I will use completely fictitious names and companies as a very close example.
Example:
A company in the US registered the word Blingy.com in 1999. Another company in Europe registered the word Blingy.net in 2000 and has operated a business for the last 8 years on that site. They have both a brick and mortar store as well as a larger offering of products on Blingy.net
I purchase Blingy.com last year and notice Blingy.net has an affiliate program. I enroll in their program, become accepted, and just post a big "Blingy.net Enter Here" sign on the top along with a small description on bottom that Blingy.com is operating as an affiliate to Blingy.net. There is no other content... its bare.
The site inevitably makes a lot of sales and after 4 months all payments in the account are listed as "pending". I have made multiple attempts by both email and phone to get a response but the company has not said anything nor have they ever complained about the situation after 4 months of taking in my traffic.
I then finally was able to get owner on the phone who says he talked to his CFO and thinks its better to just buy the name than give all the commissions for people who are looking for them anyway. I write a reasonable request that totaled 36 months of commissions. A typical transaction for people selling revenue names in a forum let a lone I am selling him the .com of his company name.
It's been a week with no response. I also have no payments. Even though he has never complained that I was in the affiliate program his actions after so many months make it seem he does not want to pay.
My options include:
A) Taking off the affiliate program at the end of the month and stick a completely different website with no relation to this company on it. (although it does relate to the theme of the word)
B) Continue to leave my name in the affiliate program racking up a lot of money in commissions. He might be skimming some sales on his end but they still come in daily. I can leave it there until he makes an official complaint or we come to some agreement. I am the type of person to actually take the time and things through legally so would expect to eventually get all money racked up.
Legally:
A) If he went for the name on WIPO, could he actually get it? Name was registered before he made his site, site was submitted clearly in affiliate program and was approved, he knew who I was on the phone the second I said I had no payment so was aware they were not paying but never once gave me a notice, and never once responded to any of my calls and emails until the last one where they requested to purchase the name. If I take site off affiliate there will definitely not be a confusingly similar site put up.
I'm looking for something I might have not thought of. Maybe I'm being too optimistic. Thanks for any thoughts
Example:
A company in the US registered the word Blingy.com in 1999. Another company in Europe registered the word Blingy.net in 2000 and has operated a business for the last 8 years on that site. They have both a brick and mortar store as well as a larger offering of products on Blingy.net
I purchase Blingy.com last year and notice Blingy.net has an affiliate program. I enroll in their program, become accepted, and just post a big "Blingy.net Enter Here" sign on the top along with a small description on bottom that Blingy.com is operating as an affiliate to Blingy.net. There is no other content... its bare.
The site inevitably makes a lot of sales and after 4 months all payments in the account are listed as "pending". I have made multiple attempts by both email and phone to get a response but the company has not said anything nor have they ever complained about the situation after 4 months of taking in my traffic.
I then finally was able to get owner on the phone who says he talked to his CFO and thinks its better to just buy the name than give all the commissions for people who are looking for them anyway. I write a reasonable request that totaled 36 months of commissions. A typical transaction for people selling revenue names in a forum let a lone I am selling him the .com of his company name.
It's been a week with no response. I also have no payments. Even though he has never complained that I was in the affiliate program his actions after so many months make it seem he does not want to pay.
My options include:
A) Taking off the affiliate program at the end of the month and stick a completely different website with no relation to this company on it. (although it does relate to the theme of the word)
B) Continue to leave my name in the affiliate program racking up a lot of money in commissions. He might be skimming some sales on his end but they still come in daily. I can leave it there until he makes an official complaint or we come to some agreement. I am the type of person to actually take the time and things through legally so would expect to eventually get all money racked up.
Legally:
A) If he went for the name on WIPO, could he actually get it? Name was registered before he made his site, site was submitted clearly in affiliate program and was approved, he knew who I was on the phone the second I said I had no payment so was aware they were not paying but never once gave me a notice, and never once responded to any of my calls and emails until the last one where they requested to purchase the name. If I take site off affiliate there will definitely not be a confusingly similar site put up.
I'm looking for something I might have not thought of. Maybe I'm being too optimistic. Thanks for any thoughts
