eBay's Legal dpt. has a VERY long arm

WOW.

Took eBay only 11 days, since I registered the domain name BIDDINGBAY.COM to email me

Here's what they sent me:



Dear Domain Name Registrant:

It recently has come to our attention that you have registered a domain
name that mimics the famous eBay name and trademark.
As you are likely aware, the coined term "eBay" is one of the most famous
names on the Internet. eBay owns several registrations for the eBay
trademark in the United States and internationally. Accordingly, eBay
enjoys broad trademark rights in its name. For your information, in a
decision by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a third
party trademark application to register the trademark "ebaysecurities" was
denied due to the USPTO recognizing the eBay trademark as a famous
trademark, and thus entitled to broad protection.
We are concerned that your domain name infringes and/or dilutes the famous
eBay trademark. Infringement occurs when a third party's use a company's
trademark (or a confusingly similar variation thereof) is likely to
confuse consumers as to the affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement of the
third party's services. Trademark dilution occurs when a third party's
use of a variation of a company's trademark is likely to lessen the
distinctiveness of the company's famous trademark. In this case, your use
of the suffix "bay" in your domain name is likely to lessen the
distinctiveness of the famous eBay brand. "eBay" is an arbitrary and
fanciful trademark; neither "eBay" nor "Bay" describe online trading or
e-commerce in any way. Therefore, it is likely that you chose your domain
name to evoke eBay's famous brand.
We take these matters quite seriously. As you may know, we settled a
dispute similar to this one against a company using the name
www.bidbay.com <http://www.bidbay.com>. BidBay has agreed to change its
domain name, company name, and to pay eBay an undisclosed sum of money.
Attached for your information is a news account of the settlement.
<<BidBayWSJ.gif>
More information on trademark law may be found at
http://www.fplc.edu/tfield/aVoid.htm.
Federal and state laws, including the Anticybersquatting Consumer
Protection Act of 1999 (<http://www.mama-tech.com/antipiracy.html>)
provide for serious penalties (up to $100,000) against persons who,
without authorization, use, sell, or offer for sale a domain name that
infringes or dilutes another's trademark. Infringers who have been
notified of such infringing activity, but do not cease their
infringements, may also be considered "willful" and could be subject to
additional money damages and liability for attorney's fees. Having
received this e-mail, you are on such notice.
Trademark protection is very important to eBay. In addition to the
Bidbay.com case, we have filed several successful federal court actions
against cybersquatters. We have also filed more than six proceedings
before the United Nation's World Intellectual Property Organization's
arbitration panel; all cases order the transfer of the domain names at
issue to eBay.

While eBay respects your right of expression and your desire to conduct
business on the World Wide Web, eBay must enforce its own rights in order
to protect its valuable and famous name. We appreciate that you may have
registered the above-mentioned domain with the best of intentions and
without full knowledge of the law in this area. Nonetheless, under the
circumstances, we must insist that you stop using the domain name, do not
sell, transfer or offer to sell the domain name to any other person, and
simply let the domain name registration expire.
Please confirm by replying to this email that you will comply as
requested. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
Edith
eBay Legal Department

To which, I responded with:

Dear eBay,

The domain name BIDDINGBAY.COM that we own has no relation with your famous name and trademark and no intention of being confused with your famous company and web site.

A quick visit to the online domain search tool at http://www.domainsurfer.com reveals the following facts about domain names that contain these strings:

1. Search for the string EBAY: 5,492 matches
2. Search for the string BAY.COM: 8,282 matches

Therefore:

1. Since our intention, content and desire is not to infringe upon any trademark or term used by eBay
2. Since our domain name does not contain the string "EBAY"
3. Since eBay appears not to own a trademark for the words "BIDDING", "BAY" or "BIDDINGBAY"
4. Since the domains listed through the DomainSurfer search engine and which contain the term "EBAY" and even "BAY.COM" are in the thousands

We feel that eBay has no right of claim to our domain name, BIDDINGBAY.com

We kindly ask you to withdraw your claim thereof and to constructively continue with your excellent business.

Your feedback is most appreciated,
timechange.com

Of course I know I will have to give up the freaking name regardless to those bullies, but I did not want to let it go without a squeak

In their defense, that was a very nice "stop using our name" email. I've seen much worse .

