Urgent advice needed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Graham Easton]

I believe they have a good case based on the fact that you did have a contract with them. Contracts can be oral or written so your acceptance of their offer over the phone constitutes a contract which they can enforce. The only reason it's not worth them doing so is cost.

I'd take the $2k and be happy with what is a far price for those domains. Alternatively transfer the domain to a friend and tell them you sold the domain to someone else with a child called Nick for a higher price and make a better job of the next negotiation through your friend !

All that tosh about cybersquatting and trademarks isn't worth the paper its written on because you have a valid non-profitmaking reason for owning the domain. A childs name cannot be copyright/trademarked. You have though inadvertantly struck a contract which you are now in breach of.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[mark]

yes, breach of contract cases can be expensive and add a whole new seperate set of issues to their case; regardless of the tm issue.

 

[Bionic]

Here is the message that was sent to me today.

..
On their own, your domains are worth no more than they cost to register. It's only when you siphon off the goodwill of our channel that the domains have any value at all.

that is not true. You have said yourself openly here you would not let them go for $5000 because they mean a lot to you, not because of some cartoon channel.

Did you approach them informing them of the traffic or did they approach you? Your OP says they phoned you.

Email them again...

Dear Laurie, I am not a cybersquatter I registered the domains in good faith for my son Nick. I did not make a verbal contract with you, on both occasions that you phoned me I said I would think about your offer, which is too low.

I registered the domains some time ago when there were some names left that made sense, for me to replace the domain with something meaningful to Nick would be costly and is not worth $1000 to me. Why do you think my names are only worth $7 to me? I don't watch your channel and had no idea that you made a trademark out of a boys name.

This is what it would cost me to replace the names at Buydomains and these are not as good.

nickolas.com Request Price
djnick.com Buy Now! $3288.00
netnick.com Buy Now! $2488.00
nickspizza.com Buy Now! $2288.00
nickles.net Buy Now! $2088.00

Thank you

This is getting off topic for appraisals, I'll check the legal forum if you want to follow up there.

 

[greggish]

Take the $2,000 or keep the domains. But by turning down the $2,000 understand fully that you will never see a dime from these domains. It's your decision. Somehow, I don't think they have as much sentimental value to you as you would like Viacom to believe.

 

[sjp]

I did not agree to anything,.. I told her that I would talk it over with my wife.. She did replied by saying " great, send me out a email saying you accept it and we will get the check out there." I was assuming if we went with it I will do that, Not that I agreed to it.

They asked me if it was getting traffic. I told them Yes, Which it does. They said do you get email that does not belong to you. I said no it is my site, However I get email that does not purtain to me.
I would rather take the $2000 if it is going to cost me xx,xxx to keep them.

I am going to make my decision tomorrow.
If anyone agrees with $2000 and run, Then say " I"
IF you dont please tell me no. Which ever is the highest count I am doing.

Thanks for everyones advice.
P.S I did contact a attorney last night. Found him over the internet. He told me It would be a very good case. He said we are both standing on 1 foot here. He said I should not battle them, However he would take the case and he said it is 50/50
on who would win the battle.

Yet he also told me I should ask for more, Because attorney fees will cost them at least $5,000 to take this to court.

THanks

 

[Bionic]

Arnold Schwarzenneger regged 50 mispellings of his name in the 90s. Julia Roberts LOST her case to get JuliaRoberts.com It doesn't matter if someone else is getting her traffic the name does not belong to her because someone else has legitimate right to it. If MTV had no foresight regarding their names they can't later blame that on the rightful owner. They're trying to paint you as a cybersquatter but you are not.
All they have is that you do business in domains like all of us. Yes cybersquatters sell names but so do we all.

She asked if the names were for your son because she knows she doesn't have a case, now she is clearly lying and trying to pull one over you on the phone. Again because she has no case.

Reply to her with your version of the phone call like you did here and also search for "nick" at www.buydomains.com show them that are wrong about the prices.

They probably got annoyed because you asked for an offer, if they offered you $100K that would signal that they agree you have legal rights to the name, and you could then refuse. That leaves then no avenue, they are doing everything they can to get the name, just keep them politely talking then YOU set a price.

 

[sjp]

Thanks bionic,, Good advice.

 

[Theo]

Since you have not SIGNED anything there is nothing to bound you to it, even if you said that you would consider it. Tell her that if they want to talk to you any further there will be a clean slate.

