SAD! My review site got a cease and desist letter!

52 replies
Today is a sad day for me.

After months of SEO, content development, and constant tinkering away, I got this review site decent rankings where I was generating really nice passive income.

Now... at the height of my efforts, the company that owns the product has recently e-mailed me a cease and desist letter.

Supposedly it is "...in violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999."

Basically, the site is [productname]reviews.com. I am ranking for keywords related to people looking for "reviews," "best xx," "why get xx," etc.

What the hell, its a review site. Its not like I'm ranking above them for their own product name...

I've heard of these horror stories before, now its happening to me.

Any of you guys had luck reasoning with product owners/companies? Do I just have to bite the bullet? They want me to transfer the domain to them. Arrrrg!
#cease #desist #letter #review #sad #site
  • Profile picture of the author Elmar
    Happened to me years ago with my first review site. Consulted an attorney, said nothing can be done as the registered trademark was in the domain name. That was the last review site I did until now.

    That sux. Sorry. It seems that some companies dont mind and others really hate it and go after you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Wendy Maki
    [disclaimer] I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on tv

    and ultimately what you need is good legal advice and not forum ideas

    but..

    take a deep breath...

    Personally, here's a couple of things I would do...

    1. I would get a new domain that does not have the trademarked term in the domain and simply copy all your content work straight over to the new site. Except for external links you may have set up, it's really not as hard to get the new site ranking as the first time around. If you can redirect external links to the new site, do it.

    2. I'd question whether I want to continue promoting that company, or whether there's a competing product for the new domain, and plug that in instead.

    Depending on the real value you've built into that domain, it may well be worth it to cut your losses and get away from the situation as fast as possible.

    But in the meantime, take a deep breath, there are legal processes in place, and just look to taking whatever steps you might need to to mitigate any legal liability there might be for trademark infringement.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cool Hand Luke
    Since the trademark is in the domain name, I think you may be out of luck. Sorry asiancasanova, but please do be sure to speak to an attorney on the matter, since these things are rarely open and shut cases.
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  • Profile picture of the author Adevictus
    Step 1: Host offshore
    Step 2: ???
    Step 3: Profit

    Unless of course you have a trademark in your domain name, that is a pretty big problem.
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    It's all about the money...

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  • Profile picture of the author pamon
    yeah, got a C&D back in the day and it went away. usually if a brand name is in the name and its from an atty's office, you're toast.

    Just depends how badly they want the domain and how badly they want to make you go away. Atty's cost $$.
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  • Profile picture of the author alamest
    what you can do is as you have to give the domain to them, than don't give the content to them cause the content belongs to you..

    So you can buy another domain without trademark and add the content to this new domain and this content might get some ranking, you should get your visitor back and ranking back.

    One question to ask is it amazon product or any other product and have you checked the affiliate program, did they mention that you can't buy the domain on their company name.. read it again..
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    • Profile picture of the author Bruce Wedding
      Originally Posted by alamest View Post

      what you can do is as you have to give the domain to them, than don't give the content to them cause the content belongs to you..
      One nit-pick. You don't have to give them the domain name. You just have to take it offline. I had one of these deals years ago with a moderately sized company. I ended up selling the domain to him for $1700.
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  • Profile picture of the author CBusiness
    done deal. close up shop or get roasted in court
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  • Profile picture of the author Charanjit
    Try talking to them and asking if you can come to agreement, also whats the legal deal with owning a domain name with trade mark in it, ie even if you took the site down could you still hold onto the domain name?
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Originally Posted by asiancasanova View Post

    Any of you guys had luck reasoning with product owners/companies? Do I just have to bite the bullet? They want me to transfer the domain to them. Arrrrg!
    It's their trademark. You could rank the site using any domain. Just rebuild it without infringing on a trademark. They have to defend their trademark to keep it and that's exactly what they are doing.
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  • Profile picture of the author ajrocks
    If its trademarked your in trouble. If its a common word such as "fling" or "dating" you are fine. The moment you start doing something like "AshleyMadisonReviews" you are in trouble. I actually now an affiliate getting sued by them for 5 million bucks or something silly like that. He had a negative review of them on his site and that was enough to get them after him.
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  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    The trademark owner must protect his trademark. Failure to protect it can lead the to the trademark becoming generic. Then a direct competitor can come along and use the brand name. Their legal defense is that the company is not actively protecting their name, therefore it is fair game. A lawyer would probably do a better job at explaining this, but it is pretty clear cut.

