Website Hosting Issues for Business

[Perplexed]

For many years, I've been maintaining a website for a business that sells products online through an e-commerce store I have built for them. I am basically a third party and have no physical contact with the business. I am in ownership of the hosting account under my name, control the domain name for them for easy renewal, etc.

Now they are in the middle of a trademark licensing case and attorneys working for the company that has the licensing issue on a few of their products has contacted me through a WHOIS look-up since they can't get in contact with the business to tell them to remove the products. They stated since I have direct control over the content of the website that they would legally go after me if I didn't comply and remove the products their client had a licensing issue with.

Any suggestions on what if anything else I need to do other than what they stated?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Sorry to hear about your trouble and you have an interesting case here. What exactly is the trademark dispute about - is it the domain name or some other product or service offered on the site? Either way you've got a problem since this alleged violation occurred on your property. You've got to decide one way or another what to do but I'm not sure why the client doesn't own their own domain and get their own hosting agreement. Perhaps this worked out well for you in the past but now it's time to divorce yourself from this arrangement, IMHO. But be aware - I don't know any of the details so it's difficult to say more or to come to firm conclusions.

 

[Perplexed]

The trademark dispute is over certain products offered by the business. Since the first post, I have completely divorced myself from this arrangement. The business is now in complete control of their own domain name account, hosting account and website content. I am no longer involved in anything relating to their website including offering any assistance. Also, I received a letter in the mail from them stating that they are no longer in need of my services for their website. I personally haven't heard anything more from the attorneys on the matter.