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Domain/IP Lawyer Launches Website on TrademarkAttorneys.com

Elliot Silver
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6

New York City-based intellectual property lawyer Brett Lewis (better known by many as a domain lawyer), from the law firm of Lewis & Hand, has launched a new website on the generic domain name TrademarkAttorneys.com.

The website has started out as a blog, and it will eventually grow into a full-fledged trademark law website. The recently launched website is currently ranked No.2 on Bing and Yahoo, and it is on the second page of Google for the competitive keywords. It’s an advantage of owning a keyword domain name that would have been much more difficult had Lewis tried to rank highly using his law firm’s corporate domain name.

The domain name was purchased for an undisclosed sum a few months ago from well-known domain investor, Rob Grant. This was a name that had been previously up for auction, and I thought it would be a great buy for someone in that field.

When asked about his motivations for building the site, Lewis replied, “we’re excited to own the name and to be developing a blog.   The TrademarkAttorneys.com blog will have a heavy focus on domains, and hopefully can be a resource for the domaining community.”

Once Lewis’ site ranks in the top of Google for his key terms, he will save significant money on pay per click advertising. As with any domain investment, it’s a significant short term expense, but will certainly pay off over time.

Due Diligence Before Buying a Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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11

If you’re a domain investor, it’s likely that you’ve either been offered a stolen domain name or seen one advertised for sale, whether you knew it was stolen or not. Buying a stolen domain name can cost the buyer quite a bit of money (once the name is recovered) and it could hurt his reputation if he sells it.

In my opinion, it’s the buyer’s responsibility if he buys a stolen domain name, and all buyers should perform due diligence on a domain name before making the acquisition or risk losing his investment and domain name. Just like with physical property, if a purchase is found to be stolen, the person in possession of it will probably lose it and will likely not see his funds returned (I am sure there are cases where this isn’t true – especially when something is bought in good faith, but it’s an assumption).

There are a lot of seemingly obvious clues that can be seen when a stolen domain name is offered, including ridiculously low price, top domain name offered by a new member of a forum without any previous feedback, or someone emailing you in private with a too good to be true offer. While not all of these necessarily mean a domain name is stolen, they are clues that a buyer should note and should set off red flags.

A buyer should use the Whois History tool offered by DomainTools to see if there are any suspicious changes in the Whois data. For example, if a Whois record seems to remain the same for 10 years and the most recent change notes a simple email address update while the rest of the record is the same, that is a big red flag.

A couple of years ago, I was emailed by someone offering a pretty good domain name at a great price that looked to be owned by a lady in New York, although the contact email had recently changed. I was able to get in touch with the lady shortly after domain investor Richard Lau had already done the same, and she was able to recover her domain name by contacting the registrar. Had I not done due diligence, I could have bought this name, which surely would have been taken from my account and given back to the rightful owner once they determined that it had been pilfered from her account.

Due diligence is especially critical when you are purchasing intangible property like domain names.

Wooot.com: UDRP Canceled Domain Now For Sale on NameJet

Elliot Silver
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1

Wooot.comIn April, I wrote an article about the Wooot.com UDRP that was filed by the company behind the popular Woot.com website. Surprisingly to me, the UDRP panelist ruled in favor of the complainant, but instead of giving the domain name to Woot, it was canceled. By canceling the domain name, it would go through the expiration process and then become available for re-registration.

I just received my daily email from NameJet announcing the day’s 50 Most Active Pending Delete Backorders. On today’s list, I noticed Wooot.com listed. The domain name currently has 6 bids with a price of $69. Potential bidders must place their back orders for this domain name by July 1 in order to participate in the domain auction.

Of course any buyer should be aware of the previous UDRP filing and ruling. Woot doesn’t want someone else to own it, and they may take legal action in order to get it.

Interesting Possible Domain Acquisition Scam Attempt

Elliot Silver
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26

Yesterday morning, I received an email that was supposedly from a person who worked at a multi-national bank, and his company wanted my help in acquiring a ccTLD domain name. The person said he had trouble getting in touch with the domain owner, and his company needed the name for an urgent project.

Based on the email’s url, it appeared to be from a person at that bank, and upon my reply, he asked me to either put him in touch with the domain owner or to negotiate on his behalf. I told him I don’t offer negotiation services, but I would try to get in touch with the owner for him and put him in touch.

