Do registrars that run the drop auctions have any liability?

[nitronet]

Questions have been answered...thanks!

[Dave Zan]

Check their Terms Of Service or Service Agreement. That's what they're there
for.

You could try to hold them liable. Make sure it sticks or it can backfire.

[jberryhill]

Why is buying a domain name at a drop auction any different from registering an available domain name directly the normal way?

You wanted the name. You bought it. What did the registrar know that you didn't?

It is thoroughly unrealistic to place responsibility on the registrar, given that a perfectly ordinary name might be used to violate a trademark interest. If I register "cheer" for a cheerleading site, that is entirely different from using it for laundry detergent.

[fatter]

generally its buyer beware, all the people who lost a name from udrp didnt have a recourse from the person who sold them the domain, plus trademark infringement is not an exact science even udrp gets it wrong many times IMHO

[namedropper]

Why on earth would it be the registrar's fault? Did they make you get the name? You chose to get the name, right? They didn't just charge you $6,000 and put it into your account without asking, did they?

I am SO incredibly sick of people who won't take responsibility for their own actions and try to blame someone other than themselves.

[jberryhill]

refund there profit minus expenses if you actually lose the claim

Cool. So, after you pay 5K for a domain name, you get together with a buddy who files a bogus UDRP complaint, then you default, lose the case, and the two of you get the name and the money.

[fatter]

Actually after thinking about it I recanted back to my original statement (BUYER BEWARE) I claim temporary insanity

[Dave Zan]

I hope you don't take these replies badly, nitronet. Like most if not all things,
it just takes 2 words: research first.

Sometimes it just ain't enough. But just keep at it, learn, and move on.

Meanwhile, good luck on handling that matter.

[GeorgeK]

I think the only chance one would have is if it was an auction-style drop system, AND the trademark holder sent a C&D to the registrar in the first few days of the registration (i.e. during the auction, when the WHOIS was in their name). At that point, it could be that they withheld a material fact, that the name's ownership was in dispute, before concluding the sale to you.

Given the C&D came a few weeks later, though, this domain case probably didn't have that scenario, anyhow. If it's an obvious TM-infringement, one only has oneself to blame. Most folks bidding $100+ on a domain are aware of the risks.