Corporate Law my company name goes to a competitors website

[needhelp33]

I have a company in the Houston Texas area & an LLC & DBA's for my company... another company/person has bought the website name & instead of it being a dead link or going to a disclaimer page or a referring link to his company, my company name.com goes straight to his company as if it is his company. How do I proceed ?

 

[army judge]

I don't know about you, but I'd co consult my corporate attorney.
What, you don't have one?
You run a business, I suggest you retain one.
Get real legal advice, for your real business.

 

[needhelp33]

i have one, fairly expensive one, already spoke with, said he would need a few days & i'm sure a couple of grand to check into... was hoping someone may know if this is legal already & i'm wasting my time & money or already knows this is not legal and how to proceed. Are you implying this website should be used for other purposes or are you predisposed against this site or just unhelpful & condescending as a rule ?

 

[army judge]

i have one, fairly expensive one, already spoke with, said he would need a few days & i'm sure a couple of grand to check into... was hoping someone may know if this is legal already & i'm wasting my time & money or already knows this is not legal and how to proceed. Are you implying this website should be used for other purposes or are you predisposed against this site or just unhelpful & condescending as a rule ?

I am advising you to not trust something as important as YOUR business to what you read on the internet.

Think of it this way, even if the other party is doing something ILLEGAL, it'll take you years and oodles of money to prove it.
You could always send him or her a letter and ask him to "cease and desist", because that's what your lawyer will do (among other things for that two grand).
He or she will likely ignore it, or tell the lawyer to pound sand.

So, its off to court you must go.
That's where the monthly countdown begins.

In a year, maybe 18 moths, a judge MIGHT tell him the same thing.

Then what?

HINT: Why not try to negotiate a settlement where you both can feel like a winner?
Negotiating is so much better than litigating.

I've practiced law (and been a judge) for nigh over four decades.
I tell every client, that last place you want to seek justice is in a court room.
Why? It takes too long, costs too much, and you rarely get justice.

Happy now that you got your answer before your lawyer gave it to you?

You have a very pleasant afternoon, now.

Oh yeah, I do try two or three cases every quarter, but so much more enjoy my cattle.
Cattle never have these kinds (or any kind) issue.
They just enjoy eating, drinking water, licking salt, wandering, and sleeping.
Sadly, little do they know what fate awaits them.
Hey, that sounds a lot like what people do, too.
In fact, cattle "moo", "snort", "bellow", and "grunt"; like most people, especially politicians.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

This is a difficult question. It happens all the time, especially with expired domains. For the cost, speculators will buy domains that have backlinks or which they see people may use. Unless you have a trademark for your business or some indication of a bad faith registration, you will probably have limited to no rights. If you have a state registered company, what's to stop another person from registering a company with the same name in another state? If you have no defense to such a registration, you'll probably not get anywhere with the domain name registration for the obvious reasons.

You'll probably need to speak to a trademark attorney about the issue at some point. I would probably hesitate on sending a C&D letter until you know your position of your rights. If you alert the person redirecting the traffic, they may hold the domain ransom and you'll have even more issues. What your attorney will also need to be familiar with are these policies or the ones which are at the registrar where the domain is registered. They should be close to identical with the key terms in there about rules for registration of domain names:

https://www.namecheap.com/legal/domains/registration-agreement.aspx
https://www.namecheap.com/legal/domains/udrp.aspx

Domain name disputes can be challenging and you can read some decisions about them at WIPO - WIPO Decisions This should give you plenty of excellent reading. Good luck.

 

[army judge]

This is a difficult question. It happens all the time, especially with expired domains. For the cost, speculators will buy domains that have backlinks or which they see people may use. Unless you have a trademark for your business or some indication of a bad faith registration, you will probably have limited to no rights. If you have a state registered company, what's to stop another person from registering a company with the same name in another state? If you have no defense to such a registration, you'll probably not get anywhere with the domain name registration for the obvious reasons.

You'll probably need to speak to a trademark attorney about the issue at some point. I would probably hesitate on sending a C&D letter until you know your position of your rights. If you alert the person redirecting the traffic, they may hold the domain ransom and you'll have even more issues. What your attorney will also need to be familiar with are these policies or the ones which are at the registrar where the domain is registered. They should be close to identical with the key terms in there about rules for registration of domain names:

https://www.namecheap.com/legal/domains/registration-agreement.aspx
https://www.namecheap.com/legal/domains/udrp.aspx

Domain name disputes can be challenging and you can read some decisions about them at WIPO - WIPO Decisions This should give you plenty of excellent reading. Good luck.

Excellent response, as usual, Professor.

I knew your appearance was forthcoming, and even if I had tried harder, I would never have been able to approach 10% of what you achieved.. Thank you, sir.