Help! Someone telling me to remove my website domain

James_Bond

Hello there.

I sell a small piece of software online and my domain, "abcdef.com" for example.

However, some german company, has the same domain, but has "abcdef.de" and has immediately demanded that I remove the domain name. His is also to do with software, I think

What shall I do? :eek:

I am only 16, so I can't go to court or anything.

illmonkey

Is software a copy of his, or something very similar?

He cant tell you to remove your domain, only ask you to take data down that might infringe his copyright.

It would be a lot easier if we knew the address, but i understand you might not want to release it.

Jamz

You need to check and see if he has his company "abcdef" registered in the UK, if so and it has been operating longer than your domain then I'm afriad he will be able to take the domain off you.

If you are selling software on your site are you a registered company?

James_Bond

illmonkey wrote:

Is software a copy of his, or something very similar?

He cant tell you to remove your domain, only ask you to take data down that might infringe his copyright.

It would be a lot easier if we knew the address, but i understand you might not want to release it.

No, the software is my own.

MadCowMan

I can think of a couple of things you might want to do which could help your case :

Modify some of your styles on the site to that it looks radically different to the German one.

Offer to link to his site ( with suitable german translation of "looking for ERP/MIS Services , then click here" )

out of professional curiosity , what does your application do that keyfinder by magicaljellybean ( which is free ) doesn't

amcluesent

So it appears the .com was registered in February 07. I imagine the German company scans for such things and will claim that your registration is "confusingly similar", according to the ICANN rules on disputes, to theirs as you both sell s/w. I am zinking you may have to fold on zis one.


Domain Name: K D T S O F T.COM
Updated Date: 05-feb-2007
Creation Date: 05-feb-2007
Expiration Date: 05-feb-2008

Zagu

James_Bond wrote:

Hopefully he doesnt have a leg to stand on.

I dont think they do. If they were that concerned, they should have registered all the permitations when they launched.

Mail them back, and say that you'd appreciate it if they closed down their site.

amcluesent

>and say that you'd appreciate it if they closed down their site<

Also, remind them who won the war!:beer:

superscaper

amcluesent wrote:

>and say that you'd appreciate it if they closed down their site<

Also, remind them who won the war!:beer:

:rolleyes:

James_Bond

Thanks everyone.

I'm not going to fold as It'll cost me a lot of money, and why should I if the .com name was availible?

He say he's going to get his "adocate" so I'll wait and see what he has to say.

Thanks again.

toontastic

Many companies do this just to see if they can get the domain. Believe me I've done a lot of websites and had legal action threats from many a company. Basically don't back down, if your a business then sign yourself up in the UK as a business (you should any way for tax puposes), maybe purchase the uk version as well if it's available. He'll back down though or it'll be thrown out by Nominet. The worst thing that can happen is Nominet take the domain name off you but they won't.

One great example is nufc.com and nufc.co.uk . Newcastle United have tried many times to remove nufc.com from the unofficial fans and have failed because they have no right to that domain name at all. You'll be fine don't worry.