Hey all,
Once upon a time, I had a domain with "Disney" in it and I got contacted within 6 months and after a nice chat with their legal department, did my part in donating said domain to their cause.
But another I have, "AdobeUpdates.com" I have had for a very long time and it gets great traffic, ALL of which point to Adobe themselves... I haven't heard a peep.
Should I just roll with it or... ????
Scott
Do not take this as legal advice.
As I understand it, under US anticybersquatting laws, you can be fined up to $100,000 per offending domain name if found to be infringing on a complainant's trademark, as well as forced to relinquish any revenue which you've earned from the domain name.
That being said, you are merely asking for trouble by having the links pointing to the Adobe software company's website.
NOT simply by virtue of the fact that you own the domain name.
Please see the definition of the word "Adobe" on Dictionary.com:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/adobe
As you can see, "Adobe" used in its literal sense, refers to a type of brick consisting of a mix of straw and clay. Buildings made out of adobe do exist. And thus, an "adobe building" would be a phrase not relating to any software company; merely a variety of building material.
All masonry needs an update of some sort at some point. Brick can't last forever. Therefore, "adobe updates" is perfectly plausible in a sense of construction and renovation. Certainly not the first thing that comes to peoples' minds, but it makes linguistic sense.
If you wanted to fight tooth and nail to keep the name, that's probably the only chance you have, in my unqualified opinion.
However, don't doubt for a second that Adobe's legal team is capable of stalking its prey, just like yourself, allowing for enough incriminating evidence to accumulate to get them a slam-dunk of a case.
In conclusion, if I were in your shoes, I would not "roll with it". I would drop the name like a hot potato. Change the whois to junk (John Doe 1 Main Street New York, NY 11111 1-800-000-0000
[email protected]), and let it drop, or if it's with godaddy, use the "delete domain" function to get it off your hands immediately.
I also just thought I'd add, it would be in your best interests to remove any reference to this particular URL that you've made, both in this posting, as well as anywhere else on the internet you might have it, just to avoid potential association of you to this name.
I know this is in the exclusive section of the forum, which certainly limits who can view it, but anybody with enough money for an exclusive membership (which is no small amount, but is piddle to a lawyer), can view such a thread as this. So I wouldn't risk it.
Again, this is not legal advice. I am not a lawyer.
