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Domain ownership

Created by:

Jessica Titus, Licensed Real Estate Broker, Fort Myers Beach, FL

Date: March 21, 2008, Number of Replies: 8

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This is regarding name ownership. I've contacted quite a few people, but I'm getting different answers.

I own (fictional) Hometown Beach Realty. I have it incorporated. I want the domain name of HometownBeachRealty.com , but it's already taken by another Realtor who doesn't do any business in this area.

Do I have any recourse if I am refused by the domain owner? If I Trademark this name, does that give me any ownership rights?

Thank you!

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freds@sempre.com

Date: March 21, 2008

>>Jessica Titus wrote in part:
>>I own (fictional) Hometown Beach Realty. I have it incorporated. I want the domain name of HometownBeachRealty.com , but it's already taken by another Realtor who doesn't do any business in this area.

Do I have any recourse if I am refused by the domain owner? If I Trademark this name, does that give me any ownership rights?<<

"It depends." This may help:
Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy
<http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm>

He may help: (IMO, a good example of branding -- I've never used him but have seen him mentioned enough on the Internet that I know who he is and what he does.)
<http://www.ivanhoffman.com/>

Fred
fsalzer@sempre.com
Poway, CA

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Sallie ann

Date: March 22, 2008

Domain ownership

Domain names have nothing to do with corporation names.. So as long as that person has the name you want you have no right to it.. You may try to contact him and offer to buy it off of him is an only alternative or get a Domain name you like and then change the name of your company. Sallie Ann

Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home.

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Candy Lynn

Date: March 22, 2008

“I own (fictional) Hometown Beach Realty. I have it incorporated. I want the domain name of HometownBeachRealty.com , but it's already taken by another Realtor who doesn't do any business in this area.”

You may take a look at Code of Ethics: http://www.realtor.org/mempolweb.nsf/pages/code
Article 12 & SOP 12.10:

Standard of Practice 12-10

REALTORS^®’ obligation to present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public includes the URLs and domain names they use, and prohibits REALTORS^®from:

1. engaging in deceptive or unauthorized framing of real estate brokerage websites;

2. manipulating (e.g., presenting content developed by others) listing content in any way that produces a deceptive or misleading result; or

3. deceptively using metatags, keywords or other devices/methods to direct, drive, or divert Internet traffic, or to otherwise mislead consumers. (Adopted 1/07)

Candy Lynn, Broker/Owner

Valley of Virginia Real Estate

A Licensed Virginia Realtor

2008 President - Lexington, Buena Vista, Rockbridge Association of Realtors

Cell: 540-460-0058 ~ Fax: 540-377-2032

www.candylynn.com ~ email: candy@candylynn.com

office: 6872 N. Lee Hwy ~ Raphine, VA 24472

VAR Leadership Academy Class of 2007; Certified Ethics Instructor; ePRO, Certified Internet/Tech REALTOR; ABR, Accredited Buyer's Representative; RECS, Real Estate Cyberspace Society

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Gene Carey Licensed Real Estate Broker, IL

Date: March 22, 2008

"I own (fictional) Hometown Beach Realty. I have it incorporated. I want the domain name of HometownBeachRealty.com , but it's already taken by another Realtor"

I would look up the URL in Whois and see when it was first created. Was it created in order to take business away from you AFTER you opened your office under that name (possible Article 12 violation)? If it has been something the agent has had long before you opened up shop, you would be hard-pressed to prove your case. If the other agent isn't using it, you may find that a decent offer for the URL is needed. It is not unusual to pay upwards of a thousand dollars for something you REALLY want! On the other hand, you could always buy .net or add some dashes to the domain name if you want to stay with a .com upper level domain. If your desired domain DOES have the word "Hometown" in it, why not see if "Hometowne" is available in the verbiage?

Gene Carey, GRI-JIM

www.ShowcaseYourHome.com

www.CityHouseSales.com

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Nathan Holman Licensed Real Estate Agent, Glendale, AZ

Date: March 22, 2008

There is a principle called cyber squating. You need to find out when they obtained or registered the domain. Was it before or after the date your registered your company. You have a common law position (Weak but defendable) if you registered your company first that they are cybersquating. It has been made illegal for people to register domains of named individuals in the hopes that they would then be offered dollars to purchase the domain. The same principle would apply here as you have a legal entity (Your company) A good lawyer will be able to work through the details and the particulars of your case.

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Fred Light Information Technology, Nashua, NH

Date: March 23, 2008

I actually have had to deal with this sticky issue a few times - and was very enlightended by an attorney who specializes in domain names.The only rights that come with domain ownership are FEDERAL trademark laws. If your business name is a federally registered trademark, you have the right to YOUR name as a domain name and can fight it and win with damages (if you have the legal $$$$ of course!) in court. Tradenames, DBA, etc. have no bearing on domain names.

The only time you 'may' have a chance is if you have a locally trademarked name that is SO well known that a judge would rule in your favor because of tremendous name recognition and potential confusion. But I've been told it would come down to a judge's decision and could easily go either way. And the cost to get involved in this would be many, many, many thousands of dollars - not worth it for most companies.Lesson learned. In this day and age of global competition, if you have any thoughts of expanding your business or doing business outside of your area, it's definitely worth the hassle of getting a federal trademark. It's not terribly expensive, but it does take a bit of time for approvals, etc.I also would not suggest getting a variation on your domain name (with a dash or some stupid character used to make it 'different'). Your CUSTOMERS will never remember that, and more often than not will go to your competitor with the correct name since they are mispelling or mistyping the funky version to supposedly get to you.

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Scott Nelson Licensed Real Estate Agent, Medford, MA

Date: March 30, 2008

You should probably consult with an experienced patent/trademark attorney to look into the many different issues.

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Peter Nikic Licensed Real Estate Broker, Pleasantville, NY

Date: April 2, 2008

just contact the person who registered it. they may sell it for a reasonable price. one of the advantages when someone does this, is that they actually wind up holding it for someone who will use it. otherwise many names would have been registered by individuals who don't really get much from them but are not interested in selling them either.

Peter Z. Nikic

peter@nikic.com

Real Estate Broker

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