MY first C&D Too!!! (from AOL)

[TheBansche]

OK, it finally happened. Got a C&D letter and a phone call from AOL's lawyers in DC. I admit, I bought AOLSlut.com hoping to get the letter. Now I have to go shopping for a frame.

What comes next? Do I ask them to reimburse me for the $8.95 in Godaddy reg. fees, or just give the name back no-questions asked. Is there anything I should know?

TTFN

[Banned: timechange.com]

AOLSluts.com is pointing to porn.

[Drewbert]

Locate the person who has the AIM name "aolslut" and see if (s)he wants to do a webcam.

[TheBansche]

Originally posted by timechange.com
AOLSluts.com is pointing to porn.

AOLSlut, not Sluts. I owned the singular. Faxed back the transfer agreement this morning. It's over, but I'm framing the letter.

[WildCard]

did they offer to pay the registration fees? I am assuming, not.

-WC-

[TheBansche]

Originally posted by WildCard
did they offer to pay the registration fees? I am assuming, not.

-WC-

No, but I didn't ask either. The letter made ominous mention of "...statutory damages of between $1,000 and $100,000 per domain name." I wasn't in the mood to have that re-iterated to me over the phone should I try to get my ten bucks back. Frankly, the plane ticket back to DC for the court hearing would break me, much less if a MultiBillion dolar corporation tried to claim I caused 0.0015% degradation of their brand (valued at xxx Billion dollars) and would I please cut them a check for the damage.

I may be shiny, but I ain't brand new.

[avs162]

hope you read the letter or transfer closely as they like to put in the default future tm thing where if you infringe again your admiting guilt or responsibility. not sure if that has any meaning legaly but wouldnt want to find out and the one i saw left the defination of infringement to the lawyers.

think giving back to aol without fuss was smart move as i dont see the revenue from name covering the legal bills

just my thoughts

[TheBansche]

Originally posted by avs162
hope you read the letter or transfer closely as they like to put in the default future tm thing where if you infringe again your admiting guilt or responsibility. not sure if that has any meaning legaly but wouldnt want to find out and the one i saw left the defination of infringement to the lawyers.

think giving back to aol without fuss was smart move as i dont see the revenue from name covering the legal bills

just my thoughts

Truth is, I didn't buy it to make money anyway, I just wanted to see what would happen. In the meantime, I was using it's spam traffic to help beta-test my buddies anti-spam inbox control software.

Yea, I saw that line at the end about future infringement, but it looked pretty begnin. I don't intent to buy anymore like-AOL domains anyway.

Besides, I need to get my domain collection below 50 before renewal time. I've got alot of fat in my collection right now, and that AOLSlut name was just dead weight.

...but LoudPuppet.com I'm NEVER giving up! No matter what happens. That's the ace-up-my-sleave. My MONEY domain. The one that's putting my kids through college.

[Banned: timechange.com]

What I meant was, that the plural is still up and running so why give up yours?

[jberryhill]

"I just wanted to see what would happen."

My brother once felt the same way about putting his finger into an electric pencil sharpener.

It's probably not a good idea to do these kinds of things out of curiousity. But as long as you are a risk taker, perhaps you could do the pee-on-the-electric-fence thing and let me know what happens. I've always wondered about that, but haven't bothered to try it.

[TheBansche]

Originally posted by jberryhill
"I just wanted to see what would happen."

My brother once felt the same way about putting his finger into an electric pencil sharpener.

It's probably not a good idea to do these kinds of things out of curiousity. But as long as you are a risk taker, perhaps you could do the pee-on-the-electric-fence thing and let me know what happens. I've always wondered about that, but haven't bothered to try it.

I spent most of my professional career analyzing all of these issues from the safe confines of Network Solutions' corporate offices in Herndon Virginia. I admit it's kind of a rush hanging out with real live "Domain Speculators" and getting an honest to God C&D letter, trolling the drop lists, trying to get "Listed." I even own a real-live adult domain now, "ToysForSluts.com." It may seem strange to you guys, but to me this is all very new and very exciting.

Once I got the letter, I called a bunch of buddies of mine at the Registry (including the Senior VP of Marketing and Strategy...my former boss) and we all had a great big chuckle! It's not strictly for laughs though. Many of the things I'm learning out here in the real world I'm conveying back to folks in Herndon. ...showing them where the deleted domains lists are, encouraging them to visit some of these domain forums, explaining to them why GoDaddy is eating the Registrar's lunch, giving feedback from a real-live-domain-guy perspective.

It may seem really goofy to some of you, but I've actually learned more about the domain space by hanging out here and getting my feet wet, than I ever did reading Yankee Group reports, State of the Domain, Vividence useability studies, or by pulling numbers out of a data warehouse.

Anyway, squatting on AOLSlut.com was a risky way to learn about squatting, but no knowledge worth having comes without risk.

TTFN

[TheBansche]

Originally posted by timechange.com
What I meant was, that the plural is still up and running so why give up yours?

Good point. That said, I'm sure the guy hosting the plural has more resources at his disposal to fight AOL's lawyers. Besides, I'm supposed to be a respected analyst for a VERY large Internet company right now. The LAST thing I need is to have to tell my boss or my client that I'm flying to Washington to defend my right to the domain AOLSlut.com...or for them to get wind that AOL is suing me to get it back. Not a very good situation.

...remember, I live in UTAH!!!