    You made an error in judgment by registering somebody's trade name. Now, you must move on. I would write back and ask if you could do a permanent redirect to another domain name, before surrendering the domain. This gives the search engines time to crawl the site and realize that the content they indexed is now on a new domain name. An SEO expert could guide you to the best way of doing this.
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  • Profile picture of the author David G Ford
    Establish a 301 redirect to a new domain name (not using their trademark) and then email them explaining that you will cease use of the domain name. If they check and it sends them to your new site they may not care.

    If they care, hopefully it takes them longer than you need to act before your new name picks up the SEO cred
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  • Profile picture of the author joseph7384
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    • Profile picture of the author Cool Hand Luke
      Originally Posted by joseph7384 View Post

      Well if you are forced to turn it over to them then I would send it into the abyss before I turn it over to them, why should they benefit from your hard work.
      :p I thought about this one too, although the possible legal ramifications might stop me from doing it. What I would look into doing is giving them the domain, but NONE of the actual hosted content. Instead, move that over to a new site (without the trademark in the domain) and keep on truckin'.
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      • Profile picture of the author asiancasanova
        I've already moved my money pages to a new website and 301 directed everything so that Google knows.

        I just wanted if I will lose all the link juice if I transfer the domain to them with the 301 redirects in tact???? Or doe the 301 redirects get stripped along with everything else?
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        • Profile picture of the author jeffster
          Originally Posted by asiancasanova View Post

          I've already moved my money pages to a new website and 301 directed everything so that Google knows.

          I just wanted if I will lose all the link juice if I transfer the domain to them with the 301 redirects in tact???? Or doe the 301 redirects get stripped along with everything else?
          I'd imagine you'd lose the redirects but maybe you can hang off transferring to them for as long as possible and hopefully build some new links to the new domain.

          I've bought a couple of brand name domains but never bothered building them up for just this reason.
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        • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
          Banned
          Originally Posted by asiancasanova View Post

          I've already moved my money pages to a new website and 301 directed everything so that Google knows.

          I just wanted if I will lose all the link juice if I transfer the domain to them with the 301 redirects in tact???? Or doe the 301 redirects get stripped along with everything else?
          It's unlikely that they would keep your nameservers once they have the domain, so the redirect will disappear.
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    • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
      Banned
      Originally Posted by joseph7384 View Post

      Well if you are forced to turn it over to them then I would send it into the abyss before I turn it over to them, why should they benefit from your hard work.
      Hello irony, lol.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
      Originally Posted by joseph7384 View Post

      Well if you are forced to turn it over to them then I would send it into the abyss before I turn it over to them, why should they benefit from your hard work.
      I swear some people do not think before they write...

      THEY are not benefiting from HIS hard work... HE is benefiting from THEIRS.

      How do you not get that?
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      If you knew what I know you'd be doing what I do...
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    • Profile picture of the author Lance K
      Originally Posted by joseph7384 View Post

      Well if you are forced to turn it over to them then I would send it into the abyss before I turn it over to them, why should they benefit from your hard work.
      What about the beneift he's already had from their hard work building the brand of the trademark???

      Just consult an attorney and take the appropriate action. No need to be cantankerous.
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      "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetGeneral
    Would it be possible to redirect that website to a new site?

    But then I think that would still be violating....

    Sorry, looks like you hit some bad luck
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    If its a site without their trademark, I see no way how you can be "violating" anything (by linking to a new non trademarked site).

    Also, I would take my dear time in dealing with them because its not like they can take you to court tommorow. It can take a bit of time for something like that to even go to court, and as long as its switched over before the hearing, they don't have a case, it won't hold up. Nor would it make sense for them to want to keep paying a lawyer after the point you release it to them.

    That doesn't mean you should hold onto the site for another month, but I definitely wouldn't blink for the next week just to piss them off. Afterwards out of spite I'd do exactly what someone recommended and "send it to the abyss". However, I'd wait for them to get the site first, then set up about 400,000 backlinks pointing to porn sites while behind a proxy. Just spam it to death.