-t

BiddingBay.com (is simular to BidBay.. which is now http://www.AuctionDiner.com (i listed a few of my names there just recently)

Well, they should (e-bay) be rattlN the cage of the idiot who has the EABY.com (isn't that the url? the one you mentioned couple days ago, that's on e-bay auction)

and they'll prob. get on my A** about SupplyBay.com too.

they think they are the DOMAIN GOD.. GMAB

I forgot the attachment that came with it

good letter of reply TC.

the owner of BoatBay.com was
approached by eBay as well,
but, he's built a site.. (may be finished now)

but, i've not heard anything from ebay
on
SupplyBay.com

** Your not USING the name, as an auction house..
ya know.. (that's infringement to me)

worse case..

you can take your laptop
to the cellblock! LOL ;-)

[Nic]

they won't do anything, it might be similar to theirs, but if they were really keen on having it, they would of reg'd it at the time of the other one.
you'll never gonna hear from them again, they don't really have anything anyway

Hmm not sure, they are known cyber-bullies (who coined that phrase the other day?)

It'd be good not to hear from them again but it would not be cool if I heard there is a pending lawsuit in my name in California.

I will call Stargate tomorrow to drop the domain. Plus I knew what I was getting into when I saw it drop

Just like the BidBay.com guy, I don't want any freaking vultures (lawyers) over me

Here's what I emailed eBay with:

Our legal advisor's conclusion has been to proceed with cancellation of the domain name BIDDINGBAY.COM, per your request. We will contact our Domain Registrar, Stargate Communications, to initiate the cancellation process.

Originally posted by timechange
Just like the BidBay.com guy, I don't want any freaking vultures (lawyers) over me

Here's what I emailed eBay with:

Our legal advisor's conclusion has been to proceed with cancellation of the domain name BIDDINGBAY.COM, per your request. We will contact our Domain Registrar, Stargate Communications, to initiate the cancellation process.

it's not worth the stress..

you-all did the right thing IMO with
BiddingBay.com

too CLOSE for comfort, on this name.

Yeah I know. I don't really care, I almost forgot I had that domain registered

Originally posted by timechange
Yeah I know. I don't really care, I almost forgot I had that domain registered

to remind you that you owned that name..

top rate 'customer courtesy'... hmm

Originally posted by timechange
Yeah I know. I don't really care, I almost forgot I had that domain registered

i believe it to be true.

ebay revoked your scum-bucket-low-life-trasy url
SlimBlonde.com (GMAB) gimme a break..LOL

and you've had a jerk on e-bay tell lies, and make ya
look bad..

the e-bayFBI
has been tracking your every move buddy..

your headed for some tough times ahead..

it's all uphill now J/K LOL

You mean, instead of my wife?

My 2nd domain was registered secretly LOL
Since then my wife lost interest in dealing with the financials and credit cards.

Originally posted by WandaMay


to remind you that you owned that name..

top rate 'customer courtesy'... hmm

AS FAST AS YOU CAN..

EBAY MOBSTERS ARE ON THE MOVE..

AND THEY WANT YOUR A**
LMAO

Now, there is a difference. I never put BIDDINGBAY.com on auction or anything like that.

eBay apparently scans new registrations that contain the string BAY. Pretty simple and outright bullying.

SLIMBLONDE.com 's auction was pulled because some person at eBay had a bad hair day

Originally posted by timechange
You mean, instead of my wife?

My 2nd domain was registered secretly LOL
Since then my wife lost interest in dealing with the financials and credit cards.

so your in control of the finances & credit cards???

hmmmm she's a BRAVEONE! 4sure..


(where is that ShakaMan.. who owns BraveOne.com ...
my Vienna friend??)

Originally posted by timechange
Just like the BidBay.com guy, I don't want any freaking vultures (lawyers) over me

Here's what I emailed eBay with:

Our legal advisor's conclusion has been to proceed with cancellation of the domain name BIDDINGBAY.COM, per your request. We will contact our Domain Registrar, Stargate Communications, to initiate the cancellation process.

LowBidWin.com

(where the consumer places their flight itenniary & the flight agents bid for the ticket sale)
LowBidWin's..

you help me build it & i'll 50/50 profits & i'll do all the promoting..

and i will get it listed in top 10 on major engines..

i do have Engine Rank skills.. in my back pocket..
and i will share the Rank reports with you..

you in?

I just love that story:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-216899.html?legacy=cnet