Not exactly cybersquatting but close.

pbarry · 28-02-2006 3:21pm #1

I've recently purchased a .ie domain that already has a successful & VERY popular .com (which I DON'T own)

The .com is a forum which targets the Irish market and for some reason the owners didn't buy the corresponding .ie

I want to start a site based on the same content as the .com

In this situation would you:

(1) Use the domain and try to benefit from the existing popularity of the .com

or

(2) Start fresh with a different domain

Cheers.

jmcc · 28-02-2006 4:54pm

pbarry wrote:

(2) Start fresh with a different domain

Otherwise you are at risk from charges of "passing off". And there would be a lot of very negative feedback that could appear in the tech press about it.

Regards...jmcc

Ph3n0m · 28-02-2006 5:24pm

well would this be considered cyber squatting?

www.ie7.com

wheres me jumpa · 28-02-2006 6:55pm

Ph3n0m wrote:

well would this be considered cyber squatting?

www.ie7.com

I thought the above was totally against the rules.

In relation to the OP, if you have an idea why not implement as your own. We have all come across sites thriving on domain name similarities with large sites and I doubt any of us have a high opinion of them. People will see the orginal as the real deal and this will greatly damage your rep.

pbarry · 01-03-2006 8:56am

wheres me jumpa wrote:

People will see the orginal as the real deal and this will greatly damage your rep.

Normally I would agree with you, but in my case I want to add more services and functionality to the .ie than .com currently has. Keep in mind that my site will be free to users so the fact that I'm not selling something may be in my favour.

Obelisk29 · 01-03-2006 11:23am

Think of a new domain name.

The .com will undoubtedly go for you and would probably have a very strong case. You could be infringing their trademarks or copyrights or be judged as attempting to pass yourself off as the .com

The fact that they are already up and running will also go against you and just because your service is free or that you're not seeling anything won't give you any comfort.

If they have a fairly generic name (e.g. exampapers.com) you should be ok with a varient like irishexampapers.com or exampapersonline.com if you see my drift.

wheres me jumpa · 01-03-2006 12:54pm

Did anything happen the people who brought us boards_ie.com?

daveirl · 01-03-2006 11:42pm

This post has been deleted.

jmcc · 02-03-2006 6:58am

pbarry wrote:

I've recently purchased a .ie domain that already has a successful & VERY popular .com (which I DON'T own)

The .com is a forum which targets the Irish market and for some reason the owners didn't buy the corresponding .ie

I think that I've identified the domain in question.

The .com is Irish owned and this means that the two of you would be in the same jurisdiction. The .com registrant could argue that your .ie is a "bad faith" registration and point to his site having a lot of media citations (radio and press). The press would love a cybersquatting story like this and the fallout would hit your other sites as well. You really should think about launching with a completely new domain.

Regards...jmcc.

Hagar · 02-03-2006 7:32am

I have a .com site based on my family name, a common enough name,which is used to promote my business. There is a company in the states with the exact same name as my company here in France. We are in two totally different areas of commerce so there is no real conflict. I use the same site name as my US conterpart except mine is hyphenated. This is not ideal. I have placed a legal note on my site saying thet we are not connected in any way. My company is registered in this name so I don't have any choice. Sometimes you just do what you have to do...

pbarry · 02-03-2006 9:06am

It's so tempting to use the .ie!! The .com is a non-profit site and they rely on donations from the community. So in a way, they shouldn't care too much about me launching the .ie as it won't affect their "revenue".

But tbh I'm aware of all the side-effects of doing this and that's why I'm hesitant.

How about if I park the .ie against a new domain??

The press would love a cybersquatting story like this and the fallout would hit your other sites as well

That would be a worse case scenario, doubt that my targeted market for the other sites would care about this situation..........but may not be worth the risk.

wheres me jumpa · 02-03-2006 10:40am

pbarry wrote:

I want to add more services and functionality to the .ie than .com currently has.

If youre offereing a better service then you dont need to sponge of the other sites popularity. If somebody set up boards.com as a message board service for irish users, it would havea very bad reputation.

pbarry · 02-03-2006 10:48am

wheres me jumpa wrote:

If somebody set up boards.com as a message board service for irish users, it would havea very bad reputation.

That's not what I want to hear.....:mad:

But v. true!

wheres me jumpa · 02-03-2006 11:17am

pbarry wrote:

That's not what I want to hear.....:mad:

But v. true!

Im not rippin ya, im just saying have faith in your own idea. If you feel it offers more to users then dont ruin it by trying to trick users.

Kinetic^ · 02-03-2006 1:48pm

jmcc wrote:

I think that I've identified the domain in question

Do tell??

jmcc · 02-03-2006 1:55pm

Keyser Soze 5 wrote:

Do tell??

I'll leave it up to the original poster.

Regards...jmcc

Kinetic^ · 02-03-2006 1:57pm

jmcc wrote:

I'll leave it up to the original poster.

Regards...jmcc

you can't do that

tell us?

Capt'n Midnight · 02-03-2006 2:00pm

let me guess

Was the site www.**** and you've now got www.boardsie.ie ? :v:

pbarry · 02-03-2006 3:02pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

let me guess

Was the site www.**** and you've now got www.boardsie.ie ? :v:

Ha, na I'm not that SOUND. If only I had thought of that first!!:D

jmcc · 02-03-2006 3:25pm

Keyser Soze 5 wrote:

you can't do that tell us?

It is up to the OP to tell you. But I think that the .com is a financial/budgeting issues forum site.

Regards...jmcc

Kinetic^ · 02-03-2006 3:36pm

Psyche, I knew it was it that one

daveirl · 02-03-2006 11:15pm

This post has been deleted.

pbarry · 03-03-2006 9:21am

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Yeah it is, that's I was so surprised to find the .ie still available!

daveirl wrote:

actually gets mentioned in the papers loads so you definitely would get people typing in the URL incorrectly.

That's the plus side to using the domain; alot of sites have linked to the .ie thinking that was the domain. I'd have a good ranking from the start.

There's a few of us involved in this and I think the general feeling is to use a new domain.........

cgarvey · 03-03-2006 2:32pm

It's a morals issue really .. if you have the .ie you're obviously entitled to it. If it's a site targetting the same audience, there's nothing wrong with that. If you rip off the current site, then you might be in trouble, but they can't claim that if you set up a forum that looks different, especially if you make yours have more useful features.

Now, basing your success on the success of others is nothing new either, it's just a question of whether you want to be a cogger (is that just a culchie term?? It's someone who copies homework/exams/etc.), or come up with a unique idea. There's plenty of people in both sides of the camp, so you decide.

Just be sure you don't copy what they're doing, rather than try and provide the same service in your own way, so that it's distinct from their site.

.cg

Not exactly cybersquatting but close.

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