Hi,

Having just discovered the delights of domain squatting on one of my long sought after domains I thought I'd ask if anyone has developed any strategies for coping with these people (if you can call them that!!)

Although I have to say as an aside, I thought the,

"me work long an' hard on this project but I can let you have and give up all hard work for $3000"

as a "genuine" offer was particularly good of him... especially when he dropped it to $1000 which I thought was oh... sooo nice of him...

Oh and for the record, no, sadly :( , I don't have a trademark on my domain or company name so it seems no joy that route.

We've had several domain squatting problems over the past few years. Including 2 cases for the same domain name, they just added a hyphen or an "i". There is probably not much you can do unless you have trademarks. If you are serious about your domain name, i would suggest that you consult it with a lawyer.

The only thing I'd say is that if you think you have indeed been 'squatted' then I'd consult some legal beagle and ask if you have a case regardless. There is a member here that you might want to talk to about it.

ibusinesslawyer.com (or maybe he just uses the name without the .com I can't recall...

I would also suggest the following link at ICANN. This describes in detail how to resolve most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes.

http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm

Originally posted by Chicken
There is a member here that you might want to talk to about it.

ibusinesslawyer.com (or maybe he just uses the name without the .com I can't recall...

Without the .com.......... You can check his profile here (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=523).

Domain name disputes are specific to the domain names involved and related factors. Thus, no two cases are identical. I have some knowledge of them and none of us can help in a general way because it is not a general issue. What may work in one instance may be totally inapplicable in another.

Ok,

Thanks for the input anyway.

Ironically I think of it akin to terrorism.
"Never pay up, you'll only encourage them"
:rolleyes:

It's much closer to extortion than terrorism.