Hey everyone, just wondering everyone's opinion of the following matter...

I own zefie.com, and have had it since 3/4/2004, and it paid up until 3/4/2008.

I recently got contacted by zefieNET LTD (http://zefie.net/), who created their domain, zefie.net on 12/27/2004.

They say they are registering trademarks of "zefie", "zefieNET LTD" and "Zefie Hosting" in the US and UK. For those who do not know, my domain, zefie.com, is based off a manga (Japanese Comic) charactor named "Zefie" in the ".hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet" comic.

What I am wondering is:

1) Is zefieNET LTD legit?
2) Can he do anything since I been around longer?
3) Can he do anything since bigger companies like Bandai already used "Zefie"?
4) What should I do?

Here is the email I received:

Hello,

I am contacting you on behalf of zefieNET LTD, a US/UK incorporated company, currently with a pending trademark on the terms zefie, zefieNET, and Zefie Hosting (In the applicable trademark categories) in the US, the UK and majority of Europe.

We came across your site by chance, and have discovered that should our pending trademark be successful, you will be in direct violation of said trademark - and subject to fines, fees e.t.c

Whilst we realize you may have grown attached to this domain, we are prepared to offer between $750 and $1000 in order to aid your ventures without the use of this domain. If not, we will have to enforce our soon-to-be trademark rights.

Many thanks,
Ryan.

zefieNET LTD (05485267)


Please advise.

I don't believe you will have any problems as long as you don't offer the same products or services that they will offer on their web site.

If things get complicated it may be better to seek legal advice. A good example of what you are saying is the web site of www.nissan.com

FWIW, Zefienet Ltd was incorporated on 20 June 2005 - which is proof that you were there first.

You can check them out for yourself:

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/5fca9ef2cb73a20452214b233a6af945//compdetails

- but you need to be quick because Companies House very quaintly shut down their web site overnight (and all day Sunday) and it closes in 32 minutes.

I think you need proper legal advice here - but for now I wouldn't let them bully you into selling your domain. You were there first.

Whilst we realize you may have grown attached to this domain, we are prepared to offer between $750 and $1000 in order to aid your ventures without the use of this domain. If not, we will have to enforce our soon-to-be trademark rights
Then there's no guarantee you'll even see the money if you give into him ;)

Originally posted by anon-e-mouse
Then there's no guarantee you'll even see the money if you give into him ;)

Of course he'd be required to pay first, before receiving the domain. That's how business works, eh? :)

never ever offer them anything they might use it against you.

this is called reverse hijacking, so many companies just went into business and tried to reverse hijack their names in the .com area.

it would cost them $1500-$4500 just to file a dispute and lawyer fees etc.. imagine how much it would cost them just to win this case.

if something in the range of ~$5000 is fine for you just accept it and sell it via trusted companies like sedo/afternic/escrow, if not just ignore and when things get serious consult a lawyer

Fun. Methinks zefieNET just tried to comprimise my WHT account. See details at http://zefie.com/ .. I'm exposing this guy for all I can within legal limits.

Ya know, the UK is a pretty big place. There is a thread about account compromisation attempts over in the feedback forum. You should read that before pointing any fingers.

You are right. But even still, I updated zefie.com to reflect my opinion of the matter. I will not apologize to the likes of him even if I did jump the gun too soon. Like I said on my site, odd coincidence that I only got one of these emails, and the IP was the UK. It may be a big place, but I don't know anyone from there nor do they know me, with the exception of zefieNET. So you know why I jumped to this conclusion. Oh well.

What was the IP?

What was the IP?

As per http://zefie.com/zefienet/Email/31%20Oct%202005%2000:15:08%20-0500%20-%20%5bFwd:%20Account%20on%20WebHostingTalk%20Forums%20locked%20out%5d.txt - the IP was 196.44.0.250

According to http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=196.44.0.250 it's in South Africa.

C:\>whois 196.44.0.250 -n
[Querying whois.arin.net]
[whois.arin.net]

OrgName: African Network Information Center
OrgID: AFRINIC
Address: CSIR/icomtek
Address: 43A
Address: PO Box 395
City: Pretoria
StateProv: Gauteng
PostalCode: 0001
Country: ZA

NetRange: 196.44.0.0 - 196.44.47.255
CIDR: 196.44.0.0/19, 196.44.32.0/20
NetName: AFRINIC-196-44-0-0
NetHandle: NET-196-44-0-0-1
Parent: NET-196-0-0-0-0
NetType: Transferred to AfriNIC
Comment: This IP address range is under AFRINIC responsibility.
Comment: Please see http://www.afrinic.net/ for further details,
Comment: or check the WHOIS server located at whois.afrinic.net.
RegDate: 2005-02-21
Updated: 2005-02-21

OrgAbuseHandle: GENER11-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Generic POC
OrgAbusePhone: +230 4666616
OrgAbuseEmail: abusepoc@afrinic.net

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2005-10-30 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.

