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Ask HN: Help!

14 pointsprajjwal10 comments

Note: I am posting on behalf of a friend for anonymity reasons.

We just received a cease and desist for a somewhat generically named product website, from a US LLC's attorney because we have a similar name. Imagine they own abc.com and we own abcMY-COUNTRY.com

The US company's domain name was registered in 2009 and they don't seem to be very popular. My product is intended solely for my country and has no relationship with the US product.

The US product is a registered trademark in the US only and has no presence in my country and does not have any offices here.

What is a US corp's legislative power in another country? What actions can they take?

Is DMCA a worry considering our domain names and servers are hosted in the US? Are EU / Asian domain name / hosting providers safe from DMCA?

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You need to consult a lawyer. Do not seek legal advice on HN.

Friend is based in asia, and does not have money to spend on US lawyers.

Find some lawyer over there which knows or specializes in this stuff?

In my country we have a Software Chamber of Commerce which I believe would help me, is there some organization your friend's company is a member of?

I know there are lawyers with American studies here in Uruguay, maybe there are some in your friend's Asian country.

I'm NOT a lawyer so don't take my advice but I wouldn't think there is a whole lot they can do to you internationally other then try to bully you into what they want you to do. If you can find a better domain and it's not too much rebranding trouble I would do it, otherwise I'd probably just wait them out and see what happens next.

A quick chat with a local lawyer (if they think they might get business off your friend in future they might give advice for free) is the best way of clearing it up

Even if they do have the legal right to sue your friend it sounds likely it may not worth their time, effort or money.

The only other thing they could try to do without having any legal rights in your country is to get the domain name taken off your friend. There's a well established procedure outlined for them to legally try to do so at: http://archive.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp-policy-24oct99.htm

It would cost them money to do this, and you would have the right to appeal.

Has your friend registered the company already? If its a corporation then your personal assets are safe and hence can take the risk of going even up till the point of lawsuit.

Warning: I am not a lawyer.

legislative power

Do you mean can they bring a lawsuit against you? Legislative refers to the making of laws, e.g. Congress passing a new law.

Was your domain registered before or after theirs?

To this point, one thing they might be able to do is lobby the registrar to take away your domain for TM violation. I'd consider another domain for worst case scenario.

The domain was registered in 2012, after theirs.

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