I was just contacted by an IP lawyer asking the price of a name. Is this a trick ?

[angel69]

I'm posting this in a different section since just a few can access the Exclusive TM section and I've posted plenty before in Domain Legal Issues (John, if you happen to read this, I notice some have posted here and in Zak's thread without having a specific question of the domain lawyer, I hope you're cool w/this, you don't have to weigh in at all unless you feel like it)

I was just contacted by an IP lawyer in a foreign country asking me the price of one of my names. Having always stayed away from all TMs, and avoiding even the impropriety of appearing to be in conflict with any TMs over the years, we found out in the summer of 2012 that it didn't do us much good since three different TM claims were sent to us, practically in the same month, by three different entities in different areas of the world for totally different domains and all for the wrong reasons. This time around it's an acronym that means nothing and it isn't TMd btw. This lawyer didn't say what they did for a living in the email, they signed the inquiry like "John Smith" but it had their work email address, and even if it had been their personal one, their full name was enough for the search, and all they wrote was like "What's the price of your domain ?"

Could this be this lawyer tricking me into quoting a price so they can later use this against me in formal dispute ? Before we answer anybody's emails we check out who they are according to any info they give as to name, email address, etc and it looks like this individual is an established IP attorney in another country. We didn't go that deep but the info coincides so far. I won't undervalue my domain and I honestly don't have a BIN on it although it's listed for sale with an O-C/O format. They chose to contact us through the link on the parked page and not through the WHOIS which I find odd since they must know the system inside out. Should I answer at all ? It can be that an IP lawyer has a bona fide interest in a domain as an end user, but is it likely ? I'm negatively predisposed but my routine answer saying they should make an offer and that we don't have a set price was my first instinct. Then they can ask me for a fixed price trying to corner me, but I'm free to comply w/that or not, I'm under no obligation to give a fixed price to anyone. And if I price it high enough and their intent is not to buy but to use that against me I can always justify the price. But I wonder what those of you who follow all this think I should answer, and if I even should

 

[Johnn]

Since when an IP lawyer get involve in buying a name?

1. Check TM for past and recent filing
2. Change DNS to a single landing page
3. Ignore the Lawyer email if you are clean from #1

This is just my opinion as I am not a lawyer and in the pas 12 years I never had a lawyer buyer (When you see them you see problem - Sorry John B.)

 

[Theo]

You can write back asking what exactly is the purpose of his inquiry. He might respond, for personal interest, for a client etc.

 

[angel69]

Well, I'm happy to report some good news, for a change. At first we were debating whether to approach that lawyer telling them we'd researched their name and we knew what they did for a living, or just to email them straight that there was no BIN and to simply make an offer. We opted for the 2nd option so that if it was a trap to get me to ask too high a price it would fail. I don't like it when people tell me they've researched me, whatever the results are, even if their final disposition towards me is positive after such research. So we didn't want to go for that

To my surprise I got a straightforward answer saying the lawyer was buying the domain for a client and the offer they were making was final. And such offer was pretty good, so we went for it immediately. No talk or questions of what they did for a living, or why anybody would hire an IP lawyer to place an offer on a name, unless the buyer was already a client in their law firm, and even then I question why the client had to go thru his IP lawyer to make an offer. Another possibility is that the client wanted the domain and he/his lawyer saw what they thought was a conflict (there had never even been any TM applications on the domain btw) and wanted to test me, and had I asked close to $1,500 they might have gone for a full UDRP rather than give me that money. Now that the deal is over maybe I can contact that lawyer in a friendly way and ask what their rates are for if/when I have the next TM threat

I even asked them if they could pay the escrow fee in full and they said yes. I hope over time this kind of makes up for what both the Complainant and Go Daddy did to me in my one UDRP which I lost. And what a couple of other true idiots put me through when those were my first TM challenges. I agree, Johnn, that when an IP lawyer contacts a domainer nothing good at all usually follows. This case I just had now was an aberration (and we all like you, Zak M and John B, but IP lawyers are too expensive for most of us )