New Email

[nicpal]

Here is an email I just received from a "representative" of a famous athlete. While I do acquire many sports personalities names for resale to them or their charitable organizations, my intent with this domain name was to develop it into a fan site/messageboard as he is one of my favorite football players for my favorite team. And please keep in mind that I do work for a sports management firm.

Dear Mr. Delanoy:

******** is contacting you on behalf of ******, proprietor of certain worldwide trademarks, rights of association and sponsorship, and Right of Publicity in and to the name, likeness and image of *******.

****** has learned you are responsible for registering the domain name ********. Such unauthorized use of the name of ****** is in blatant contravention of these aforementioned rights and will not be tolerated.

You should be aware that recent legislation has been enacted by which we will not only be able to recover this domain name, but also pursue a variety of other applicable damages including possible monetary awards. ****** has been a leader in employing these laws in the resolution of claims relating to our clientele. We have successfully administered requests for domain transfers on countless occasions, and we have never failed to recover a registration for one of our clients. While we would prefer to resolve this situation amicably, be advised that we are prepared to begin legal proceedings to recover the registration.

Pursuant to such accomplishments, ****** wishes to facilitate the transfer of ******* to our client. We will expect written acknowledgment within 48 hours of receipt of this letter, confirming your willingness to cooperate in the transfer.



September 23, 2003
Page 2 of 2



If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at *******, or via e-mail, at *********. I look forward to your further communications.

Nothing contained herein or omitted here from constitutes a waiver of any of the rights or remedies at law or at equity of ******, or ********, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.

Respectfully submitted,



***********.
Legal Counsel


My questions are

1) What unauthorized use? I just acquired the domain name and haven't even stared devlopment of the site yet.

2.) What fees will they occur in trying to get this name back? Is is the $1200 fee that they have to file with ICANN?

3.) I have waited 2 years to get this name, and will gladly relinquish it to ***** as I am a huge fan, but not without my compensation for the time and money I spent into getting this domain.

4) I have sold many domains to professional athletes and none were misused or "Cybersquatted" as I hold them for the athletes. Once the athlete and/or his organization is contacted, I will wait 90days before relinquishing the domain to a "fan". I have made many great contacts with athletes this way and have developed sites for them. It seems that this "representative is getting a little awnry because I am providing some competition.

Your thoughts on this matter and how I should proceed are always greatly respected.

[beatz]

Don't let them fool you.

I'm not an expert in US law, but i think there is such a thing like free speech etc. meaning as long as you set up a fan site, selling nothing but only expressing your opnions on the celeb, you should be fine.

Also i don't think the "We will expect written acknowledgment within 48 hours of receipt of this letter, confirming your willingness to cooperate in the transfer" means anything in legal terms - 48 seem to be not enough for a proper response.

Just imho, and i am everything but a lawyer.

[nicpal]

It looks like they have gone after people and won before. But those were basically people who just ignored then, which is not what I am planning to do. What are the fees involved when someone files a domain dispute?

[HOWARD]

Different lawyers charge different amounts for defending a UDRP action, but you can pretty much count on spending the amount necessary for a 3 person panel as the complainant usually chooses just one.

[nicpal]

I wasn't planning on getting a lawyer, I replied nicely to the email letting them that I was in a similar business of acquiring names and that I would gladly relinquish the domain to them, if they agree to pay any and all fees that I incurred in obtaining the domain. I'll just have to wait and see now.