[wplug] DNS and the Law, Progress!!

[Yaakov Nemoy]

2009/9/10 Douglas Green <diego96 at mac.com>:
> Hi all-
> Thank you all so much for your input- all of the contributions were helpful. I guess the original post was to get a reality check, to see if I'm overlooking something totally obvious. The short answer seems to be "maybe". Although they are a company named volaris and own volaris.com.mx, whether I'm violating a trademark by using the domain name volaris.us to complain about them is debatable. Additionally, if it's truly their trademark they are worried about, they will likely need to go after volaris.com as well as me (they don't own the .com domain).
>
> I thought I'd also update you all on how things have unfolded since yesterday. The CCO of the airline company was in touch with me, resulting in a direct phone call last night. We chatted for about 30 minutes, and he actually conceded the points on my website and resolved to change their corporate policies/procedures right away. As of today, their phone systems are being revised, an error in their customer service database has been patched, they will have managers available by telephone 24/7 to resolve significant disputes, and they are putting together a written policy on baggage restrictions. I was impressed with his candid and quick response, and I offered to revise or remove the pertinent content on the site as each item is addressed.
>
> At the end of our conversation, I mentioned the C&D and he claimed that he was unaware of any legal action on their part. I stated that lawyers make me nervous, and if they pursue it I'll need to defend myself. If I end up involving a lawyer, the publicity that results will be completely out of my control. Furthermore, I felt that we were on the right track to resolving my dispute without a lawyer between us. He agreed wholeheartedly, called their lawyer and told him to stop pursuing the issue. He called me back to confirm the message was delivered, and I'm currently awaiting written evidence to that effect.
>
> In summary, the lessons I have learned are the following: there are a bunch of free resources that will support you in instances where you feel that your freedom of speech is being compromised. As someone said, it's not slander if the content is true, so nobody can legally muzzle you for speaking out. The EFF assigned an entire class of University of San Francisco Law students to my case, for example. Less formal resources, such as alt2600 will defend you as well. The other side of the equation is that you are NOT necessarily entitled to a domain name just because you were able to acquire it. My case is a little less clear, as my use is legitimate and not directly related to redirection of their traffic in a similar industry (in other words, I'm not Alaska Air buying volaris.us).
>
> My plan of action is to first revise the content on the site to reflect the good changes they have made. When the issues are all resolved, I will take the site down. At that point I will contact the company and tell them that the domain name is no longer of use to me, and will be sold at auction. They can make me an offer on it before I put it up for public sale. ;)

Lesson of the day, find a way to resolve conflicts without lawyers ;).

Glad to hear the good news.

-Yaakov