    Screw them, seriously. They want to "defend their trademark" you defend your natural born right as a marketer to do things they simply can't do **** about.

    BTW I know this post is overly negative but I just hate stories like this.

    -Red
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  • Profile picture of the author sanjon
    Tell them You are taking the site down and you are not giving them domain.

    Take who.is Privacy on your domain and then sell it ASAP.

    Case Shut.

    I got a letter from Simon Cowell's attorney.

    I never gave the domain and asked one of my friends from India to deal with it.

    I transferred the domain to him. He took who.is privacy and removed the content from the site.

    He created a new site and posted the same content.


    The domain is still registered with him and both the sites are well and kicking.
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  • Profile picture of the author bobby_shahzad
    If you establish a 301 redirect then all your rankings will pass on to new domain because all search engines including google respect 301 redirects. Google this and u will find loads of information on this topic
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    Take the opportunity to move away from building sniper sites which give you limited room for growth and consolidate them into a website you can continually add to and promote with means other than Google.

    I don't know if it will make you $115,000/hour but it should last longer than a sniper site - and you can then build up your own trademark rather than piggy-backing off others.
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  • Profile picture of the author davezan
    Originally Posted by asiancasanova View Post

    After months of SEO, content development, and constant tinkering away, I got this review site decent rankings where I was generating really nice passive income.

    Now... at the height of my efforts, the company that owns the product has recently e-mailed me a cease and desist letter.

    Supposedly it is "...in violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999."

    Basically, the site is [productname]reviews.com. I am ranking for keywords related to people looking for "reviews," "best xx," "why get xx," etc.

    What the hell, its a review site.
    That review site didn't happen to display ads of products/services competing
    against the trademark holder, did it? If it did, that's what killed it for you.
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    David

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  • Profile picture of the author The Link Broker
    Just a thought from outside of the box... Have you checked to verify that they actually do have the name legally registered as a trademark? If not, I would. If there's a loophole to be found, that just may be it.
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  • Profile picture of the author mizcash
    Man, I am soprry to here of that calamity brought on by the trademark owners but, that's what happen when you use a brand without permission. As someone said get 301 redirect to another domain and transfer your content. Hang on to that name dson't sell it. Good luck and look over your shoulders
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  • Profile picture of the author Stripe
    Sorry to hear that.
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by asiancasanova View Post

    Supposedly it is "...in violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999."

    Basically, the site is [productname]reviews.com.
    First, don't take legal advice from the internet that could get you in trouble.

    That said, there is some advice that cannot POSSIBLY get you in trouble, which is... comply with the C&D.

    And there is some other advice that cannot possibly get you in trouble, which is "consult an attorney." I would advise that you consult an attorney, on the grounds that you are not cybersquatting. You could fight this C&D notice. In my opinion, you will probably win.

    However, you are then likely to find yourself on the receiving end of other legal action (e.g. trademark infringement), and only an attorney can reliably help you make a well-reasoned decision about whether these other actions would be worth fighting. If you can win round 1, but will undoubtedly lose round 2, there's not much point in fighting round 1.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stoney
    Setbacks like this can be heartbreaking. I'm sorry for the pain you must be feeling. I hope you can learn from it and make your product even better!
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  • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
    As I say in most of these threads, Call a lawyer.

    Bears repeating here, even with others posting the same thing.

    Also, don't use trademarked terms in your domain name. Saves you from big headaches down the road like this.
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    You're going to fail. If you're afraid of failure then you do not belong in the Internet Marketing Business. Period.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
    This is not a horror story... this is not a tragedy... this
    is not heartbreaking. What this was from the beginning
    is predictable. You can't capitalize on someone else's
    property without their permission. I swear I do not know
    why that seems so hard for many to understand...
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    If you knew what I know you'd be doing what I do...
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    • Profile picture of the author ashloren
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  • Profile picture of the author KickinConcepts
    Sorry to hear that, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.

    Yes its disheartening but it is a wake up call and now atleast you'll know what not to do in the future.


    Best of luck with your future venture!
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    • Profile picture of the author asiancasanova
      Alright guys, I decided to just %$#^ing start over.

      I'm transferring the domain to them.

      They are the hand that feeds me after all.

