Hi
I received a letter this morning from a uk solicitor who represents a uk hosting company with a similar name to mine.
my site is easily-hosted.co.uk
they demand i transfer the domain to them ,although the name is similar easily is a common word and would appear in a lot of domain names
any suggestions
thanks

I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I would think that whoever has that name registered should have access to that name.

I don't really understand how domain names are under certain trademark rules. If someone registers a domain name of a registered company, you would *think* that it wouldn't matter, but somehow a domain name has been pulled into the whole equation. My "advice" (notice quotes) above is based on my minimal exposure to the court battle outcomes.

You didn't list the company's name thats wanting the domain name, so its hard to tell exactly *how* close the names are. I would think in order to claim a domain name that a registered business has (again, read above), it would have to be the EXACT same name.

I'm interested to hear what other people say.

Maybe it's http://easilyhosted.co.uk/ ?

Originally posted by easily
Hi
I received a letter this morning from a uk solicitor who represents a uk hosting company with a similar name to mine.
my site is easily-hosted.co.uk
they demand i transfer the domain to them ,although the name is similar easily is a common word and would appear in a lot of domain names
any suggestions
thanks
They're hoping that the solicitor's letter will scare you into handing over the domain name. Their next course of action against you would be much more expensive and they mightn't want to got there. Hold onto it if you think you have legal ownership and if it's worth the fight. Good chance that they're bluffing.

Also check to make sure the solicitor is a real solicitor too. :)

If it is a .uk domain - they will have to pay 100 pounds for each single pound yoy pay your own lawyer, and you will still keep it with a good judge :)

http://www.tilj.com/
http://www.nolo.com/


RE: easily-hosted.co.uk
Get yourself a nicer dot com, point your .uk to it - and mind your names servers. You might lose your .uk domain if those jerks wana pay a lot - but you still get to keep your customers.

>>they demand i transfer the domain to them
If you really wana go there - you can get their hosting domain same way - depends on how good your barister is ;)

This is indeed a common issue. Usually its the bigger companies such as PLC's that will get their lawyers to send out these letters to smaller companies. They will claim you are 'passing off' which basically means they think you are stealing their customers, by using a similar name and doing the same business.

They will be hoping you don't have the time or the money, and will just give in and transfer the domain over to them.

It comes down to whether you can afford a legal battle or not?

Good luck with whatever you do anyway, it really does annoy me when these big PLC's think they can wipe out the smaller businesses with the amount of cash they have.

is it easily hosted or easily.co.uk because easily.co.uk are pretty big here and i imagine they can afford some pretty good lawyers

We had the same problem with our last name. I dont want to go into details about who with but they are a PLC. In the end we gave them the domains co.uk and .com for £50. They did want more from us but obviously did not want to go though the courts. If we had more money at the time we would have tried to defend our selves. At first we thought they were trying to scare us, these thing can not be overlooked though and we more letters came with greater demands. It did cost us a few hundered in fees

the company in question does not have the word hosted in their domain.

the word Easily and Hosted are spoken words in everyday use.i do not see how a company can claim title to such words ,i don`t see the problem they have.
if you search on google for easily hosted you will see what a common phrase this is .
they also demand that i do not include the word "easily" in any other url selling any products whether computer related or not.
Just seems like bullying to me but in the end if they are so insecure about their business i will have to give in ,lets face it i can setup another company within 24hrs with little disturbance to my customers

Get some legal advice.... it won't cost much (if anything) for a short time with a solicitor and it will be worth it :)

I don't think it is the domain they are after... more likely to be your whole trading name. If it is who I think it is (easily.co.uk), they are pretty big, established and to be honest I can see their point. The action they will most likely bring is one of 'passing-off'. The name is obviously very similar and added to this you are both in the same market aiming it pretty much the same buyers.

As I said, consult legal advice but I don't fancy you're chances I'm afraid :( You will most likely be able to keep the domains but the business name may have to be changed :(

Originally posted by easily
...the word Easily and Hosted are spoken words in everyday use. I do not see how a company can claim title to such words...

Regardless, if that is their company name then yes they do have legal rights to the domain name as well. For example, lets say someone decides that Specialized and PC are common enough to register specialized-pc.com. Do you think I should just allow that to happen because the names are common?

Originally posted by easily
...they also demand that i do not include the word "easily" in any other url selling any products whether computer related or not...

On this issue, they can demand that all they want. They don't control what words you can associate with your business. Unless it is the same products they sell using the same company name. Otherwise, this won't work for them.

