Is it safer at this point to buy foreign domains?

[BuyingGuy03]

With this latest ACPA news, it makes me, a relative newbie in this business, feel a bit chilled. I own a US-based LLC, which I operate carefully, and it does other things besides buying domains, but still I feel slightly uneasy buying many more .com names no matter how carefully I check them out beforehand. Even if I check them out now, nothing prevents someone coming along in the future and getting a trademark and then suing the crap out of my company for ridiculous sums of money that I can't afford. In fact I worry there could eventually be a domain-equivalent of the RIAA that goes around at some point in the future auto-filing thousands of lawsuits and making a profit from it.

Perhaps it's better for a US company like mine to instead focus on purchasing foreign domains? Mine already also owns a bunch of .de names - is there some equivalent of the ACPA there in Germany? If not, would Germany then be considered a better environment at this point for domainers? I'm curious to hear opinions on what you think is the "safest possible" method to operate in this increasingly litigous time.

 

[DNQuest.com]

TMs acquired after you have a domain cannot prove bad faith registration.

As far as the rest of your post, it is all about research and knowledge. Usage plays an important part in determining bad faith. There is alot to learn, just read and learn.

 

[ParkQuick.com]

I wouldn't abandon .com just because Microsoft is on the rampage at the moment. Stay away from TM domains and operate your business properly. Hire John Berryhill or another of the excellent attorneys who represent domain portfolio owners if the sh*t ever hits the fan.