eBay Domain Trademark Mistake
September 1, 2007
About a year ago, I registered a domain with the word ebay in the name. Just this week I received the email below from their legal department informing me I was violating their trademark. Luckily, I haven’t developed the site yet so no big loss to me.
At the end of the email they ask that I contact them in writing but don’t give any address. I replied to the email saying that I would comply and asked how to send my in-writing request but haven’t gotten a response yet. I hope I hear back soon, according to their email, if they don’t get a response they “will have no choice but to pursue all available remedies” against me. Here is the email from eBay:
We are writing concerning your registration of ebayxx.com which contains the famous eBay trademark.
eBay has made a substantial investment in developing and providing its services. As a result of eBay’s pioneering efforts and its devoting substantial effort and resources to providing only high quality services, the eBay name and trademarks are widely known among the consuming public worldwide, and the name and trademarks embody substantial and valuable goodwill.
Accordingly, we were concerned when we learned of your registration of the domain ebayxx.com. As we hope you can understand, protection of its trademarks is very important to eBay. We have filed several successful federal court actions in the United States against companies and individuals employing the famous eBaytrademark in their domain names, as well as more than six proceedings before the United Nation’s World Intellectual Property Organization’s arbitration panel. eBay prevailed in each case and the domain names at issue were all ordered to be transferred to eBay.
We understand that you may have registered ebayxx.com without full knowledge of the law in this area. The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (http://www.patents.com/acpa.htm) provides for serious penalties (up to $100,000 per domain name) against persons who, without authorization, use, sell, or offer for sale a domain name that infringes another’s trademark.
While eBay respects your right of expression and your desire to conduct business on the Internet, eBay must enforce its own rights in order to protect its valuable and famous trademark. For these reasons, and to avoid consumer confusion, eBay must insist that you not use the domain name for any purpose, do not sell, offer to sell or transfer the domain name to a third party, and instead simply let the domain registration expire.
Please confirm in writing that you will agree to resolve this matter as requested. If we do not receive confirmation from you that you will comply with our request, we will have no choice but to pursue all available remedies against you.
Sincerely,
eBay Legal Department
It is interesting they ask you to respond in writing but do not send you an address. The good news is, they only ask you not to develop the site and let the domain expire. That is very easy to comply with. You could offer to transfer the domain to them, but that is even more than they are asking you to do. Good luck.
Hey Ben - I got the same letter last week! Unfortunately, my website was developed, but I knew this was coming, so I had another domain lined up, I’ve re-mapped my blog to the new domain, and I’m on track to get all incoming links changed before the domain expires.
I assumed that “please reply in writing” included email, so that’s what I did. However, the email I got landed in my spam folder, so I may have never seen the ebay letter. I can’t believe they sent notice by email instead of by snail mail, given that they are willing to take legal action if no response is received. What kind of legal department are they running over there???
This gets me scared since my website has the name Ning which is also a social networking site. I wonder if I can say that the name is based on my last name (which is true too).
Hmm…
Patrick, what I’m worried about is the closing remark, “pursue all available remedies against you”.
Kristine, I’m glad you’re all prepared for moving your site. Let me know if you ever hear back from your email.
MoneyNing, I imagine eBay has a much bigger legal department, more money, and more time to find and pursue copyright issues, I bet you’ll be okay.
Considering that there was no address, is it possible that it wasn’t from EBay ? It could be that someone is trying to pick up expired EBay domain names…
I got same email from ebay.. what i did is shutdown my website http://www.christian-ebay.com
i think they send same email to all ebay related domains..
i never sale any ebay stuff just christian business directory how could they say am using ebay?
i just annoyed because my traffic on web site already reach 500+ unique enquiries just before i shutdown..
I did reply on them but til now they havent reply yet.. i told him ill shutdown my website but it doesnt mean i dont have rights to renew it again..
coz am using it as my personal email i will renew it, but using only as email will not turn it back live again.. grrrrr
There are 81,000 domains out there that contain “eBay” in them.
Seriously! Check it out.
I doubt even the most well resourced and legally fortified firms like eBay would waste their time suing 81,000 people; when about 99% haven’t even developed sites.
Additionally, these emails are analogous to all those PayPal-spoof emails people still get: they simply aren’t from eBay, just like those really aren’t from PayPal.
Check the IP server identification against eBay’s.
They most likely don’t even match!
Just some phishing scam to hijack your domain(s); nothing more.
This is nonsense.
The email completely misrepresents the anticybersquatting statute.
Look at this site:
http://comcastmustdie.com/
If Comcast could bring this site down with an email, don’t you think they would?
The bottom line is this.
If your site relates to ebay, you have every right to have ebay in the domain name.