Yes i agree with you ,but i have not taken 2 words i have only included a very common word in my domain.
are you saying nobody could use the word pc or specialize in their domain ?
whilst using both would not be acceptable using one of the words combined with a different second would be.
i will give them what they ask but i still think it`s unreasonable for them to claim rights to the word "easily" there are other companies which offer hosting and combine easily in their domain

No, in that case, you are right. I wouldn't deny anyone using either of the two words in another domain name as long as it wasn't both and wasn't trying to cybersquat. I wouldn't give up that easy. I'm no lawyer but they sent you one letter in hopes you would do what it sounds like you're about to do. And that is give them the domain. Like another person said, wait to see if this is just a bluff. Even if they go further, you can then hand it over at that point and walk away.

I wouldn't be so hasty so sign the names over but certainly change the business name. I know this is very inconvenient but I'm assuming its a trading name so its not a great deal of paperwork. As for the domain names, maybe agree to stop using them for hosting related business but put them up for sale instead, they might offer you some ££ :) At the end of the day I'm 95% sure its your business name they don't like.

We had similar problems some time ago and it was no where near as close as this case. In ours, no words where identical and they only sounded slightly similar. After getting quite a bit of legal advice it was decided to change than to face the costs of court (which the other company could afford no problem). Added to this, all legal advice suggested that we didn't stand much chance as we were up against another hosting company in the same marketplace. We still have the domains mapped to the site though.... :)

Is this problem only in the UK? I've never heard of such companies doing so in the United States - and if they did, I've never heard of someone having to forfeit their domain name just because a larger company said so.

A few years ago someone could have registered microsoft.net and sold PCs loaded with Windows. Could microsoft had made this person forfeit microsoft.net because of their [ridiculous] .NET project?? :confused:

thanks for all the comments
i have contacted them and offered to hand over everything but at a cost.
at the end of the day i can think of other names ,i honestly never gave their company a thought when i was looking for a company name ,i entered various words into a whois ,including easy,easy,host,webhost,hosting etc ..and i chose easily-hosted from one of the names suggested
then i checked against companies house to see if any other companies where using it ,there where no others using it so i registered it

Originally posted by JamRover
A few years ago someone could have registered microsoft.net and sold PCs loaded with Windows. Could microsoft had made this person forfeit microsoft.net because of their [ridiculous] .NET project?? :confused:

A few years ago you could have registered Microsoft.net and charged Microsoft for the domain and that was legal. Microsoft may have still fought it in court but there was nothing stopping you from doing it. As for today, now that same activity is called cybersquatting and if you are caught doing it, you will most likely lose the domain and even possibly have to pay fines for any confusion caused to potential customers of the other company. It's definitely not worth the risk anymore.

This really stinks and its not just!

Say i own and trademarked to 4u.com or whatever tld.

Imagine all the this and that -4u.com doamins and business can i take all there domains over?

Regards

Not necessarily. You would first have to find out if all those other *4u.com companies are selling the same product as you. Then, if they are, are those companies intentionally trying to fool your potential customers thinking they are you. Of course you don't need this information to fight it but if this all fits into the fold then you have a much better case.

As for Microsoft, anyone registering a domain with Microsoft in it will probably lose it. Whether or not they sell the same stuff. That's just because of the power that one company has.

Ahh...but one man can fight the system. Check out http://www.nissan.com :)

No kidding. Either he beat them in a battle in the courtroom or they don't care and never went after him. Unless there is a story somewhere that I missed... Pretty interesting.

On a funny side, regarding Microsoft, there is a local company that I interviewed with a few years ago called 'SER Macrosoft'. The lettering on the sign and building were even in the same font and color as Microsoft's. Another one that wasn't taken down for a similar name. Checking their web site now it looks like they may have dropped the Macrosoft part. They keep referring to themselves as simply 'SER'.

Very interesting read there lightnin (they have the full story linked at the top of their page). I'll be keeping an eye open on it to see how it turns out, could have pretty far reaching consequences.
Cheers,
Myros


Originally posted by lightnin
Ahh...but one man can fight the system. Check out http://www.nissan.com :)

Originally posted by myros
Very interesting read there lightnin (they have the full story linked at the top of their page)...

My lord, how did I miss that? My eyes are going and it is too late. Not only is the link in BIG letters on the front page but it is blinking as well. :rolleyes: It will be interesting to see who wins and this proves that companies don't just go after the domain name.