Cybersquatting & domain transfer

[moustachebandit]

Keeping the story short - many moons ago my employer brought a product / brand to market.

Domains were bought and websites built and its ticked along for a good few years now. For reasons I am unaware of the .com version of the site wasn't secured. As the years have passed this URL has been hoovered up and is available for purchase.

There is a now an opportunity to take the product to the USA and I personally feel its imperative that we acquire the .com URL. Issue is the owner is in Asia and wants an obscene amount for the URL.

So I have 3 questions.

Do we have any right to the URL, considering it relates to our brand / product and isn't being used by the current owner.

As the owner is abroad I presume we are essentially screwed for going legal with it?

If we decide to pay up - are there any services that manage the transfer for both parties so we don't end up transferring money only to get nothing in the end.

Thanks

[AlBondigaz]

I've used Escrom.com for domain purchases and sales - https://www.escrow.com at around the £10k mark. Always been very good service.

Otherwise talk to Sedo.com I think they offer a broker / transfer service. I've used Sedo at lot over that past 15 years or so.

[AlBondigaz]

I've used Escrom.com for domain purchases and sales - https://www.escrow.com at around the £10k mark. Always been very good service.

Otherwise talk to Sedo.com I think they offer a broker / transfer service. I've used Sedo at lot over that past 15 years or so.

[plasticpig]

You possibly have a right to it. You can make a complaint to the domain registrar under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.

[Canute]

Sorry to higjack this thread, I have a similar situation for one of my companies.

My Ltd company has a sole trader using the same name as my Ltd business with the .ltd domain name extension

Do I have any recourse to stop them and claim the name, they offer the exact same service as I do also.


Thanks

[moustachebandit]

Thanks for the suggestions. As the seller is in Korea I think we are screwed trying to go the legal route. However the Escrow service looks like it would give us some assurances - short of flying out there with a check book and doing the trade in person.

I have approached the owner and it seems they may have softened on the amount they want so might be able to resolve quickly.

Thanks

[Dan_M5]

doesnt matter where the seller lives. The domain you dont own in real terms.