Abandoned effort...

[DNQuest.com]

In regards tot he thread about "Bob" wanting "exampe.com" back because "Bob" screwed up. There was something that raised my eye brows in the thread and wanted to explore this further.

If a person sends a C+D with a "give me my domain back" letter and I ignore it, and the person does nothing after that, is that abandonment of the domain name? I think that is what I took out of the thread about "Bob".

The reason I ask this, I received a C+D in August 2001 from a lawyer representing a very well known person for a domain that I own. I have a fan site up and have never put myself in a position to profit from the domain. Well, it's over 2 years later and I still haven't heard anything. If they ever do decide to come back after, can I claim abandonment of the domain since they never followed up on thier letter?

Maybe I'm off base here, but it never hurts to asks.

[jberryhill]

Yes, one can argue that, and with a decent probability of success - see, e.g. the armani.com dispute. You should save all correspondence of this variety which you receive.

The difficulty with stating this as an absolute rule is that circumstances can be changed. The name of the defense you are driving at is a defense called "laches". Without getting too deep into the legalese, it is a type of defense where a judge has a great deal of discretion in view of the entirety of the circumstances at hand.

Let's say, for example, that in Year 0 someone complains about your use of example.com for selling T-shirts, and they have a trademark for motor oil. You say, "I'm selling T-shirts, not motor oil, so buzz off." And, indeed, they buzz off.

Now, let's say that Year 5 you start selling motor oil. Nobody is going to be terribly impressed, at Year 5 + one month, that they had effectively left you alone for four years after making their initial complaint, because you weren't infrininging their mark until Year 5.

That is the essence of the ongoing dispute in the protracted series of cases involving the domain name cello.com - what happens if there is one legal result, but then after that result the domain name registrant does something which the TM owner seeks to characterize as materially different from the activity that led to the first result.

Again, in your situation, you certainly want to keep the record of that initial contact handy, as it may be a worthwhile point to raise in the event of a problem in the future.

[DNQuest.com]

Thank you John. I appreciate the response. And yes, I keep all correspondance (though it's only been two). I do realize if I change the usage of the domain, that is a whole other story.

Thanx again.