URL SCAM
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I'm posting this here for 2 reasons. 1) there is an off chance that someone else here has been contacted by this company and 2) I have reported this to one official Federal US channel but I couldn't find a good website where I was able to make this public. I know from experience that many posts on this forum turn up on internet searches and that is what I am hoping will happen here.
This scam indirectly cost me over $500 right now ( I went out and bought up a bunch of variations on my domain name from my domain registry company) and I contacted my lawyer who is going to cost me money. I bit the bullet and registered my trademark which is costing a fortune.
The e-mail below is the e-mail that I received and panicked over. The next e-mail is from David Wayne at Cadalog who amongst other things, is a re-seller of my SketchUp Entourage Volumes in the Orient.
From: Angle.zhang [mailto:Angle.zhang@chinasps.net.cn]
Sent: September 2, 2007 9:16 PM
To: enquiries
Subject: Entouragearts-Intellectual property rights(TO-CEO)Dear CEO，
We are Shanghai NET Network Information & Technology Co.,Ltd
Oversea Internet Domains Accredited Registrywhich is the domain name register center in China.
We have something need to confirm with you, we formally received an application on September 3 2007.
One company who called Goldplanet Holdings Limited are applying for following:Domain Names:
entouragearts.biz
entouragearts.cn
entouragearts.com.cn
entouragearts.net.cn
entouragearts.org.cn
entouragearts.twInternet Brand Name:
entourageartsThese days we are dealing with it, so we hope to get the affirmation from your company.
Please let someone in your company who is responsible for trademark or intellectual property rights contact us.
If there is any question, please contact us as soon as possible.Best Regards,
Angle.zhang
Check Domain Name dept.
Shanghai NET Network Information & Technology Co.,Ltd
Oversea Internet Domains Accredited Registry
Tel:86-21-6229-6886 | Fax:86-21-6229-6899
Website: http://www.cnnetcom.org.cn/
Susan, I got the same e-mail about this same Goldplanet Holdings using the name "sketchupjapan" in a bunch of URLs. In fact, I responded to them to tell them that Google would not like this company using SketchUp in any domain names. Then they tried to get me to buy the URLS. They claimed to be a registry company. It's a scam. They want you to buy these domain names from them. I imagine, they are contacting a lot of software companies with this same scam.
Dave
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Why can't the world be full of decent people! As I understand it there is no international law governing what you can call a website even if it includes a trademarked name. Google obviously have the manpower to sue anyway. I am very suspicious of domain name checker websites, as often when I have entered a title to check for availability, it will be available then but gone within the hour. They have often been registered by the same UK company. I suspect that the domain checker sites have software that automatically registers the name to try to force you to buy it off them.
Bad luck Susan
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Thanks for posting this here Susan, it's the sort of thing that could catch out even the most cynical and suspicious amongst us.
As long as you've got .com or your country's top-level domain I think you're pretty safe.
you did the most important thing which is that your domain name is logical- with the name of the website in the domain name. One of the worst I've seen is British Gas' domain- some brainiac webmaster probably convinced them to spend a small fortune on grabbing http://www.house.co.uk. It's meaningless. There's also a huge DIY superstore chain here called B&Q- their domain is http://www.diy.com which is slightly more logical, but not great.
On a lighter note, there's the famous badly chosen domain list:
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Thanks guys. Jackson that site is a hoot. I really needed that laugh. Yesterday was not a good day. I also got a very nasty and insulting e-mail from someone on my mail list for SketchUp training. ( basically called me a moron for not being able to send a proper html e-amil - I suspect his spam filter was the culprit) and then, not surprisingly, I had a huge fight with my brother's girlfriend, over some nasty comment that she made to me because she misunderstood something that I said. It's been an all around very bad 36 hours.
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Susan,
Don't give up on the email format issue. Why should we be cramming our messages with useless formatting? I always use plain text if I can choose. And those HTML messages have far more potential security loopholes.
Anssi
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Susan, Smustard got hit with this just two weeks ago. Here's the email. It's a scam, and if they don't get you in round one, the try the "protection" approach in round two.
