This is what I am starting to see. It looks like most "research" out there is the typical "20 college students for one semester" case with flawed data and questionable approaches.
At some level there's also the definition of "working out".
I am on a lifting program where strength is the goal, not bulking out. We add 5 lbs every workout session (15 lbs per week) to every exercise. In a couple of cases this has come down to 2.5 lbs per day as it has gotten harder to maintain the prior pace.
The point is that this is very different from someone who gets on the treadmill every day to run for one hour. That's more of a steady state routine where balancing nutrition is far easier.
In my case I need to eat more. A lot more. No other way to maintain the pace of strength gains.
What I am after is an approach to nutritional optimization that allows me to feed my system as much as it needs to be able to do the work during workout days yet not over feed it during the 46 hour rest period.
In other words, feed for the 2 hour workout as well as whatever is necessary for recovery + muscle growth but don't over-feed because you could go backwards during those 46 hours.
Yeah the funny thing is, one particular kid, in my previous comment, that barely eats at all is the one doing the most insane workouts. We're talking 6-8 miles of really fast cardio runs or days of pretty heavy lifting. Everyone is so different.
> And... they've failed right out of the gate. Face-down in the dirt.
Loved that comment. The difference between engineers and average users is that the average user isn't an engineer. The very idea that someone thinks using Markdown is a reasonable idea shows the disconnect.
Yes, you are right. Ultimately it's just business.
The research I've done tells me it would be hard to grab my domain given that I've been doing business under this brand for nearly 30 years. Not a huge business, but that's not important.
This doesn't mean that they can't make me spend money on lawyers and just burn me down to the ground as a potentially cheaper strategy to make me cave. Not sure what to think about this possibility.
I think there are a couple of ways to look at this. Businesses are bought and sold every day on the principle of a mutually agreed upon valuation that is win-win. There's nothing whatsoever wrong with saying "No, what I have is worth a lot more than $200" and communicating a value you might be comfortable with.
In my case I selling my property was never even on my radar until these guys started to hound me. I'm still not interested with the exception of, as I said in another post, the kinds of offers that you just have to consider.
I would imagine a lot of folks on HN have domains registered with the expectation to use them for various projects. If someone came along and offered you $200 for a domain you've owned for a few years you'd probably say no and move on. Maybe you are using the domain to sell ebooks or something and make some money with it every month. If, on the other hand, the offer was for a few tens or hundreds of thousands, it might be a situation that would warrant (or should) consideration. This depends on your circumstances, of course.
In my case the "offer you can't refuse" would have to be in the seven figures range. Because it would be bad business not to consider such an offer. Anything below that is of no interest to me at all. I make over mid six figures a year with my engineering services.
That's very different from a well-funded corporation effectively bullying you and inflicting financial pain to take your domain or property away from you. One is a business transaction where everyone can walk away happy. The other is using force and brutality to, effectively, steal what isn't yours.
I don't get it, by your own admission the time isn't right to monetize on the domain and yet you expect a 7 figure value for it, what will they be paying for then? In another post you say something about selling your house and the responsibilities of wife and kids.. Are you really willing to put all of that at stake just to retain control over some 'perceived' value. Like I said, I don't get it.
I would be lying to you if I said that my thoughts are entirely coherent at this point. I am certainly creating a more organized framework in my mind as a result of interaction and conversation with various people, including HN, as well as my own research.
Here's what I know so far (hopefully a coherent set of thoughts now):
- Common law trademarks in the US do offer protection so long as one does not abandon usage of the mark in commerce
- This is the case with me
- I can show continuous usage for nearly 30 years
- I will still have to file an opposition to their attempt to obtain a USPTO trademark
- Have to wait three months
- It will cost a few thousand dollars
- They have been spamming the 'net with press releases in an attempt (successful so far) to drown out the few pages of search results that associated my name to the brand
Q: Is there a "waybackmachine" for search
In other words, is there a way to show what search results looked like for a certain terms on a specific date?
- Whether or not they succeed at obtaining a trademark they can resort to suing me in order to snatch away the domain
- Two theories here
- Dilution: They take their 20 pages of search results and claim my possession of the domain damages "their" brand
- Financial Intimidation: If I don't defend they can claim abandonment and own the brand
- The law regarding domains does protect me 100%, yet it does not protect me from having to spend tons of money to defend it
- Much like patents, they are a right to defend yourself and, if you don't have the money to do so they could be worthless
- Per nissan.com, it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend yourself
- Even if the other party has no merit whatsoever
- Hence my comment about having to sell everything and end-up on the street if I want to defend
- Our legal system seems to be setup to favor those with deep pockets by allowing them to inflict such pain that the other party caves and gives in
- The merit of the case does not matter when one party has to risk losing it all to mount a defense
- Have not found a way around this (free qualified legal help, or some other equalizer of sorts)
- Without further data it seems that someone with tens of millions of dollars can force someone without a huge bankroll to give up their brand
- If this is my reality I will almost have no choice but to give-up on my dreams and on a brand I've owned for nearly thirty years
That, I think, is the context under which I said some of the things I've been saying. Regarding the 7 figures thing. I probably did a horrible job of communicating the intent. Not sure I can do better, but I'll try.