It's not greed - it's called grabbing the opportunity.

 

[sjp]

Thats right.. That is what I am thinking.. I have what they want..

 

[Theo]

Did you have any conversations on the phone with her? If yes and they recorded you saying you would accept the offer in any form of a statement, they might have a case of breaching an oral agreement. However, then they would have to sue you for breach of the oral agreement, and NOT for squatting or anything related to the alleged rights they have to the name. That's a SEPARATE issue. Also, if your phone conversations were recorded without your knowledge, this is a federal offense.

 

[David G]

....Yet he also told me I should ask for more, Because attorney fees will cost them at least $5,000 to take this to court.

If that is exactly what he said then he sounds like an uninformed attorney in that $5,000 is a very insignificant amount of money to a huge corp like that. They probably have that much just in their petty cash account. Really, it means nothing to them. Plus their attorney may be getting paid on a retainer basis anyway.

Many big companies prefer to spend the money on legal action rather than give it to the domain owner. That money spent is also tax deductable meaning that in effect the $5,000 to the bottom line is hardly worth an accounting journal footnote.

 

[Theo]

The money spent on litigation is not tax deductable per se, it's simply registered as an expense in the company's books.

 

[David G]

If you are going to just ask for a little more, don't bother, you may lose it. In other words, don't ask for $2500, or $4000, then you will just wonder if they would have gone higher, or who knows, they may just say forget it. If you are going to negotiate again, go over $10,000, or else, just take the 2K. Don't risk losing the deal over a small bump. Go for all or nothing!

That's how I also feel. A few mos ago was offered $1200 by a large company for a name somewhat similar to their trademark in an odd way but definately NOT a case they could possibly win in court or thru icann. In fact, I never heard of the firm when I reg'd the name, which is most definately not being used in bad faith but put to legitimate use.

Though they told me they would only go a bit higher I countered at $15,000 to which they said absolutely no and acted insulted. I still own the name (and its small website), not because of buyers lack of money (far from it), but only due to their stubborness and being pig headed.

P.S. A very interesting and amazing twist to the story happened a little later, which I will discuss in the Exclusive Forum later on.

 

[sjp]

So It is still 50/50 on what I should do. Sell them or sit on them?

Thanks again for all the advice.

Court cost may not be a write off, However I believe a purchase of this nature would. Isnt that what the w9 is for?

 

[mudi]

really interesting thread.. I am learning a lot from this thread !
and also good luck!!! wishing u the best of lucK with the sale of ur domain!

 

[Theo]

So It is still 50/50 on what I should do. Sell them or sit on them?

Thanks again for all the advice.

Court cost may not be a write off, However I believe a purchase of this nature would. Isnt that what the w9 is for?

No, the W9 is for you to declare the amount as income. In other words, consider the final price as taxable income (and they declare it as an expense to the IRS.)

 

[Nameable]

Your response to this guy should be something like:

Dear sir:

Your attempt to intimidate me with legalese is disgraceful.

Ms. [blank] and I never reached an agreement. I told her that I would talk her offer over with my wife. She responded that I should send her an email confirming my acceptance of the offer. I never sent any such email. I never accepted any offer.

Since you appear to be well versed in the legalities of domain names, you should be well aware that there have been hundreds of court and arbitration cases in which the holders of trademarks did not prevail. The notion that some of your customers may mistype your web address and end up at my site is irrelevant.

As I told Ms. [blank], these domains have sentimental value to my family. My son's name is Nick, and we are using them for personal homepages.

Since you would be using the names for commercial gain, I consider it fair and reasonable that I ask for a price in-line with actual value of the domains.

I would be willing to sell the domains for $xx,xxx.

If you wish to bring about legal action, I direct you to my attorney, Mr. [blank] who can be reached at 123-321-1233.

I'm sure you will agree, however that $xx,xxx is far less than your court costs - not to mention it's a sure-fire way to get the domain names you want.

Sincerely,


BTW: I am not a lawyer. You should get one. I'm just making a suggestion here.

 

[Theo]

Nameable nice letter. Oh and what's up with all this gaming records! :-D

 

[Nameable]

Oh and what's up with all this gaming records! :-D

There are new games on the board and I haven't been around all summer.

Figured it was time to "set some records" a.k.a. procrastinate :blush:

 

[Theo]

Cool I just 'stole' two of your high scores :-D