Competitor Cyber Squatting our website, Stealing our companies goodwill and confusing the market. What can i do about this?

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Whidon

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Without getting into too much detail Here is a bit of background.

As some of you may know my family runs a rather successful trade show.We are a small business and it is the only show we run currently. basically the only one of considerable size east of California in this industry. About 5 years ago an associate of ours reached out to see if we wanted to partner to create a new show, with mostly the same, but a slightly more varied focus. The idea being it would be in a Major city and the costs and hopefully profits would go up appreciatively. My Boss (also my father) declined and the show went on anyways.

Since that time our show has continued to thrive and making my father (the owner) a wealthy man. Now our website is simply XYZexposition.com Now last year we found out when trying to buy the XYZexpo.com site it was currently redirecting to our now-rivals site! The same i mentioned in the para above. So we called him and told him to cut it out, he agreed to stop doing it and next we check the website was gone.

So again this year, right as our registrations for the site go live this week we decide we going to buy the (XYZexpo) address. Only to find our once rival bought the address again and is doing the same thing! What recourse do we have for this? There is clearly no reason to do it but to cannibalize our customers and clients!

If it matters our site has a strong regional tilt that is expressed in the shows name. This guys shows presents it self as a national show and also features a different, yet overlapping customer/exhibitor base. My boss jut wants to call the guy again... but i would like to take stronger steps if necessary.
 
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Arbitrary

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Step one is to hire a lawyer to write a stern letter. It's not very expensive (relatively) and has a high chance of success. If it doesn't work you're established your claim and a history of the steps you have undertaken to attempt to resolve the issue.
 

Whidon

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I already suggested this to him but his first instinct is to simply call the guy again.

Would we have any basis for damages on this? It seems pretty blatant and i there's no other reason to do it beyond confusing the public/customer base/market AND vamping our show to sustain his own.

Whats even worse is this happens right as we are doing attendee signups for the show starting this week. So even if we get it resolved the damage is done..
 
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Whidon

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Your fam should have bought it and kept it the first time.


We should , I've been wanting to do this for years. Finally last year once the last guy took his site down we were set on doing it.

However for some reason i don't recall we were never able to actually purchase the registration once the guy took the it down last year.
 

Lendarios

Trump's Staff
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maybe this route also

What You Can Do to Fight a Cybersquatter
A victim of cybersquatting in the United States has two options:

  • sue under the provisions of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), or
  • use an international arbitration system created by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Trademark experts consider the ICANN arbitration system to be faster and less expensive than suing under the ACPA, and the procedure does not require an attorney.

Using the ICANN Procedure
In 1999, ICANN adopted and began implementing the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDNDRP), a policy for resolution of domain name disputes. This international policy results in an arbitration of the dispute, not litigation. An action can be brought by any person who complains (referred to by ICANN as the "complainant") that:

  • a domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights
  • the domain name owner has no rights or legitimate interests in the domain name, and
  • the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.
All of these elements must be established in order for the complainant to prevail. If the complainant prevails, the domain name will be canceled or transferred to the complainant. However, financial remedies are not available under the UDNDRP. Information about initiating a complaint is provided at the ICANN website.
 
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Ambiturner

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Doesn't sound like all those elements exist in the posters case.

You definitely need to go the lawyer route.
 

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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I encounter this occasionally in my line of work. You have a lot of recourse assuming that the "XYZ" in the name of XYZexposition.com and XYZexpo.com is fairly unique.

But if your website is actually something like PlumbingIndustryExposition.com and he registered PLumbingIndustryExpo.com then you're going to have a pretty hard claim. But if its something unique and brandable like MarTech® - The Marketing Technology Conference (thats a real conference) then you have a good case. You established ownership of that trademark and there is a lot of cybersquatting law that was passed since the 1990s to help major brands recover their domains in courts.

Really it all depends on how common that word is. For example, someone with unique name like Adidas or Nike is going to have a hell of a lot easier time than someone with generic words in their brand name like Shoe Outlet.

There is also the option of getting his registrar to compel him to comply under the threat of suing the registrar but thats tricker. Registrar deals with these demands all the time.

Probably your best is to get a lawyer to write him as a scary cease and desist, go full court press on him but also offer to buy the domain off him to make this matter go away. That way he doesnt feel like he is a total loser and he will be more likely to comply. I dont know how much business this expo does, I'm gwetting a decent amount. But even giving this fuckingstick a couple hundred to maybe a couple dozen dollars to make this shit go away sounds like a cheaper option than him undermining your whole business.

FInally, how is this site affecting you directly? Is he getting it to rank on google high enough that he is directly poaching your customers, or is he sending out materials by mail branded with that URL and poaching your clients that way?