I reached out to the owner via email, and I was able to get a reply from him within a few hours. I thought it was a bit strange that I could get a reply so easily but the person from the large bank couldn’t. Nevertheless, I emailed the guy from the bank to let him know I was able to get in touch with the domain owner, and he asked me to offer him up to $1 million for the domain name paid using an escrow service.

At this point, I really felt something was fishy, and I looked at the email headers to determine that the email hadn’t originated at the bank, and in fact, the url in the original email was spoofed. I again reiterated that I don’t do negotiations and I have not heard back from the guy.

I don’t know where the scam comes in with this, but it’s clear there was an attempt made. Perhaps they were going to ask me to front some money or send me a check that is in a greater amount than a deal I could strike, and I would cash it and send them the difference, which wouldn’t be noticed until the check didn’t clear, and I would be out that money. Whatever the case is, it appears that this is a new scam.

If you get an email like I received, keep in mind that it could be a scam.

Alleged Domain Name Renewal Scammer Indicted

Elliot Silver
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15

There’s an article in today’s Salt Lake Tribune about an indictment against a person who allegedly created companies that allegedly tricked businesses and individuals into paying around $1.8 million for “phony renewal services” for domain names.

The Acting US Attorney in Utah sent out a press release announcing the news that a 24 count mail fraud and money laundering indictment was issued for Ronald Robert Scott of Draper, Utah. The mail fraud charges carry potential penalties of up to 20 years in jail each, and the money laundering charges potentially carry penalties of up to 10 years in jail for each charge. The indictment also seeks a return of $1,864.484.51.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune article,

The indictment alleges that Scott created two fictitious entities, DomainNameUSA.net and Netsolutions.net, and obtained mailing lists of entities throughout the nation and their domain names.

He then allegedly created invoices telling the registrants that their domain name was about to expire and asking for renewal fees ranging from $25 to $199 for periods of one to five years.

I have received plenty of official-looking letters in the mail regarding domain name renewals, but since I know my domain registrars very well, I have always thrown these letters in the trash.

From what I’ve seen in Google (searching for domain name renewal scam, there are a number of companies that send similar letters in the mail. Andrew has an article about one, PC World discusses an email-based domain renewal scam, and even CatholicWeb.com has information about something that sounds similar.

Keep in mind, as the press release further notes, “an indictment is not a finding of guilt. Defendants charged in indictments are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty in court.“

Ohio Supreme Court Rules Commenter in Virginia Can Be Brought to Court in Ohio

Elliot Silver
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40

I read an interesting Ohio Supreme Court ruling, and I think it would behoove anyone who posts comments on Internet forums and blogs to read. In the case of Kauffman Racing Equip., L.L.C., v. Roberts, the state Supreme Court ruled that a Virginia resident, Scott Roberts, will need to respond to a court case brought against him in Ohio by Kauffman Racing Equipment (KRE), an Ohio company that does business throughout the United States.

KRE claimed that “Roberts posted numerous rancorous criticisms of KRE on various websites devoted to automobile racing equipment and related subjects.” From my review of the comments, they are similar in affect to those I see posted on domain forums and blogs about some of the domain companies with whom many of us do business. Here are a couple that were listed in the Court’s slip opinion referenced above:

  • “Now, I have and have had since the day the block was delivered, a USELESS BLOCK.   I didn’t say worthless!   I plan to get a lot of mileage out of   it[.]   And when I’m [sic] done Steve Kauffman will be able to attest to its worth.”
  • “You don’t seem to understand.   As far as Steve kauffinan [sic] is concerned the issue is resolved. * * * Again, this is not to get a resolution.   I have a much bigger and dastardly plan than that and this is the perfect place to start. * * * (LOL) * * *   Here is another good board to visit! * * * Just trying to help other potential victims.”   (Emoticons omitted.)

The crux of the case is that Scott Roberts felt the Ohio court didn’t have jurisdiction since he is not a resident of the state of Ohio. After KRE filed its case in an Ohio court in 2006, the court ruled that it didn’t have jurisdiction, and the company appealed to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, which reversed the trial court’s decision.

In it’s slip opinion issued a week ago, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that because Roberts’ comments would cause harm to the Ohio company in the state Ohio, the case could be brought against Roberts in Ohio. I have no legal background so I won’t get into a discussion about why the court made its findings, but I do think it’s important for people in this business to take note.

If you post something defamatory or negative about a company in another state, you may not be immune from a court case in that other state, which can obviously be expensive and burdensome. People often post things rapidly out of frustration or anger, and as the saying goes, you can’t unring a bell. There’s an interesting article about the case on RCPF.org.

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