Todd
@unknownuser said:
From: jake.shen [mailto:jake.shen@govidc.org.cn]
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 8:14 PM
To: Smustard
Subject: Re: (瑞星提示-此邮件可能是垃圾邮件)RE: URGENT - dispute of network domain name and trademarkDear Rick Wilson,
Thanks for your letter.As soon as receive the application of AoMeiXin(Beijing) Investment Co., Ltd., we checked "smustard"was your company's registered trademark.(http://www.smustard.com have been registered by you), That's why we sent email to you. We don't hope the domains be registered under your unknown.
But the registration is open in China , AoMeiXin(Beijing) Investment Co., Ltd. has right to apply for the available domain names. As a domain name registrar, we have no right to dispute their application. As the company whose trademark relates to the applied domains, you own the preferential rights to register them. So we sent email to inform your company to protect your interest. If you think Speed company's application will effect your benefit,we can help your company dispute their application and then register them in your own name.So please confirm whether you need to reserve your rights.
Waiting for your further reply as soon as possible. If any question, do not hesitate to contact me.
Best Regards,
Jake Shen
jake.shen
2007-08-27
发件人： Smustard
发送时间： 2007-08-26 13:00:51
收件人： 'jake.shen'
主题： (瑞星提示-此邮件可能是垃圾邮件)RE: URGENT - dispute of network domain name and trademarkThank you for bringing this to our attention.
We did not authorize AoMeiXin(Beijing) Investment Co (or any other company) to register domain names that use our trademarked name.
Thank you,
Rick Wilson
smustard.comFrom: jake.shen [mailto:jake.shen@govidc.org.cn]
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 10:35 PM
To: info
Subject: URGENT - dispute of network domain name and trademarkDear CEO;
We are registration service authorized by CHINAGOV（THE DEVELOPMENT CENTER OF THE STATE COMMISSION OFFICE FOR PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM）in China,I have something need to confirm with you,We formally received an application,One company which called "AoMeiXin(Beijing) Investment Co., Ltd."are applying to register "smustard"as Internet Brands and English domain names " http://www.smustard.cn http://www.smustard.net.cn http://www.smustard.org.cn http://www.smustard.com.cn " on August 23, 2007,After our initial examination,we found that the Internet Brands applied for registration are as same as your company's name and trademark,These days we are dealing with it,hope to get the affirmation from your company,If your company has not authorized the aforesaid company to register these,Please contact us as soon as possible.
In addition,we hereby affirm that our time limit for dissent application is 15 days,If your company files no dissent within the time limit,we will unconditionally approve the application submitted by "AoMeiXin(Beijing)Investment Co.,Ltd".
Best Regards,
Jake Shen
Shanghai IDC Network Information & Technology Co.,Ltd
ADD:A601, Block 2,ShanghaiWithub White-cat Science Park No.641 TianshanRoad ,Shanghai,China
Tel: +86-21-5175 0338*0325
Fax: +86-21-5175 0301
website:www.govidc.org.cn
E-mail:jake.shen@govidc.org.cn -
You too!
Actually it did cross my mind how strange it was that they were asking me because generally when you apply for a domain name through an online company, they don't make it their business to find out if there are any other similar ones and warn the owners of them. If the domain name is available, and you are willing to pay for it, it is yours pretty much instantly. That is what happened when I went and registered all those names with the company I deal with. I also registered a variaton on the name. So I should have listened to the voice in my head, but I explained it away to myself thinking that this was a particularly reputable company that did not wisht to be involved in any future legal entannglements, and knowing how many shady deals happen in China cyberspace, they were taking precautions.Anyway, my lawyer tells me that once you have a registered trademark in your own country, that the domain registry central agency has some sort of process whereby they will pull a domain name anywhere in the world that infringes on the trademark. Not a legal proceeding required. A central self-governing body.
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Susan do you have a link to this domain registry central agency? Internationally it is hard to see how one body can have stringent overall legal control. In the past unscrupulous people have made a lot of money registering domain names before companys have got round to it.
Jon
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I recall that. I wonder if the rules in place now are in a response to that and to prevent exepnesive litigation to defend themselves. My lawyer tells me that in 80% of cases that have gone to litigation, having a prior trademark wins the day. Therefore, I guess the new rules now.
I don't have a link. We could google it.
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Bruce, where is the recent, stress "recent" data, to back up that assertion.
I did a search on "Trademark infringment domain" and the very first link backed my lawyer: http://www.web-source.net/trademark.htm
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Bruce, I wouldn't be foolish enough to go to anyone but a well reputed intellectual property lawyer.