I don't want to sell. This was not my intent. I was actually getting ready to launch a new startup under this brand (moving away from consulting). There are only two ways I could see letting go of it. The first is if I have to face financial ruin to protect it. Not hard to understand. I have responsibilities towards my family that I cannot abdicate. The second is at the other end of the scale. This is the case where they make an offer that is so compelling that it would satisfy the idea of doing the right thing for my family and would make letting go of a brand that's been dear to my heart for nearly three decades. That offer, for me, is in the 7 figures (which, after taxes, can easily turn into 6).
I hope that clarifies where I am right now. I might not have all the angles covered but I think I understand the problem reasonably well. I am hoping to learn more as I sit down with counsel this week and explore legal realities.
Biggest take-away for others: If you own a domain you intend to use in the future and it matters to you, put up a blog and write something relevant to the brand every so often. If you just let it sit there you could be in trouble. And, yes, file for and obtain a trademark as soon as possible. Common law trademarks do work but real paper trademarks are far more powerful.
The points I was trying to make, reposted because code formatting makes them hard to read (sorry) and for some reason I can't edit them:
- Common law trademarks in the US do offer protection so long as one does not abandon usage of the mark in commerce
- This is the case with me
- I can show continuous usage for nearly 30 years
- I will still have to file an opposition to their attempt to obtain a USPTO trademark
- Have to wait three months
- It will cost a few thousand dollars
- They have been spamming the 'net with press releases in an attempt (successful so far) to drown out the few pages of search results that associated my name to the brand
Q: Is there a "waybackmachine" for search
In other words, is there a way to show what search
results looked like for a certain terms on a specific date?
- Whether or not they succeed at obtaining a trademark they can resort to suing me in order to snatch away the domain
- Two theories here
- Dilution: They take their 20 pages of search results and
claim my possession of the domain damages "their" brand
- Financial Intimidation: If I don't defend they can claim
abandonment and own the brand
- The law regarding domains does protect me 100%, yet it does not protect me from having to spend tons of money to defend it
- Much like patents, they are a right to defend yourself and,
if you don't have the money to do so they could be worthless
- Per nissan.com, it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend yourself
- Even if the other party has no merit whatsoever
- Hence my comment about having to sell everything and end-up
on the street if I want to defend
- Our legal system seems to be setup to favor those with deep
pockets by allowing them to inflict such pain that the other
party caves and gives in
- The merit of the case does not matter when one party has
to risk losing it all to mount a defense
- Have not found a way around this (free qualified legal help,
or some other equalizer of sorts)
- Without further data it seems that someone with tens of millions
of dollars can force someone without a huge bankroll to give up
their brand
- If this is my reality I will almost have no choice but to give-up
on my dreams and on a brand I've owned for nearly thirty years
I did not know about this. Frankly, it's terrifying. It almost makes me want to cry. The prospect of walking into a situation where I have to chose between utter financial ruin and just handing over something I've owned for nearly thirty years is unsettling.
Is there any financial help for these kinds of cases? I can't possibly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending this.
I mean, the only way to even begin to approach it is to sell everything we own and have my wife and three kids live out of a van. And that might not even be enough.
Have you considered just selling it? Sometimes the hassle isn't worth the effort required to win. Even if you could.
You stated in a previous post it'd have to be a 7 figure amount. It's unlikely you'll get that amount. I'm not saying you have to sell if for cheap, but be reasonable if you're serious about selling. A good deal is one where both parties are somewhat unhappy at the end (i.e. one feels they significantly "overpaid", and the other feels they sold something too cheaply).
Sorry, IANAL, so maybe this advice is useless. I just spent a little bit doing some research and discovered that EasyDNS has a history of defending their customers from similar sorts of thuggery[0]. It may be worth your while to research an option like this, i.e. switching your DNS service (and domain registration, if they offer it) to EasyDNS or someone that would be willing to help you defend against sociopaths bent on stealing your domain and brand. It seems like now would be the time to research a more defense-oriented domain registrar and DNS provider that won't simply hand your domain over to the person with the most pull, as No-ip.com learned when Microsoft stole their domain. I can't really help you in this regard, but you will definitely want to transfer your domain to a registrar that doesn't have a history of caving to the first lawyer letter they get, which is probably most of them. Perhaps you may find both a name registrar and a DNS provider that will help you. Good luck!
Yes, that's the likely outcome I've been told. What sucks is that you have to wait until the publication period.
I've been wondering if there's a way to appeal to those funding this venture. I don't know much about top-level VC's (which is where their funding comes from) but I would hope ethical business is a part of their code of conduct.
I could see the startup acting without the express knowledge and consent of the VC's backing them. It would be interesting to hear from anyone on HN who has a better understanding of VC's.
