Possible Legal Issue

dgv76 · Jul 28, 2011

Hello, I am the owner of a domain name daddygo.net since 2008. Few days ago Godaddy.com send me an email asking to close my domain and transfer ownership to them because it violates their trademark. What do I have to do, just give it to them?

draggar · Jul 28, 2011

You have 3 choices:

1) Ignore it.
2) Transfer it to them.
3) Fight it.

Is the domain worth fighting for? Legal fees can be very expensive.

dgv76 · Jul 28, 2011

1) sounds good, who will pay for my investment, why should I give it to them?

draggar · Jul 28, 2011

If you go out and buy 3 kilos of cocaine and a day later you get busted from the cops - who compensates you for your lost $$$ on the coke?

If you ignore it they can escalate it to court and then you can look forward to paying legal fees if you lose.

dgv76 · Jul 28, 2011

ok, thank you, I got my answer

draggar · Jul 28, 2011

It's a learning experience that most of us go though.

grcorp · Jul 28, 2011

draggar said:
If you ignore it they can escalate it to court and then you can look forward to paying legal fees if you lose.

Please do not take this as legal advice, nor as an attack on your statements, but aren't such disputes as these typically resolved under the UDRP through a WIPO panel?

Also, if by "legal fees" you're referring to his costs to defend his ownership, he can defend himself. You don't need a lawyer.

If you meant being ordered to pay GoDaddy's legal fees, it's my understanding that that's only done if the registration was in bad faith.

See People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals vs Doughney, in which as a result of Doughney's being deemed to have not maliciously infringed on the complainant's trademark, he was only required to pay court costs, but the claim for nearly $250,000 in legal fees was dismissed.

katherine · Jul 29, 2011

Why did you register this domain in the first place ? That should help answer whether it's worth fighting for.

draggar · Jul 29, 2011

grcorp said:
Please do not take this as legal advice, nor as an attack on your statements, but aren't such disputes as these typically resolved under the UDRP through a WIPO panel?

Also, if by "legal fees" you're referring to his costs to defend his ownership, he can defend himself. You don't need a lawyer.

If you meant being ordered to pay GoDaddy's legal fees, it's my understanding that that's only done if the registration was in bad faith.

If GD escalates it to a WIPO and they win (which would mean the panel found the regsitration in bad faith) then they are in their legal right to sue the OP for their legal costs in a civil suit.

Biggie · Jul 29, 2011

what's funny is, gd would go after daddygo.com, but they ignore all the "goldaddly.com" typos that are used to phish account holders....

if it's parked and i hope not at gd, make sure none of the ads refer to gd or domain registration, hosting or danica patrick

to me, it's generic and usage will decide the outcome.

though the answer to the question below is important

katherine said:
Why did you register this domain in the first place ? That should help answer whether it's worth fighting for.

MobileDesigner · Jul 29, 2011

did you buy it from godaddy.com? That would be hilarious if you did. They dont want to pay for the $2000 fee that it takes to go through Wipo. And such emails should come from an attorney, no godaddy themselves...so save that email and use it for a reversal hijacking if they go to Wipo.

Vincent · Jul 29, 2011

What happens if you setup a website? A boy cheering for his daddy as he runs for a touch down. Daddy Go! Go!

Wouldn't this mak another domain, something different than what godaddy has in mind?

I'm new to domain, so hope you don't think I'm giving legal advice. I'm just wondering how this domain is a trademark name. The word "go" is a common word. So is the word "daddy". "Daddy go" is also a common expression.

Actually, God should punish godaddy, because it uses the word "god" in it. Godaddy is infringing on God's trademark. So, godaddy, hand over godaddy.com to God. LOL

Seriously, I hope you make the right decision. Sad thing is when it comes to legal, little guy usually end up losing. Unless. Unless it's a medical case. Say a patient gets hurts from malpractice of a doctor. He can go to a lawyer and a lot of lawyers would be willing to take his case for free of charge. In a true case, the lawyer knows when he wins the case when he sues, and he gets part of the compensation of the settlement.

They should have a domain lawyer who can act on behalf of domainers. A bold lawyer who bullys back the big bullies. Then, demand for emotional damage, mental, physical. Give bullies a lesson, so they would think twice before doing something bad.

I feel for you. The thing with any court case is time, inconvenience. If you didn't pay too much for it, maybe rather save time for more domaining than going in and out of court for something that may be worthless. This's just my personal take on it.

chipmeade · Jul 29, 2011

Anything can be explained away after the fact. "I have a friend named Dygo and he is having a baby. Thought i would make a nice blog for him about his experience. DadDygo.net!" This kind of weak fumbling looks desperate and pathetic. Judges and arbitrators are not stupid and aren't beholden to any one point of view. If you didn't have a genuine reason to reg the name, dump it an move on. If you did....never mind, you didn't, just dump it.

Vincent · Jul 29, 2011

chip, but what if he does have a valid reason to register the domain? Is there any suggestion that he is intending to infringe on godaddy trademark? his site daddygo.net does not display godaddy ad, nor any domaining competitors of godaddy. The domain daddygo.net is very unlikely that someone will type it. People who know godaddy.com, would unlikely type daddygo.net by accident, so it's not even a typo either?

This is interesting subject. How the law works is interesting. I would imagine domain lawyers having much fun in court.
For some reason, after reading all the posts on the subject, I can never got a grasp of is a trademark. Maybe that's what makes it interesting, at least for me personally.

dvg76, are you going to develop the domain? If not, you're probably going to let it drop, sooner of later. So why bother? Save your money. Let godaddy renewal, not you.

chipmeade · Jul 29, 2011

If there is a legitimate reason behind the name, by all means, fight it and take your chances with an arbitrators/judge. Just by looking at the names (even in it's reversed state) it looks to be an infringement. I think the op even knows he was over the line.

dgv76 · Jul 30, 2011

Thank you all, Godaddy (domainsbyproxy) charged me $20 for a complaint they made on my domain, so I did not want to pay them more for legal fees, and I just gave the domain.

Mark Talbot · Jul 30, 2011

dgv76 said:
Thank you all, Godaddy (domainsbyproxy) charged me $20 for a complaint they made on my domain, so I did not want to pay them more for legal fees, and I just gave the domain.

Thats funny.

First their software lets you buy it on their system.

And they charge you for it for three years to register and renew.

Then their legal dept charges you even more to get you to give it to them.

I would get rich running a scam like that if I could.

(edit - oh, that right, I forgot, it is Godaddy)