Whidon
Blackwing Lair Raider
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.
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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