Whats your take on this..

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24
I've just received a letter from an 'attorney at law' in Finland acting on behalf of a client who wants to know what I'm going to do with my domain name www.prospercart.com as its not clear to them. (Apparently they sell software etc).

Apparently they own the domain www.prospercart.fi and are concerned there is 'no possible conflict'

They also say they've registered the trademark Prospercart in the EU.

I've checked, and I bought my domain April 2010 and they bought theirs October 2010.

I'm not particularly precious about the domain, It would be easy enough to call the software something else, but I refuse to be bullied and I'm certainly not frightened of a poorly crafted letter from someone claiming to be a member of the Finnish bar.

I'm not asking for legal advice or anything, (that's fatal on a forum) just curious as to what fellow warriors would do when getting something like this.

Kim
#main internet marketing discussion forum #advice #bit
  • I would ask them if they are interested in purchasing the domain from you. When you purchase a domain name it is a registration or copyright of that name. You own the .com . There is nothing they can do to you.
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    • That's completely misleading, and very bad advice. First of all, domain names cannot be "copyrighted". But the words in a domain name most definitely CAN be "trademarked". And if you are in violation of someone's trademark, there is most definitely "something they can do to you" (and it ain't pretty)!

      Kim,

      The first thing I would do is some quick Google research to see if that law firm in Finland appears to be legit. If so, I would then contact my lawyer and get his advice on the matter.

      In the US, just because you own a domain name that contains a trademarked word, doesn't necessarily mean that you are violating the trademark. What matters is how you use the trademarked name.

      For example, registering a domain name like AppleProductsSuck.com, and then using it as a "rant" type blog for non-commercial purposes, would be entirely different than registering a domain name like AppleProductsWharehouse.com and using it for commercial purposes. So it just depends on how you use the domain.

      That said, I have no idea how trademark law works when the trademark holder is in another country (and there's probably very few people on this entire forum that do).

      So yeah, definitely consult your lawyer about this one.
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  • If they are serious..they'll buy the domain from you..send them a offer to buy it!
  • Banned
    Well, you registered the domain name first, which is a plus for you. I think they probably know that already or they might be sending a stronger letter. I would tell them that you would be willing to entertain an offer for the domain name. I wouldn't sell it dirt cheap though. The domain has obvious value to them.

    Here are their categories that they have the word trademarked in:

    Nice Classification: 9
    List of goods and services Scientific, nautical, surveying, photographic, cinematographic, optical, weighing, measuring, signalling, checking (supervision), life-saving and teaching apparatus and instruments; Apparatus and instruments for conducting, switching, transforming, accumulating, regulating or controlling electricity; Apparatus for recording, transmission or reproduction of sound or images; Magnetic data carriers, recording discs; Automatic vending machines and mechanisms for coin-operated apparatus; Cash registers, calculating machines, data processing equipment and computers; Fire-extinguishing apparatus.

    Nice Classification: 37
    List of goods and services Building construction; Repair; Installation services.

    Nice Classification: 42
    List of goods and services Scientific and technological services and research and design relating thereto; Industrial analysis and research services; Design and development of computer hardware and software.


    Is it likely that your site/product would cause confusion with their products as stated above?
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    • I don't know what you have in your neck of the woods but here we have TESS Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)

      I would search for their Mark, and see what date it was when they applied for the mark. If you were in the US then if you got it before they did your position would be pretty strong.

      In other countries??? I don't know.

      But knowing their date of application would be a good bit of knowledge I would say.

      Patrick
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  • I get these all the time they are scams.
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    • Banned

      --------------------------------------------------------------------------

      "Hello!

      I'm interested in buying makemoneyonlinefastandeasy.com.

      I've found it through Sedo.

      Please respond with how much you are looking for it. Just specify this price in the subject line.

      If you have other names for sale please email me your list with prices.

      Regards,

      Robert Pullman, Ph.D.

      Pullman ISP Services

      ***************************

      CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email communication may contain private, confidential, or legally privileged information intended for the sole use of the designated and/or duly authorized recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient or have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by email and permanently delete all copies of this email including all attachments without reading them."



      --------------------------------------------------------------------------


      --------------------------------------------------------------------------

      $XXXXXX - Ok. I have 45,000 usd budget for 12-15 domain names.

      How can I pay you (PayPal, Western Union, escrow.com etc.)? If this is your first time domain sale I may help you with the sale/transfer process.

      Are you a member of domain seller communities/forums? Probably, we know each other under some nicknames?

