Domain name legality issue

A friend came up with a name for a site and it was just a personal site, no commercial content.

so he went ahead and bought a domain that he liked. Turns out the domain was previously owned by someone who forgot to renew the domain. Now the person is threatening of sueing.

can he do this? its not like my friend knew someone owned it. he just decided on a domain 1 day went to buy it and it was free.

did my friend do anything wrong? is there any sorta cyber squatting law against what he has done? even though to me it seems all legal.

Your friend is safe. The person that forgot to renew is at fault for not renewing. There really isn't any cause of action that would apply except for trademark/copyright.

thats good to hear, i didnt think there was anything that could be done really, we just hope that the guy doesnt try to take it to court, in which case my friend decided he will give up the domain instead of spending laywer fees

i hate people with money who try to run other people broke for a dam domian (cough--nissan--cough)

The guy has to be blowing smoke, there isn't any legal claim to the name. Unless he has trademarked it.

Technically none of us really own our domain name we only rent from the registrars.

The Trademark thing is something I didn't know about until too late.

My main site http://motorcyclephilippines.com has been running for about 4 years and is currently the 19th most popular web site in the Philippines. About three years ago I found that some potential sponsors would be more willing to spend on advertising if the site was asia wide so I registered motorcycleasia.net. The obvious alternative, motorcycleasia.com was taken but not in use. I tried to contact the owner but never got a reply.

I set motorcycleasia.net to point to my main site while I grabbed a bit of time here and there to set up affiliates around Asia, collect content and prepare motorcycleasia.net. It took over two years to prepare as it was not high priority and I am overloaded working on the main site.

It was registered with all the search engines and there is a note that it is incorporated into the main site right under the site logo on the front page of my main site. I was almost ready to launch when a couple of local guys registered motorcycleasia.com, (it was now available) copied the entire concept of my site that took years to develop, got hold of my rate sheet through sneaky underhanded tactics and then tried to use my site to promote theirs. They are brilliant liars who send emails and messages to my users trying to get them to their site.

They are trying to trademark the motorcycleasia name but I am hoping they will be turned down because it is too generic. Of course if they succeed they can tell me to stop using the name. My motorcycleasia is now on hold with thousands of hours of work and I don't know how much cash wasted because of these crooks.

They have even registered motorcyclephilippines.net as a threat to me and probably to try to screw that site up also. I am a foriegner in a country where lack of ethics, dishonesty, lying, cheating, stealing, etc is all accepted as normal and where you need to know the right people to get things done so they have the advantage.

I don't know if these guys will be scouting the web to do the same with other sites but I do sugest that if you have a site of any value you look into trademarking the name before scumbags like these rip you off.

Frank,

Sorry to hear what happened to you and hopefully you get your patent and you get what is rightfully yours.

By saying: You are saying EVERYONE in that country is unethical, dishonest, etc...

Does that mean that every member in your forum that lives in the Philippines lacks ethics and are dishonest, lying, cheating thieves?

I'm not picking a fight or anything but I just found it offensive that you generalized the whole country like that.

just my 2cents

lostchild,

You are right to point that out. No not everyone on my forums is like that but almost every one of them would agree that the majority of people here are like that.

The Philippines is in a bad way. The best people are emmigrating by the thousands while the crooks stay to take advantage of those who don't have what it takes to get out.

Yes there are some very good people who I am very proud to call friends and who have been brought up in the midst of a corrupt society but will still refuse a bribe.

I myself spend most of my time doing unpaid work to help the Philippines (Director of a Tourist Assistance system, etc) but I often feel like giving up and agreeing with most Filipinos I know who say it is hopeless.

Would you believe that motorcycles are banned from the safest roads, the Philippine tollways, because 35 years ago police escourting a US president were told to remove their helmets and wear straw hats. One crashed and was killed so they blamed the road. The alternative routes are probably the most dangerous roads in the world with dozens of motorcyclists being killed by buses and trucks. Bus and truck drivers are instructed to kill anyone they injure because the bus company only pays 50,000 pesos (US$1,000) for a death but hospital bills could be much higher. It is not unusual for them to reverse over an injured person to ensure they are dead. Presidents, one after another steal billions from the country but their croneys are re-elected over and over and the average man in street believes these people are very clever!. Almost 100% of police, customs and immigration officers are only in the job for the corruption money. Some customs department staff I know don't even know how to do their job legally. Their entire department is one big extortion gang. I could go on about the problems but that's just being negative and this is the wrong place to discuss it.