help: previous owner starts legal proceedings

[Poohnix]

Yes, Bangkoknightlife.com expired Nov 5 last year, and wasn't renewed by the previous owner. It didn't drop, so it seems to have been sold in a pre-release auction at namejet. That's what the whois records say.
The "stolen" claim is bullshit. From the sound of it, so is the TM.

[dominator]

a report about this domain "theft" has been made to the thai police

when?

[tomh]

Originally Posted by tomh http://www.dnforum.com/dnf/buttons/viewpost.gif
a report about this domain "theft" has been made to the thai police

The Police report of the theft is Feb 17 2009 - some three months after it deleted

Thanks so far to everyone who has chipped in with research. Gorlov - I've added your research to my case file.

One thing I noticed, reading through old cases, is that a lot of domaineers organize their own defence and get a successful ruling. Some are very impressive with domain owners offering far more lucid and researched cases than the disinterested lawyers they face.

Another thing I've found which people moght find interesting is that an offer to sell in the past goes badly against you and ground for losing the domain. So if you catch a name beware selling it back to the old owner who suddenly decided they want it after all. The following is a big no no.

4 b(i) “circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name”

For my case I think the theft will be ruled out since the police report is just that - the report of an allegation. There was no follow up, no arrest, nocourt case and no corrobaroating evidence. I am so confident the case of trademark ownership of a generic terms like "Bangkok Nightlife" that I am asking for a verdict of reverse hijacking.

I'll let you know how it goes on September 20th

[steveatvillas]

Look, it's simple. If the domain was not renewed and you picked it up in a NameJet auction or a drop/catch or a delete and registration, that's the end of it. It's yours. All the rest is a big load of bullshit meant to scare you into folding.

Jurisdiction is not Thailand, nothing to do with Thailand. A Thailand court will not be able to enforce a ruling even if it's not in your favour. Dot coms are regulated by ICANN, in the USA, so the ruling of the Thai court would have to be lodged in US courts...and good luck to them.

Trademark issue? That's WIPO or one of the other arbitration services appointed by ICANN, not freakin' Thai courts.

Theft? The can prove it Thailand if they want, then they can prove it again in USA.

And, yes, WIPO cases are routinely prosecuted by non-lawyers all the time. If you read through the crucial clauses 4a & b, the claimant has to prove: a trademark exists and registration in bad faith.

Easy one.

Steve

[tomh]

Hi,

I won the case.

The Asian Domain Dispute Resolution Center (basically a local version of UDRP) released their ruling today regarding the disputed ownership of BangkokNightlife.com, which I bought through this forum a few months ago.

A request to transfer the domain back to the original registrant was denied. Plus the panel found the former owner guilty of reverse hijacking.

I would like to thank everyone who gave their time and advice to help me prepare my case, especially Denny007, Gorlov, sdsinc, GUA, Cartoonz and Alejandro. I had never faced a legal panel before and the other guy had a bunch of lawyers working for him. If not for the help and guidance of the people from DNForum.com I probably would not have attempted to defend the case. Thanks very much everyone. Me (and karma) owe you.

best

tom

[acronym007]

Thanks for the update!

[draggar]

Yes, thank you for the update - it's good to see people can't just push their way around.

[Credit]

Congrats!

This is good news for everyone.

[katherine]

Well done

[Stian]

Hi,

I won the case.

The Asian Domain Dispute Resolution Center (basically a local version of UDRP) released their ruling today regarding the disputed ownership of BangkokNightlife.com, which I bought through this forum a few months ago.

A request to transfer the domain back to the original registrant was denied. Plus the panel found the former owner guilty of reverse hijacking.

I would like to thank everyone who gave their time and advice to help me prepare my case, especially Denny007, Gorlov, sdsinc, GUA, Cartoonz and Alejandro. I had never faced a legal panel before and the other guy had a bunch of lawyers working for him. If not for the help and guidance of the people from DNForum.com I probably would not have attempted to defend the case. Thanks very much everyone. Me (and karma) owe you.

best

tom

Congrats Tom, I'm happy for you!

[stock_post]

This case will help (post as well) a lot of domainers.

[owntag]

Congrats! Well done!

[Gerry]

Bravo!

[TheLegendaryJP]

I bought BangkokNightlife.com from a DNF member in good faith a few months ago.

name the member.

[tomh]

You can read full details of ADNDRC's decision in case of BangkokNightlife.com here:

https://www.adndrc.org/icann/iPubdecision.nsf/f047c3e4e8d7221c48256ab000287ab0/600bb6da9a714926482576430010e8b5?OpenDocument

thanks again guys

[Cartoonz]

Told ya, Tom... Good Job!

[katherine]

name the member.

The name is in the ruling. But I doubt the seller did anything wrong.

[PRED]

Hi,

I won the case.

The Asian Domain Dispute Resolution Center (basically a local version of UDRP) released their ruling today regarding the disputed ownership of BangkokNightlife.com, which I bought through this forum a few months ago.

A request to transfer the domain back to the original registrant was denied. Plus the panel found the former owner guilty of reverse hijacking.

I would like to thank everyone who gave their time and advice to help me prepare my case, especially Denny007, Gorlov, sdsinc, GUA, Cartoonz and Alejandro. I had never faced a legal panel before and the other guy had a bunch of lawyers working for him. If not for the help and guidance of the people from DNForum.com I probably would not have attempted to defend the case. Thanks very much everyone. Me (and karma) owe you.

best

tom

congrats, very pleased for you.
thats quite a motley crew you had helping you, a.k.a 'the dirty dozen'

[Shommy]

Very good, I'm glad you won... this is what worries me about really getting hardcore buying/selling domains.. if I get ripped off, and have no idea about the law on domains.