UKNM: Help with domain dispute?

[John Lundberg]

Hi,


I run http//www.circlemakers.org the home of England's crop circle makers

which has been online since 1995. I need some advice about my legal

position re the domain name http://www.circlemakers.com which has recently

been registered to promote a book about crop circle makers [that's us!].

It's just a holding page at the moment but I was gutted when I found out as

I was planning to buy the domain, but this guy got there before me. I've

offered to buy the domain back off of him but he doesn't want to sell.


The point is, I've spent five years building the circlemakers 'brand' both

online and offline, in traditional media such as the NBC-TV and BBC Country

File documentaries that were recently made about us.


Annoyingly, the media often give out the wrong URL for our site [ .com

instead of .org - see the current issue of Internet Magazine for the most

recent example :/ ]. The owner of circlemakers.com has now put up a note

about our site and a link, but it's a small consolation.


Do I have any legal recourse to reclaim the domain? Obviously I don't own a

trademark for the word but I think I could put up a very strong claim for

the domain.


Can anybody help?


Or have I just been shafted!?! If large corporations can claim back their

domains, isn't it time that individuals are given the same rights???


Later,

John


 john lundberg:                   developmental:

johndevelopmental [dot] co [dot] uk (mailto:johndevelopmental [dot] co [dot] uk)

  http://www.developmental.co.uk

 tel:       +44 (0) 171 249 3172  fax:      +44 (0) 870 054 8748


 [   for too long creation has been a slave to rational time   ]


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