Got an email...

[Aplusmedia]

Heres the story:

My domain is cancerinfo.org, which I automatically redirect to my site.
now, if you search for cancer411.org at MSN, cancerinfo.org will come up along with cancer411.org, and so if a user click on cancerinfo.org, it'l go to my banners site.

now, the owner of cancer411.org sent me this email:

"Immediately remove the pointer from www.msn.com search for Cancer411.org that points to your site http://www.20dollarbanners.com/ or we will take legal action."

..
My question is, what can I do? I can't help it that MSN list cancerinfo.org when people search for cancer411.org, can I?

Thanks in advance.

 

[DNQuest.com]

I took a look and it seems the title for your domain is cancer411.org, though the link is cancerinfo.org. I would assume that when a submission of the domain had the title cancer411.org or you have a meta tag cancer411.org.

I do know that Ford lost a court cause because it loaded up thier meta tags with a ton of GM references to steal traffic. As far as the title, it may be that your webpage has cancer411.org in it or the site was submitted as cancer411.org as the title in the submission software. Either way, I would think it could be actionable for deceptive tactics. I can't tell what is on your page since you redirect to your banner site.

I'm not a lawyer, just relaying what I have seen in the past. If you do have cancer411.org somewhere in your page, I would remove it.

 

[iBizStart]

They can not do anything. You did not do anything wrong. I would tell them to take legal action. I hate people like that. They try to scare you off with an email

 

[Aplusmedia]

Thanks for your reply DNQuest.

The page on cancerinfo.org has NO reference to cancer411.org, it is simply an index.html page with NOTHING on it except the refresh meta tag, which redirects to my site.

The reason it has cancer411.org on it is because cancerinfo.org was USED to be owned by cancer411.org, which I caught after it expired. What should I reply to him? that I have no control over over how search engines list their results?

 

[Aplusmedia]

thanks byalik, can they take me to court? im from Australia, will they pay for my airfare? :laugh:

 

[bidawinner]

Originally posted by Aplusmedia
Heres the story:



Thanks in advance.

That's actually funny .. What they are complaining about is the LINK IN MSN.. ..typein cancer411.0rg and up pops your site... but with the old data in the MSN description(the info for when the other party owned the name)

YOU dont decide what MSN keeps in their database.

Here is what you "try" to do..

Simply let them know you have NO control over MSN's search engine.

If they would like the OLD information listed in MSN to be deleted then THEY need to contact MSN.
But that within a month or 2 as MSN updates their SE database the information will change anyway's

Tell them to have a nice day and dont worry about it..

They are completely off base and dont even understand the basics of Search Engine database.

 

[Aplusmedia]

Thanks guys, I replied telling him to sort this problem out with the search engines because I have no control over its listings.

I just got a reply.

Heres what he said...

"We can provide you a sizable tax deductible donation letter in exchange for the domain name"

..I dont quite understand what he means exactly... "donation letter" ?.

and heres an interesting one

"We can also offer you a position on our Board."

anyway, in the end I would like to hand over the domain to him, since his cancer411.org IS for helping people, with that in mind, what do you think is a reasonable price to ask? or even ask for a price at all?

also, whats the story with an average joe like us regging .org tld, which were intended for "organisations"?

 

[actnow]

APlusMedia,

You posted the firsting posting 4 hours ago.

Don't be too quick to react. Think what you want to do over
the next couple days.

You might want to donate the domain to them. Or, you could tell them for the next 30 - 60 days you will forward it to them until
MSN resets. But, they won't reset if it is directed to the other site.

You have a number of options. So, think about it.

And, maybe, someone will have add'l suggestions before you contact them "next week".

 

[Aplusmedia]

Thanks actnow.

I replied the the first email faster to only let him know it has nothing to do with me, but for the next email, I think I'll wait to see if anyone else have any opinions before I make up my mind.

Thanks.

 

[Jack Gordon]

Originally posted by Aplusmedia
Heres what he said... ..I dont quite understand what he means exactly... "donation letter" ?

If you were an American citizen or business, the donation letter would represent a tax write-off

 

[Aplusmedia]

Originally posted by FrontRow


If you were an American citizen or business, the donation letter would represent a tax write-off

Thanks FrontRow. That'll be of no use to me then I guess. Im from Australia.

 

[Jack Gordon]

no but you could always forward it on to one of your american buddies

 

[Mr Webname]

Heres what he said...

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We can provide you a sizable tax deductible donation letter in exchange for the domain name"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



You could tell him that if he doesn't hassle you anymore about the name you won't pass this email onto the Charity Commissioners (or whatever in his country) and Tax Authority and he won't face an investigation for incitement to commit tax fraud!

If on the other hand you think there truly is a worthwhile cancer charity that could use your name then it would serve a better purpose with them than directing to your banner site (just my personal opinion).

 

[Aplusmedia]

Originally posted by Mr Webname


You could tell him that if he doesn't hassle you anymore about the name you won't pass this email onto the Charity Commissioners (or whatever in his country) and Tax Authority and he won't face an investigation for incitement to commit tax fraud!

hhmm, but then if giving him the domain would be considered a donation wouldn't it?

If on the other hand you think there truly is a worthwhile cancer charity that could use your name then it would serve a better purpose with them than directing to your banner site (just my personal opinion).

Forwarding it to my banner site is temporary use, I was waiting for an end user to sell it to, or in the end I will develope it into a resource site.

 

[Aplusmedia]

Originally posted by FrontRow
no but you could always forward it on to one of your american buddies

Thats an idea. lol.

anyone interested in buying it off me and donate it to him for the letter? :laugh:

 

[jberryhill]

"If you were an American citizen or business, the donation letter would represent a tax write-off"

No.

First off, if the charity is not a registered 501(c)(3) in the US, you can't write of anything on your US taxes.

Secondly, it is highly unlikely that the IRS would consider the domain name to be deductible for anything other than its basis value - i.e. what you paid for it, or the registration fee.