Question

**rpoko** · 01-04-2005, 05:05 PM

A few years ago, I got stock in a company, Company X.

Company X's "President", I'll call him Mr. X, said a domain name was owned by Company X, even though the whois records showed that an individual owned the domain name.

Back in March, the domain name was transferred to me because the owner had received a threat of lawsuit letter from a lawyer for some of the content.

I removed the content in question.

After several months and numerous lies from Mr. X, I realized I had been taken and owned worthless stock in Company X.

I subsequently sold the domain name to Company Y, who is a competitor of Mr. X and his company.

I was not a paid employee of Company X, or paid as a consultant.

Does Mr. X/Company X have any case against me for selling the domain, that was legally mine?

**Dave Zan** · 01-04-2005, 05:39 PM

Questions:

1. Have you already transferred the domain name registration to the party
you sold the name?

2. When you acquired stock in Mr. X's company, was there any provision or
agreement of sorts putting any restriction whatsoever to the name?

From your initial post, it sounds like Mr. X was already involved in rather
"questionable" activities.

**rpoko** · 01-04-2005, 05:44 PM

Originally Posted by davezan1

Questions:

1. Have you already transferred the domain name registration to the party
you sold the name?

2. When you acquired stock in Mr. X's company, was there any provision or
agreement of sorts putting any restriction whatsoever to the name?

From your initial post, it sounds like Mr. X was already involved in rather
"questionable" activities.

I transferred ownership about a month ago.

No provisions in stock regarding the domain name.

I have hundreds of emails from Mr X, thus documenting numerous lies he has told me about the status of the company.

Do you think I'm pretty safe in my situation?

**jazzpetals** · 01-04-2005, 05:57 PM

Who was it that actually transferred the domain to you? Was it Mr. X? If not, I think Mr. X should be dealing with the person who transferred it to you.

Originally Posted by rpoko

A few years ago, I got stock in a company, Company X.

Company X's "President", I'll call him Mr. X, said a domain name was owned by Company X, even though the whois records showed that an individual owned the domain name.

Back in March, the domain name was transferred to me because the owner had received a threat of lawsuit letter from a lawyer for some of the content.

I removed the content in question.

After several months and numerous lies from Mr. X, I realized I had been taken and owned worthless stock in Company X.

I subsequently sold the domain name to Company Y, who is a competitor of Mr. X and his company.

I was not a paid employee of Company X, or paid as a consultant.

Does Mr. X/Company X have any case against me for selling the domain, that was legally mine?

**jberryhill** · 01-04-2005, 06:16 PM

Back in March, the domain name was transferred to me because the owner had received a threat of lawsuit letter from a lawyer for some of the content.

Can you elaborate on that a bit? I own stock in an electric company. They don't transfer their domain names to me when they get a legal threat.

**rpoko** · 01-05-2005, 07:27 AM

The domain name was not in the company or Mr. X's name. It was in another individual's name, and that individual contacted me to replace them as domain owner.

On paper, Mr X/Company X never had ownership of the domain.

**Dave Zan** · 01-05-2005, 02:18 PM

It sounds like they transferred the name to you back then to avoid any legal
responsibility or repurcussions from the complaining party. You're lucky the
complaining party didn't go after you during the time the name was yours.

Just my opinion, but I'd say you made the right choice transferring the name.
As to your question whether Mr. X can go after you for that, let him try.

You sure it's Mr. X/Company X you're concerned about or the complaining
party who went after Mr. X?

**rpoko** · 01-05-2005, 02:25 PM

The party who threatened to sue won't come after me. They are in bed with the people I ended up selling the domain to.

**Acro** · 01-05-2005, 04:43 PM

I still don't get it :-D

**jberryhill** · 01-05-2005, 09:26 PM

I still don't get it

Neither do I.

It sounds as if he agreed to hold the domain name on behalf of someone else, although for reasons that sound shady. For example, let's say your buddy says to you, "Can you hold title to my corvette for a while so that my ex-wife's lawyer doesn't seize it?" and he sells it to you for one dollar, with the understanding that next year you'll sell it back to him for a dollar.

Should you have agreed to help your buddy hide his assets from his ex-wife? Probably not. But once you've done that, it would be a poor reflection on your character not to follow through and sell it back for one dollar a year later - even if it was YOUR wife with whom he was sleeping around. (after all, anyone can get a replacement wife, but a good car usually has sentimental value)

Am I even close to whatever it is you are trying to describe here?

**rpoko** · 01-06-2005, 07:52 AM

Brief recap , with some elaboration:

I purchased stock in Company X, run by Mr X. Mr X said, among other things, that Domain X was an asset of his company.

The actual owner of domain X, which was not Company X or Mr X, received a threat of lawsuit letter from an attorney for website content Mr X said he had approval to use (he never did).

Owner of domain X contacts me, says "I'm going to get sued because of that dumba** Mr X. Get my name off of that domain. I don't want anything to do with Mr X/Company X"

Domain is transferred to me with no strings attached. I remove the offending content.

I do some more research on Company X/Mr X, and find he has scammed numerous people, including me, with his lies about Company X.

Company Y contacts me numerous times to buy the domain name.

I contact other shareholders, including a couple who had sued Mr X for fraud and won. Based on all of the information I had gathered, as well as piles of emails documenting numerous lies Mr X had told me about company X, I realize I had been scammed as well.

*side note - Mr X is no longer living in the US, and has no traceable assets in US, so suing him for fraud was not a viable option.

Company Y contacts me again, offer to buy domain. I sell, to try and recoup money lost buying worthless stock in company X.

**Dave Zan** · 01-06-2005, 08:32 AM

Originally Posted by rpoko

*side note - Mr X is no longer living in the US, and has no traceable assets in US, so suing him for fraud was not a viable option.

Company Y contacts me again, offer to buy domain. I sell, to try and recoup money lost buying worthless stock in company X.

So that should be the end of the story, shouldn't it?

**rpoko** · 01-06-2005, 08:35 AM

That's what I think, but I just wanted others' opinions as to whether Mr X can somehow try to come back on me and sue me, even frivolously.

**jazzpetals** · 01-06-2005, 11:59 AM

Anyone can attempt to sue anybody for whatever reasons, the question is will they succeed? I don't see how this guy would have a case since the domain was legally transferred to you.

Originally Posted by rpoko

That's what I think, but I just wanted others' opinions as to whether Mr X can somehow try to come back on me and sue me, even frivolously.

**jberryhill** · 01-06-2005, 07:36 PM

since the domain was legally transferred to you.

I have a boatload of domains that have been "legally transferred" to me, on the understanding that I am holding them in trust for other people. The facts as stated here are hopelessly vague (and, no, that is not a request for further "clarification").

**namedropper** · 01-07-2005, 01:15 PM

I think the main thing here is that he should ever try to sue you, he'd have to show up in court, and then you can countersue him for fraud. Being out of the country shouldn't protect him as he's willingly entered into a court action with you. I doubt you could ever get money out of him (not that I am judging the merits of the case, but simply on the basis that if he did lose you'd still have to find a way to collect, which from appearances anyway he's taken steps to avoid now), but in the fracas I'd bet he'd get nothing from you. That's assuming he even wanted to try to go that route, which doesn't sound wise for him.