That'd be africa.

If not, we will have to enforce our soon-to-be trademark rights.

FWIW, Zefienet Ltd was incorporated on 20 June 2005 - which is proof that you were there first.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, so do not take this as legal advice. Consult a professional if you are concerned.

IMHO, if your domain predates their domain registration and company registration, you have nothing to worry about, no matter what you offer.

If you offered web hosting, it is THEY who would be violating YOUR trademark, if you would like to register it. (If you are in the US, you still have a few months. IIRC you have to file either before for a pending, or once first commercial use is used), of course, then you are obligated to defend it or you lose the trademark status.

If you do not offer web hosting, trademarks are (generally) specific to market, and would in most cases, not even apply in this instance.

AGAIN, I am not a lawyer, heck, I don't even play one on T.V. :laugh:

As per http://zefie.com/zefienet/Email/31%20Oct%202005%2000:15:08%20-0500%20-%20%5bFwd:%20Account%20on%20WebHostingTalk%20Forums%20locked%20out%5d.txt - the IP was 196.44.0.250

According to http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=196.44.0.250 it's in South Africa.

I see, I should have done a whois. I went be a traceroute...


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Rukia>tracert 196.44.0.250

Tracing route to 196.44.0.250 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 2 ms <1 ms <1 ms router.lan.zefie.com [192.168.1.1]
2 10 ms 48 ms 34 ms 10.14.7.254
3 12 ms 10 ms 9 ms er01-v4.cat02.tvc-ip.com [209.23.48.60]
4 10 ms 9 ms 10 ms 24-148-96-251.ip.mhcable.com [24.148.96.251]
5 28 ms 11 ms 9 ms albyny1wcx010-gige13-0-wcg.net [64.200.80.37]
6 20 ms 16 ms 61 ms albyny1wcx010-pos6-0-wcg.net [64.200.87.229]
7 18 ms 20 ms 32 ms hrndva1wcx2-pos1-0-oc192.wcg.net [64.200.210.178
]
8 19 ms 19 ms 20 ms washdc5lcx1-pos5-0.wcg.net [64.200.240.194]
9 19 ms 30 ms 20 ms so-5-1-0.mpr2.iad10.us.above.net [64.125.12.213]

10 29 ms 24 ms 20 ms so-4-0-0.mpr2.iad2.us.above.net [64.125.30.122]

11 20 ms 38 ms 21 ms so-4-0-0.mpr1.iad1.us.above.net [64.125.28.213]

12 21 ms 22 ms 20 ms so-1-0-0.cr1.dca2.us.above.net [64.125.28.125]
13 92 ms 91 ms 96 ms so-6-0-0.cr1.lhr3.uk.above.net [64.125.31.185]
14 102 ms 94 ms 91 ms pos1-0.mpr1.lhr1.uk.above.net [208.184.231.173]

15 93 ms 93 ms 93 ms 213-152-230-91.mtnns.net [213.152.230.91]
16 265 ms 295 ms 266 ms rb-ipd-2--lt-ipa-1-a.mtnns.net [196.44.31.0]
17 265 ms 264 ms 266 ms 196.44.0.250

Trace complete.

I went be a traceroute...

If by that you meant what I understood (your English in that quote is worse than mine (and for me it's 3rd language)), you did a traceroute and concluded that IP is in UK (WHERE you did see THAT is another question - because based of your traceroute results I can't tell in which country the IP is) and based on your lack of knowledge and professionalism you accused somebody of hacking your account? Called him bad names? IN PUBLIC FORUM?

Oh my GOD!!!

Hm, then I think you you should read http://zefienet.zefie.com/ more clearly before jumping down *my* throat. Also, I recieved an IM today regarding zefienet.zefie.com. Apparently Ryan Gentle is still out scamming people, by making false $ offers. Though, since that IM doesn't pertain to me, I'm not releasing the details of it to protect privacy.

Yeah, don't even worry about it. He tried to do the same thing to me :P Personally, I think he has a fetish for the word 'zefie'.

All this about "zefienet" Ryan..that lying little toe-rag ;|
Dont listen to a word he says, he nos nothing but an con-artist.