Domain Names: $8 Today… $1800 in Legal Fees Tomorrow?
Posted on September 9, 2007
Filed Under Domains, Search Engine Marketing |
Ever been in a situation where you’re scouting for domain names closely related or very similar to your own brand or company name? You probably already know how cheap domain names are. GoDaddy + coupon code can get you .com’s at very affordable rates… especially if you’re buying in bulk!
Domain Name Trademark Infringements
Did you also know that contesting the rights to ownership of a domain name can lead to a massive legal bill for you… whilst whoever registered the infringing domain can do nothing (or put up a half hearted fight), concede the domain and get off scot free in most cases?
The last time I checked out how much it would cost to contest a domain name (specifically a .co.nz) it was $1800 NZ. That’s assuming mediation cannot produce an agreeable outcome for you. This price tag also assumes that the person who registered your domain name does not put up a fight nor does it account for the time and effort required to pursue such an issue. The $1800 mentioned here is just what it costs to get an “expert” out of bed to make a ruling on your case!
In most situations it will be obvious as to whether or not the defendant can justify their use of the name. If the odds are against the infringing registrant they’ll probably do nothing and concede the domain name at minimal cost and effort. Pay $8 for a domain name, do nothing and lose it… isn’t that how unappealing domain names get dropped, anyway?
If your opponent truly deserves to concede the domain yet wants to contest for one of the following reasons (outside of having legitimate grounds for appeal):
- holding the name out of spite,
- hoping you’ll be discouraged enough to cease action, or
- simply stalling you by dragging the investigation out to the maximum legal limit…
…they can go to varying degrees of effort to lodge a defense. The overseeing “expert” may or may not go through the motions of investigating elaborate cock and bull reasons for why the defendant has a legal and/or moral right to use of the name. Therefore, it may or may not be worth going to some effort to defend a sinking ship if it delays the inevitable outcome and cause added loss to the prosecuting party, i.e. You. From an 80/20 perspective they could submit a half arsed defense and still expect it to jam up the system for long enough to cause the aforementioned grief.
As long as you’ve done your homework and built a solid case then you’ll be able to breeze through their arguments and win without too much drama. It’ll cost you a little more time but more importantly it’ll cost you $1800 to pay for the expert’s time so in effect you’ll be purchasing a domain name for $1800 that someone else (possibly a jerk) paid $8 for.
If you’re running a serious business with serious brand equity then splashing out a few hundred or thousand dollars to protect your online identity shouldn’t be a huge issue for you. If you’re a malevolent prick then you’ll be delighted to know this is a cheap way to impede your competitor’s online branding efforts and potentially cost them thousands later on down the track.
How to be a Jerk
Depending on your industry it should be relatively easy to rank for any keyword phrase a competitor decides to brand one of their products with. This is especially true if you have a stronger domain and access to a greater understanding of SEO and Social Media Marketing.
Optimize for Competitors Product Terms
You might decide to cleverly weave the words into the text of an existing page or perhaps build a new page optimised solely for that term. If you wanted to, you could go to the extreme measure of registering domain names or free accounts at various blogging platforms and grinding out half arsed spam sites on them OR add a layer of quality and linkability to them and eventually 301 them to your main site or any page you wanted to boost the rank for.
Negative SEO
Consider building the strength of incidental competitors (i.e. pages that rank for the terms purely by coincidence and are non-competitive to your commercial interests) so you can crowd your competition out of the SERPs. If you wanted to go to the effort and expense, it wouldn’t be that hard (or expensive) to pwn the top 30 or 50 rankings ahead of your enemy, assuming it’s not already a competitive term and they’re not as good at playing internet as you.
Don’t Be a Jerk
Remember that spite begets spite and you’re better off focussing on marketing activities that will strengthen your brand rather than invite retaliation and leave you and/or your brand looking like a jerk.
Comments
2 Responses to “Domain Names: $8 Today… $1800 in Legal Fees Tomorrow?”
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Hi Joe,
If you stay clear of trademarks and just go after the generic defensibles you should be fine. I’ve gone past 265 domains now, really enjoying it. Got some good quotes in SMH, The Age and Brisbane Times alongside Stuntdubl and Matt Cutts, Google News my name, it’s called “Dodging Google Sheriff”.
Shit has really started moving now. The game has changed a lot.
Give me a call sometime man, would be great to catch up and talk some shit. Sorry to braindump your blog with my crap, but I like it man, keep up the posts, I be a readin.
- Ben
Cheers, Ben.
Sounds like you’ve been busy - that’s at least 200 domains more than I’ve got right now though I have added a few juicy ones since last time we spoke.
I’ve been testing out a bunch of SEO stuff and reading lots on domaining lately so it’d be great to shoot the shit with you sometime soon.
Congrats on the quotes!