Best method to donate intellectual property (domain) to its owner

timechange.com · Apr 25, 2003

What would be the best method to return intellectual property (a domain) to its rightful owner? I registered it so that it would not fall in the wrong hands.

dtobias · Apr 25, 2003

I wrote up the story of the time when I did exactly that here:

http://www.epinions.com/content_20562349700

DNS Kidd · Apr 25, 2003

For tax purposes, you can claim only your actual cost, not the appraised value, of the donation. I just went through this with a CPA.

timechange.com · Apr 25, 2003

Maybe the word "donation" is incorrect

I meant, I will return the domain 'gratis'. I just need some advice on the wording of the actual communication.

Sharpy · Apr 25, 2003

Hi. your name expired, I registered it so you wouldn't loose it. Send me the folowing information and I'll transfer it back to you. My out of pocket costs for doing this were $X.XX. Thanks

Spider · Apr 25, 2003

My out of pocket costs for doing this were $XXX.XX. Thanks

timechange.com · Apr 25, 2003

Mr Webname · Apr 25, 2003

On the other hand you could just wait until you get an approach from the "owner" and then offer to sell. After all it's not your responsibility to "nanny" them, they let the name expire and it would have cost maybe $160 for them to re-register it after expiry.
In the last couple of months I've unknowingly reg'd 3 names that owners had let drop mistakenly. Each one approached me and each has resulted in a good sale and two happy people.

timechange.com · Apr 25, 2003

I've already contacted them - let's see how fast they respond

jberryhill · Apr 25, 2003

Attempting to donate a domain name can be surprisingly maddening at times, depending on the organization. There is not a one-size-fits-all answer.

I know of many people who have donated celebrity names in exchange for a simple token of appreciation, such as an autographed souvenir of some kind.

You have to make very sure that your intentions are clear. Large companies in particular do not understand the concept of someone wanting to do them a favor, and can react oddly.

apprentice · Apr 25, 2003

I did it one time. The com was dropped by another company, but current company (with the same name trademark) owns the net and the org, and considering that it is an open source program, I sort of donate it for less than $100 when they approached me.
I even got rewarded (certainly much sweeter than the money!) when they drop a note of thanks to me on their website.

Edwin · Apr 27, 2003

I've had two instances where I've registered domains up front with the specific intention of handing it over to the (in some respects stupid) companies they related to (companies that I happen to like a great deal)

In both cases, the results were similar: I made contact, had a few friendly email exchanges and then they just stopped writing without ever following my instructions on how to transfer the domain name FREE OF CHARGE to them!

Ultimately, I just kept each of the two domains pointed at the company's official homepage for the remainer of the year's registration period, then let them lapse.

Now, both are owned by cybersquatters !

timechange.com · Apr 27, 2003

Edwin, that's really shocking

One would expect that a company would followup with something that relates to their own interest.

So far I established contact and was told my email was forwarded to the IP director so I'm on good track here.

I will post the results once the domain has been transferred to them

Shiftlock · May 28, 2003

I'm curious what finally happened with this situation.

DNS Kidd · May 28, 2003

My experience is smilar to Edwins. Regged 6 versions of the same name for a college, sent everyone involved a message saying this was done and how to complete transfer. School never replied, even with 3 reminders from register transfer sevice.

This is the 2nd time the school has allowed someone to reg their full name. While I was there, some students regged the name, and started their own web site. School was pissed, and it took a few months to tactfully get back their name. Amazing that they would let it happen again.

timechange.com · May 29, 2003

Originally posted by Shiftlock
I'm curious what finally happened with this situation.

I'm actually going to email them again; my phone conversations of almost(?) a month back were very positive. Spoke with the head of IP department (legal counsel) and said he'd talk to the board. Haven't heard back from them yet

Anthony Ng · May 29, 2003

Once hand-snapped a 3-letter .org for an influential (really powerful) non-profit organization. This story is different in that it's local and I have some good contact there. We set up a meeting with their Director of Technology, had some chit chat and then moved on to the technical details with a manager who took care of the transfer. Smooth. The next time I saw their CEO, he actually remembered this and thanked me again!