someone wants back a domain he owned - how should we handle this?

[domainquestion]

We recently bought a domain that had expired. Several days ago we received an email from the person who had owned the domain asking that we give it back to him. His English isn't good but it seems that he blames someone else for allowing the domain to expire. He also has a company (not in the United States) which has the domain as one of the words in the company name.

Uspto.gov shows no record that the domain name is trademarked in the U.S.

I have no idea how to check if the domain name is trademarked in his country. He also has not told me that he has a trademark for the name.

I would be happy to resell him the domain for what I consider to be a reasonable price if he has no legal right to the domain but I don't want to quote a price and be accused of cybersquatting if it turns out that he does have a trademark for the name in his country.

After reading his letter, I don't think he would understand a question about whether he owns a trademark for the name.

Any suggestion about how we should handle this?

Thanks

[jberryhill]

You might consider asking him to supply you with more facts to support his statement that he formerly had the domain name.

It is not at all unusual when you register an expiring domain name for people to come out of the woodwork and claim that it used to be theirs when, in fact, they were simply other folks who were trying to register it when it expired. I've seen this fairly often.

It also sometimes happens that the domain name was not renewed because two or more people were fighting over the domain name, and the one who had it decided to let it drop. In that instance, you would be walking into someone else's fight already in progress by "choosing sides" in a dispute which you didn't know about.

[WildCard]

You could also check out to see if they had a webpage up by searching on www.archive.org.

-WC-

[domainquestion]

Thanks for both responses. Archive.org does indeed show they did have the domain name. Does that likely confer them with some legal rights to the domain? (remembering that their company name is three words one of which is the domain name).

[HOWARD]

NEVER quote a price! Have legal counsel negotiate with them to get the best price possible. Because you just recently picked up the domain, it can be "in development" where you don't have to show an immediate business use if attacked. If it has a value to them, they'll pay for it regardless of whose fault it was that the registration expired.

[jberryhill]

"If it has a value to them, they'll pay for it regardless of whose fault it was [...]"

...or they will go away..... or they'll sue you. Maybe they will sue you in their country, and then seek to have the judgment enforced via the Hague Convention. On these limited facts, my crystal ball doesn't work that well. I don't know these people personally, and wouldn't guess what they are likely to do.

[Ari Goldberger]

I agree with the comments of Mr. Berryhill and Mr. Neu. Never quote a price and it's hard to say how they'll proceed. Suffice it to say,when a party wants a domain name, they'll often stop at nothing to get it.

The merit of your case depends on the nature of the domain name. If it is a unique made-up (coined) term you have less of an argument than if the term is a common word or descriptive term.

Best bet is, as Howard suggest, to get an attorney to respond and, possibly, negotiate on your behalf. You may be able to find an attorney to handle this on a contingency basis.

[Anthony Ng]

I once came across a very similar situation in which some idiot sent me an e-mail saying that it was Verisign's mistake in letting the name expire and threatening legal actions if I wouldn't return it to them. I didn't even reply to that. (By the way, I let this domain expire again a year later because of its minimal resale value; and this idiot has not yet picked it up!)

Back to your question domainquestion, if the domain name is really theirs (judging from archive.org) and they ask for it nicely, I would recommend giving it back to them for a nominal fee (to cover your cost, incl. time) mainly for ethical reason, especially if it is not a million-dollar name. Your good deed MIGHT be returned some day. Who knows! Just my two cents.

[jberryhill]

When they claim that Verisign made a mistake, then you have no way of knowing whether Verisign did or did not make a mistake. Verisign has a fair amount of ability to get genuine mistakes fixed, and many (but not all) registrars will cooperate to correct genuine errors. It is sometimes safer to suggest that the claimant work through the registrars than to plunge voluntarily into what might be troubled waters.

If it was Verisign's mistake, then it surely wasn't your mistake.