      Best regards,

      Robert Pullman

      CEO



      --------------------------------------------------------------------------


      --------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Ok. Before we go any further we need the following:

      Please send me a valuation (certificate of price with trademark verification).

      Please don't worry, it will take only 2 minutes to order it. I prefer appraisal service that also verifies possible trademark infringements. It's important for me to know that your domain has no problems with trademarks. It won't be a problem for you since some good appraisers offer this option (trademark infringement verification) as a free bonus to the appraisal service.

      Without it we cannot be 100% sure in the final sale price. The appraisal will help determine the true value of your domain's worth so you can maximize profits during the sale. On the other hand, it will minimize my risks too.

      To avoid mistakes and wasting money on useless automated services I asked in the forum about reliable manual valuation/TM verification services. Please read this:
      Investing in domains

      The process is very easy:

      1. Go to the appraisal site and order the valuation with the TM verification. After several hours you will get the results.

      2. Please resend these results via email and we'll proceed with the deal.


      Best regards,
      Robert Pullman
      CEO



      --------------------------------------------------------------------------

      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Not sure if this makes any difference but being a native Finn, I checked this company in the Finnish Companies' House and the company has initially been registered in 2005 but went under a different name (Web Monkey) until December 2012, when they changed it to ProsperCart Ltd
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    • I noticed they were called webmonkey, hadn't realised they changed their name to prospercart so recently

      Cheeky sods

      Thanks so much for looking for me

      Kim

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  • To be honest I wondered if its a scam of some sort at first, the paper the letter came on is a tad cheap, and the syntax within the letter isn't that good, (I'd have thought a decent lawyer would have ensured English written letters were written a tad better than that), but who knows.

    To be fair, it isn't a nasty letter by any means, they just want to know what I'm going to be doing with the domain, and whether it's going to be conflicting with what they sell and do. Looking at the vid on the site I'd have thought it was pretty obvious. be interesting to see if their manner changes when they realise its a shopping cart.

    Not touched it for ages anyway, I bought the resell rights to that particular piece of software and we gave it up as a bad job when we realised we were fighting a losing battle trying to sort all the bugs out, so like I say, I'm not too bothered about it. (Could always rename it anyway).

    I'm just an ornery bitch, I haven't made up my mind yet whether to tell em to get stuffed or make me an offer for it.

    I bought it before they did, so its obvious I didn't buy it with squatting rights in mind...

    Kim
  • You can ask them if they are interested in getting it for the right price. See what they say. It would cost them a lot more $$$ to TRY (yes try) and sue rather than purchase the domain if they are really interested.

    If you don't want to sell it, ignore the letters.
  • Hmmmmm.....this sounds a little fishy to me. However, I'm with Brandon. It's better to be safe than sorry. I think doing some precursory research should be done first (which pretty much has been done by the wonderful Warriors in this thread).

    If it were me in this specific situation, I would simply call up my intellectual property rights attorney and ask him for his opinion. I wouldn't want to send a reply letter, yet, until I have talked to him as I have no idea if there is any legal significance to replying to THEIR letter.

    RoD
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    • They are pretty wonderful aint they Rod

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  • Banned
    It's an elaborate ruse!!! It's a trap, a scam, a phony sham.Just ignore the phishing scams. This one has been going around lately, and it seems to be more clever than the traditional "I'm a Nigerian princess who has access to 100 million USD that I'll give you if you help me transfer da monies to your account in the US." LOL
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    • There are definitely a lot of domain-related scams going around, but we don't know for sure if the letter Kim received is a scam or not. It might be. Or it might not be.

      If I received this sort of inquiry via email then I would be a lot more likely to ignore it. But if it comes via post mail, that means that someone spent money just to send it to me (and if the letter was postmarked from a different country, that means they probably spent at least a couple bucks just to mail it to me - something that most scammers probably wouldn't be willing to do).

      So in that case, I would at least check out their (alleged) company online to see if they appear to be legit. And if so, I'd consult my attorney about what to do next (provided of course that the domain means anything to me and I was interested in actually doing something with it).
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Since you own the .com there should be no problem.

    Also you registered the site FIRST.
  • Try to get a lawyer and sue them for $100k at least.
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    Whats your take on this..

    I've just received a letter from an 'attorney at law' in Finland acting on behalf of a client who wants to know what I'm going to do with my domain name www.prospercart.com as its not clear to them. (Apparently they sell software etc). Apparently they own the domain www.prospercart.fi and are concerned there is 'no possible conflict'