      If I decide to be stubborn, I wouldn't be surprised if they cancelled my affiliate account and/or keep my commissions hostage.

      Bleh.
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by asiancasanova View Post

        Alright guys, I decided to just %$#^ing start over.

        I'm transferring the domain to them.

        They are the hand that feeds me after all.

        If I decide to be stubborn, I wouldn't be surprised if they cancelled my affiliate account and/or keep my commissions hostage.

        Bleh.
        Good choice.
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      • Profile picture of the author cjreynolds
        Originally Posted by asiancasanova View Post


        They are the hand that feeds me after all.
        This is the key to it all - They have obviously been giving you commissions up until now (or you probably wouldn't be posting this), and when you move the content over to your new domain, they will continue to pay you commissions - but you gotta play by their rules, just as you would if they hired you as a salesman. Even as an affiliate, companies will dictate to you how you may represent them, how you may represent your relationship to them, and yes, how you may use such things as their brand name, product info, and trademarks, etc.

        No need to be vindictive or vengeful, this isn't personal. It's business. Like EB and others have said before - if a company doesn't actively protect it's trademarks, they can loose them to the public domain. They're not trying to keep you from succeeding, they're only trying to protect their own interests - just as you would for your company.

        Hope that helps...
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  • Profile picture of the author williamk
    Banned
    Forget about it and move on. These sorts of things happen a lot. ALthough I did hear once about the story of skyp.com who survied the clash with skype.com because he was an affiliate.
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  • Profile picture of the author Venturetothetop
    Well I had a C&D back in 1999 - so Im somewhat knowledgable about this.

    The face is that if you used their trademark in your domain name then you are stealing sales from them. How?

    Your site will rank highly simply because it contains the domains name. So you are redirecting traffic which should have gone to them. You are not bringing in new customers - you are just diverting people who already know about the product.

    That is the key to understanding the problem.

    You actually lose them money because they pay you commission on people who may have brought the item straight from them. Companies want new customers that they could not find themselves - affiliates were not created to cut a companies profits by diverting sales through them.

    Now - here is what I would do... (I have a framed letter from 1999 asking for $100,000 in damages - so I might know something here)

    1) Buy a new domain with a trademark infringement

    2) Talk to an seo expert who can help divert all the traffic to your new site - saving a lot of your ranking/backlink work - yep it can be done

    3) Change the site to a 'closed down' sign and tell people you were asked to take it down and you comply. - Do not direct them to new site. This will allow the case to be settled (you tell company that you will simply let it expire and will take down all content).

    You need to keep the site online for a few weeks to transfer seo benefit so try not to simply hand it over but agree and abide to a take down content rule - and just keep the placeholder page active.

    Talk to an seo expert on here, but that is what i would do.
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  • Profile picture of the author tomako
    If I were you, I would make the domain penalised before transferring it to them.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Link Broker
      Originally Posted by tomako View Post

      If I were you, I would make the domain penalised before transferring it to them.

      Hahahaha, good idea!
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      • Profile picture of the author Lance K
        Originally Posted by tomako View Post

        If I were you, I would make the domain penalised before transferring it to them.
        A scarcity mindset like that is not only extremely limiting, but also could land you in trouble depending on how you go about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter May
    My opinion was I when starting out,"if I could make bank and get away with it that's cool but soon as I was caught I would say forget it"

    To me (most warriors will disagree openly but all did the same) without encouraging illegal activates.

    Do as requested and never go back down that path again.

    There is a reason why you ranked well in the first place i.e. because trademark infringement is illegal most experienced IMers are not competing with you!

    >>Peter<<
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  • Check out the case where Toyota sued Lisa and Farzad Tabari, the owners of Fast Imports, in a Los Angeles. They (the Tabaris) were able to keep using buy-a-lexus.com and buyorleaselexus.com even though Toyota didn't want them to.

    Toyota objected to the Tabaris' use of copyrighted Lexus photos and the Lexus logo, and to the Internet domain names buy-a-lexus.com and buyorleaselexus.com.
    The federal court judge ruled in favor of Toyota and ordered the Tabaris to remove term Lexus from the Web sites.
    The Tabaris, who were not represented by counsel, appealed their case. The three-judge panel found that the federal court's injunction was too broad. The panel explained that domain names such as we-are-definitely-not-lexus.com and independent-lexus-broker.com wouldn't confuse a reasonable person into thinking the Japanese automaker sponsored the sites. More specifically, the Tabaris had used the term Lexus to describe their business of brokering Lexus cars.

    Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote: "[W]hen they say Lexus, they mean Lexus. We've long held that such use of the trademark is a fair use, namely nominative fair use. And fair use is, by definition, not infringement."

    "Trademarks are part of our common language, and we all have some right to use them to communicate in truthful, nonmisleading ways," Kozinski wrote. "Many of the district court's errors seem to be the result of unevenly matched lawyering, as Toyota appears to have taken advantage of the fact that the Tabaris appeared pro se."
    - quoted from Toyota loses domain name trademark appeal | The Car Tech blog - CNET Reviews
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    • Profile picture of the author davezan
      Originally Posted by PassiveIncomeTeacher View Post

      Check out the case where Toyota sued Lisa and Farzad Tabari, the owners of Fast Imports, in a Los Angeles. They (the Tabaris) were able to keep using buy-a-lexus.com and buyorleaselexus.com even though Toyota didn't want them to.

      - quoted from Toyota loses domain name trademark appeal | The Car Tech blog - CNET Reviews
      That involves a usage totally different from what the OP did, though. Fair use is
      even assessed on a case to case basis, depending on the situation.

      I know some of you wish to help in some way. But if the OP had already told the
      trademark holder s/he is going to give the domain name to them, changing one's
      mind after can be taken as a sign of a "bad faith" intent of reneging on one's so-
      called commitment.

      The bottom line is this: anytime you consider riding on someone's trademark for
      your own financial benefit without their permission, expect trouble. There are a
      few exceptional scenarios, but you'll notice that none of them involve exploiting
      a trademark holder's material right.

      Besides, we only have the OP's side and not the trademark holder's. It's easy to
      take this as a so-called David vs. Goliath thing, but nobody here knows an actual
      thing about the overall situation other than what one thinks it to be.

      Move along, everyone. And to the next person who's thinking of telling the OP to
      fight this, please read before posting something potentially foolish.
      Signature

      David

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  • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Tork
    If you have their trademark in your name not much you can do. One thing you could do is take the domain off and wait a week, then 301 redirect the domain to a new domain. Even this is a No No, but if the company doesn't notice you'll be fine.

    If I were you though I would cut my losses and start anew.
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  • Profile picture of the author Drew Cleveland
    Ignore this kind of ****..i guarandamntee it is some asshole who is ranking under you. Crap like this happens all the time and it's way to easy to pull these kinds of stunts.

    heres what you need to do.
    1. Ask them to fax you legal documentation (fax not email)
    2. Get them on the phone. Through a phone NOT skype. (if they refuse a phone call their fake.
    3. If the situation turns out to be real, then take the site down immediately.

    If it is fake, tell them to f&$% off.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Woolard
    Damn!!! I just registered two domain names to a trademarked event held annually.

    Am I Screwed???

    [trademarkname2014.com] [trademarkname2015].com are mine.

    [trademarkname2012.com] received about 250,000 monthly searches...Should I put a 301 redirect in right now?

    Let me add, its not the full trademark name...But it's half of it.
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  • Send them a letter expressing your utter shock and dismay at their unfriendly letter.
    You've been a fan of the company and it's product since you were little - and you were practically raised on them!
    You only started the site because of your liking for their product and you felt that you were probably helping them by promoting their product for FREE these many years. You paid for hosting and spent time writing copy to promote THEIR product... for FREE.

    Add in that you feel the honorable thing for both parties would be for you to consider a reasonable offer from them for the purchase of the website- because everyone deserves to be paid for their work- right?

    and P.S. the letter that you would also consider staying on as webmaster of the site for a small stipend.
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    • Profile picture of the author davezan
      Originally Posted by Blame It On The Caffeine View Post

      because everyone deserves to be paid for their work- right?
      That depends if it truly benefits someone whose work is essentially exploited to
      begin with. One may keep telling themselves they're doing the trademark holder
      a "favor", but who do you suppose users are looking for if they type the term in
      question in a search engine or so?

      (Oh, and easy with the caffeine there. Heh.)
      Signature

      David

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