And he is right in Toronto. Remember he said that in 80% of the cases, having a trade mark worked in favour of the trademark holder. 80%, not all, but those are pretty good odds.
Here is an example of what he is talking about and a link where you can see more: http://www.keytlaw.com/urls/urllaw.htm
Domain Name Disputes: A trademark owner has a duty to prevent others from infringing on the owner's mark. New federal laws and a new international arbitration procedure have made it much easier and cheaper for mark owners to obtain infringing domain names and damages from cybersquatters. This article lists the options available to trademark owners (including owners of unregistered marks) who desire to obtain infringing domain names. ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy has become the mark owner's weapon of choice in the war against cybersquatters because it is quick and cheap. -
I just received the same email. I thought it looked a bit strange, so I Googled the company name. I found your posting and immediately deleted the email. There was a read receipt on it too. I am very sorry for your misfortune, but know that your posting is definitely helping many people. It definitely helped me, so thank you.
posted by: candrso
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Candrso I am so glad this is working as intended. I got an e-mail from a woman in France yesterday who found this posting the same way and also got some relief. Thank you for letting me know.
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Hi Susan
I hope that your lawyer is correct, but the law must be very different in the states because in the UK a trademark only copyrights a business name for the nature of that business, i.e: a firm called Bloggs that makes furniture could trademark "Bloggs", this would stop another furniture manufacturer seting up with the same name. However a firm dealing with a different product could trade as Bloggs. I imagine that this is similar to registering a domain name, it does not legally link to any trademark in particular.
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Yes that is the same both in the US and Canada. But that is quite sufficient protection that if someone in China wishes to sell Architectural Entourage or any other products for which my Trade mark is registered, he does not have the legal right to use a similar domain name if the domanin name is the same as the trademarked name.
I was not only concerned that these people were going to use my company name and imply a connection with me for their products, I was frankly concerned that they were going to sell bootleg copies of my product for pennies as well. That is both a copyright issue as well as a trademark issue.
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couldn't get .us. I wonder if you need to have an address in the US to get it. As far as I can see, no on else has it. I didn't see .info as an option from my registrar. But you didn't see my entire list anyway, that was the list from the Shanghai company. I registered an additonal 18 of them including variations on entourageart : singular as opposed to the plural.
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@unknownuser said:
...so I suggest you pick up .info. and make an attempt at .us.
Why bother? The list could go on and on as they keep adding more top-level domains, .tv, .biz, .xxx, etc. So what if someone else owns http://www.entouragearts.co.us- the only problem would occur if a company with the same name became enormous, swamping your search engine rating.... very unlikely. Besides if that did happen, there'd be much bigger things to worry about than obscure top-level domains, i.e. fighting high-paid lawyers suing you for trademark infringement.
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The only reason would be that I have spent blood, sweat and tears as well as my life saving developing this business and I wouldn't want some unscurpulous person associating a similar product with mine and then banking on my hard earned reputation to make some sales, while biding his time and costing me legal fees until I can get his domain name pulled. Much cheaper to just own the major and most easily found domain names up front.
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@unknownuser said:
@unknownuser said:
less than $10 US and about 5 minutes of your time to protect yourself.
Registering a name with multiple extensions can cost considerably more than $10 -- and the time and effort can be significant. While there are some registry services offering very low prices note that they are often tied to hosting services. Many people stick with tried and true (but relatively costly) services like 'Network Solutions' because they are suspecious of the crop of low-cost services that could turn out to be scammers or agressive marketers.
Also the reason Google.info goes to Google.com (or a localized country version) is because Google registered their .info and have it directed to their site. For companies like Google it makes sense for them to register every possible version of their name. For the rest of us it probably makes little economic sense. (I agree fully with what Jackson wrote).
********* NOW TAKE NOTICE KIDS! *********
There is a really cool web tool called Netcraft DNS Search that allows you to research what urls are DNS-registered using specific search terms. My link above shows there are 19 sites that use the word "entourage". It is a very useful tool for finding enfringements and great when choosing a domain name. My understanding is its only finding urls that are in DNS databases meaning real sites and ignores the speculatively registered domain names not currently active. Anyways, you can have hours of fun browsing the net using the tool. It makes an interesting way to explore it.Regards, Ross
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I'm yet another saying "Thank you so much for having posted this!" I was thisclose to sending them a reply - and I was quite worried. You've done the world a favour! :thup:
posted by: AnnB
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