[wplug] DNS law?

[Bill Moran]

In response to Drew from Zhrodague <drew at zhrodague.net>:

> Christopher DeMarco wrote:
> > On Thu Sep 10 08:37:32 2009 -0400, Bill Moran wrote:
> > 
> >> Yes!  Fleee!!! Hide in your homes!!! 
> > 
> > Dude!  90% of deaths occur in the home!!  Please don't advocate such
> > dangerous behavior on this list.
> 
> 	Oh, Noes!
> 
> 	Post the C&D, Doug. Post your URL on every related website you can 
> find. Contact the webmasters, and ask them to post a link. Spread the 
> word. Make a stink -- this is what the Internet is for.
> 
> 	This may be a neat topic to discuss with other SEO folks, who may be 
> interested in helping (like me, contact me off-list). I do hope yours 
> ends up a success story!

It won't if you go that route.

I mean, there's no reason you can't spread the news about what jerks this
airline are.  But, unless you're willing to fork out a bunch of money on
lawyers, they're going to win the right to take the domain name off you.
Even if you spend a bunch of money on lawyers, they'll still probably
win it back.

If you want to keep going the way you're going, I'd buy
${companyname}sucks.com, move your hate site to there, then send their
lawyers a polite apology and an agreement to move the domain to their
hands.  Then document what assholes they are on your new site.

If they bring a slander lawsuit against you, that's a different issue.
Slander is completely different law than trademark law, and you have
every right to make your story public if you feel the need.  Law will
uphold their right to keep control of their trademark, however.

Of course, even if you have the right to put up a hate site, they can
still sue you.  Legally, anyone can sue anyone over anything, and if you're
unable to put up the cash to stand up for your rights, they'll win simply
by overwhelming you.  So be prepared to fight back if you intend to keep
bad mouthing them.  In fact, it's probably worth spending a few $100 to
talk to a lawyer before you proceed, just to get an understanding of what
you can say and what you can't.

-- 
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com
http://people.collaborativefusion.com/~wmoran/