Ask HN: How to recover domains from squatters? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to recover domains from squatters?

7 pointsunsquat4 comments

I run a startup that has over the last few years been aggressively targeted by domain squatters. We do reasonable traffic (~500K uniques/day) and seem to be a juicy target for typo squatters. We have owned the trademark to our name since before most of these domains were registered, approximately 4 years. There is no ambiguity as to our name and the squatters intent -- all are transpositions, extra letters, etc. that lead to ad pages running ads for competing/confusing services. Our name is very unlikely to be confused with other services and is non-generic.

I'm seeking advice on how best to recover dozens of domains from ~5 to 10 squatters. Actual experience in this process is most helpful, I can speculate about what might work with the best of you.

We could drum up funds to go through an arbitration process, but we're frugal and I'm curious if anyone has experience with direct or third-party negotiation with squatters. What do you offer? Do you try and hide your relationship to the actual company? Do threats of legal action or arbitration work at all? Is there a letter-from-a-lawyer option that would be less expensive than arbitration?

NB: this is a throwaway account. My real HN account is approximately 1k days old and > 1k karma. I don't want to reveal the domain name in question and potentially encourage even more squatters. It's a nasty business.

I'd just let it go. I've had domain typo-squatters target us explicitly but they never ever could make a go of it.

The only time when it is important to go after them is when the public really has a hard time to remember your domain name and mistypes it consistently.

If that's the case, and the typo-squatters actively funnel traffic to your competition you have a case, if they don't or if they operate a completely unrelated business on that domain you will have a very hard time making it stick.

So, weigh the money and time invested versus the damage they do, a lawsuit of this kind, especially if it is international will set you back between 25 and 50K easily, if you perceive the damage to be (well) in excess of that sort of money you might consider to go after them, keep in mind that you can also lose a lawsuit.

good luck!

I second the "let it go" idea, unless you know for a fact that people are getting confused (AND, it's a large enough N that your most important next task is to recapture those people). Most of the time, it's a wiser use of your time to go and get new customers as opposed to worrying about folks who mistype the domain.

Also, most (consumers) find websites through google. Focus your efforts on SEO there -- I bet your ROI is MUCH higher in optimizing google cmp to worrying about bottom feeders like these squatters.

As far as past HN threads go there's some good information here, but mostly related to buying a new domain from a squatter:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=853228

If the domains are in the standard TLDs and are obviously typosquatting, you can go after them using the UDRP. It's not cheap (low end is $1300), but you can go after multiple domains at once if they're all owned by the same defendant.

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