Advice or Experience Selling Name to New Company?

[DomeBase]

I would appreciate advice or sharing experiences concerning selling a name to a new company when you registered the name long before the company was created. In particular, have any of you thought up an unused and non-trademarked (high tech) name and then sometime later been contacted by a company that is forming and wants to use this name and domain? I have had this happen once and nearly happen a second time. Any advice concerning -- negotiation process? price? saftey from reverse hijacking through UDRP if one has a working site at the name? or methods of marketing hi-tech names (e.g. genetics, nanotechnology, etc.)? Thanks!

 

[Bob]

If the name was registered before the company was founded and trademarked, there is absolutely no way you will lose it in a WIPO case.

-Bob

 

[Nic]

In my experience, Never contact them first (esspecially if the domain is a potential TM )

 

[mole]

Originally posted by Bob
If the name was registered before the company was founded and trademarked, there is absolutely no way you will lose it in a WIPO case.

Bob sums it up well.

But WIPO does screw up on occasions. That's when you can get the local courts to overturn the decision if that name was really valuable to you.

 

[pavd]

Quick question guys - i also registered a name not knowing that a few months lata a company was being made with the same name.
I registered the site in August of 1999 and there first use was:

FIRST USE: 19991100. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19991100

The didn't file until Feb. of 2000 and they published for opposition in Nov. of 2000. They had previously contacted but nothing came out of it. My question is, can i use the site for whatever i want and can they do nething?

-D

 

you need to be careful if you offer products/services in the same class as their tm if the term isn't inherently descriptive.