16 Year Old Cybersquatter Comes To His Senses
The forums at somethingaweful.com are entertaining. There is a good chance I will refer to more discussions there in the future, but I would not go there looking for legal advice.
In today’s Thread of the Day, a 16 year old is asking for advice:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2949752&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1
Six months ago, Dell announced they were coming out with a new, smaller than a notebook, computer. They did not announce a name for it yet. This kid took a guess that it would be called Inspiron Mini and registered inspironmini.com. It turns out he was right. That is what Dell is calling it.
After Dell announced the name, this kid’s friend/partner contacts Dell and informs them they are willing to give them the domain in exchange for new Inspiron Mini computers for he and his partner. This is when the kid comes to the board looking for advice. He wants to know if they are doing the right thing.
Other members tell him he should easily get $50,000 from Dell and he is not violating their trademark since he registered the domain before Dell had a name for the new computer.
Somehow the advisors don’t take into account that “Inspiron” has been a trademark of Dell for years. I have dabbled in domain reselling myself and have made some pocket change doing so. (Just enough to take a couple vacations). I know it would be very simple and inexpensive for Dell to file a UDRP claim. This is an open and shut case of cybersquatting. After they win the claim and the domain is given to Dell, they then could sue the kid or his family for damages if they really wanted to.
Despite this fact, they are telling the poor kid to milk everything he can out of Dell. Fortunately he comes to his senses and agrees to accept $100 from Dell. $50 each for he and his partner. Stay tuned to the thread, because it doesn’t look to be officially over yet. Hopefully the other forum members don’t convince him to change his mind.
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