I just received an unsolicited offer, out of the blue, for a domain name I own. I have used the domain for a year and a half for a business idea. While I have developped a six-page website listing my services, the business idea has not taken off and I’m actually considering selling the domain to that person.
The business name is not crucial as the business has never been advertised – expect in a few pro bono projects I have done.
I am aware that if I were to have solicited the other company and offered them my domain, they could sue me for it by claiming that I squatted it. In the present case, they contacted me.
Yet, I am still nervous about the next step. Can I express interest in this unsolicited offer while still protecting myself against possible charges of squatting? In other words, if I name a price, is that grounds for a lawsuit?
Help!
Does the domain name have any relation to an established business and/or product? Also, I think that squatting is only an issue if you take a domain name with the intention of forcing another entity to have to buy it from you. IMO, and IANAL, you aren’t squatting if you have been using the domain.
First: I am not an American lawyer. I can’t tell whether you may get into a civil lawsuit. For domaingrabbing it doesn’t seem likely, though.
Cybersquatting is often (I’m not sure whether that is ‘normally’) combated by using ICANN’s arbitration procedure. See http://www.icann.org/udrp/policy.htm and http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/index.html. The first link describes ‘bad faith’.
In that procedure, bad faith is one of three requirements to get the domain transfered. AFAIK offering the domain for sale can be an indication of bad faith, but accepting an offer in itself would not, in particular since you’ve been using it for a real purpose. Furthermore, the arbitration procedure wil not lead to major consequences if you lose: IIRC at most you will lose your website, the fees I think are paid by the complainant.
As I said, this is only about the ICANN procedure, and you should check at the site I listed whether my tentative remarks are correct. If someone would choose to start a civil procedure, I have no idea what might happen.
Additional remark: the ICANN procedure doesn’t apply to all TLD’s. It does apply to .com, and I assumed that was what your domain name falls under.
Furthermore to get an idea about what ‘bad faith’ implies in the ICANN procedure you should browse the decisions at the second link. Unfortunately a lot may depend on the actual arbiter, which means that things are not entirely predictable.