yet, If we do not get your company's reply in the next 3 workdays, we will pass the application of Getsgain International Holdings Ltd directly, in order to deal with this issue better, Please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.



Best Regards,


Polly

　Auditing Department

Tel: 00852 3059 3057
Fax:00852 3059 3080 　　00852-8125 7328
Email: Polly@netech.hk.cn
Web: http://www.netinchina.hk
 


Update: The guy just called me on the phone, asking me about what I decided. I told him to send me the forms and I will tell him tomorrow.
 
IF you conduct serious business and i mean serious business with that domain, get that fucking trademark. Jon did it for wf and you shouldnt think twice about it. You have no fucking idea how much money domainers make from trade marks, getting them ranked and then parking those bitches upto 8 bucks a click cause of the high quality traffic they have. :)
 
Xmcp, thank you for your reply. Yes, I had the feeling this was something fishy right from the start, simply because that is exactly how I would conduct a scam like that :)

Nmwando, yes, it is serious business, and large scale as well. I will get that trademark, but I am not really sure how to do that exactly. I imagine it takes some tax papers from the government, and contacting a trademark specialized lawyer?
 
nmwando said:
IF you conduct serious business and i mean serious business with that domain, get that fucking trademark. Jon did it for wf and you shouldnt think twice about it. You have no fucking idea how much money domainers make from trade marks, getting them ranked and then parking those bitches upto 8 bucks a click cause of the high quality traffic they have. :)
Click to expand...

The registering of a trademark has absolutely zero to do with obtaining trademark rights. You really shouldn't be giving advice on this.
 
I can't wait for Lord Brar to come in this thread and the arch of shitty WF domaining advice will be complete.
 
Dullspace said:
I can't wait for Lord Brar to come in this thread and the arch of shitty WF domaining advice will be complete.
Click to expand...
Oh well, I am pretty glad that you decided to share your amazing gems of wisdom! Thanks. Why don't you try for a seat on ICANN Board?

Glowleaf - .asia is the only TLD -- of all those listed in the original message -- which had hired a third-party law-firm to verify the trademarks and that too they did in sunrise. I sat through their presentation on how they plan to handle trademark issues and they had no intension of approaching trademark holders. As for the other TLDs, they don't even care to confirm the trademark status unless a UDRP is filed.

This whole message is a scam for sure like those old verisign pre-paid renewal slips they sent out to customers of other domain registrars. Also, you do not really need a registered trademark to file a UDRP -- you need to demonstrate that the other person registered the name in bad intent.

In any case, the cheapest way is preemptive registration. And if you are not doing business in asia, no need to get those TLDs.
 
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