"the .com was owned by a domain broker in South Korea. Within five minutes we emailed the broker asking for a price. A few hours later we had a price and quickly countered, which ultimately resulted in a low four-figure deal we accepted."
-> On an unrelated note, it seems like buying up a bunch of well-named domains 20 years ago would have been a smart thing to do lol (if you just wanted money). But I guess that's like owning real-estate in a way.
Just the other day I emailed the owner of a name I wanted. 17 years registered and it had never been used, the guy wanted 5 figures for it for no other reason than that's the price he paid for it. I countered with a more reasonable offer and didn't hear back from him, so the next day I bought the same name with a different TLD, for $35. I feel like at one point having that coveted .com was a priority for any business that wanted to be taken seriously, but today that just doesn't seem like the case anymore thanks to marketing mediums that use links instead of catchy names. Did I want the .com? Sure. Did I absolutely need it? Not at all. If my venture becomes successful down the road then maybe I'll inquire about the .com again and have more leverage to negotiate, but I'm not losing sleep over it until then.
"If my venture becomes successful down the road then maybe I'll inquire about the .com again and have more leverage to negotiate."
If you do that, you'll find yourself with a lot LESS leverage. What's to stop the owner of the .com from saying "Now that you've established a brand on that name, the price is four times higher"?
Same thing as now, needs vs. wants. If I'm already successful without the .com I'll have shown I don't need it. He's shown no attempt to put the name to use and he's made no attempt to negotiate a reasonable price. If he increases the price after I've built the brand then I'd gladly spend $1500 on an ICANN arbitration hearing.
"He's shown no attempt to put the name to use and he's made no attempt to negotiate a reasonable price. If he increases the price after I've built the brand then I'd gladly spend $1500 on an ICANN arbitration hearing."
Sorry but you are wrong. (I won't even get into the "made no attempt to negotiate a reasonable price" and skip right to the action you think you will file.
That's not what a UDRP (what you call an "ICANN arbitration hearing") is for or how it is used or what it is intended for. (Sure every now and then pigs fly just like people sometimes win crappy cases or OJ is acquitted.)
While there are certain circumstances that would allow someone to use a UDRP to get a domain the situation you are describing is most definitely not one of them. In short he owns it prior to your use of the mark. And if you did have a case you would not be doing yourself any favors by trying to DIY this process you'd have to hire an attorney with experience (and not all attorneys who claim expertise in this area actually have it.) Further if the domain is owned by someone who is in the business you have even less of a chance even if you think (or an attorney thinks) you have a case.
(I'm not an attorney but this is most definitely my area of expertise and I am quite involved in different aspects of this business...)
It's been a while since I read all the regs on this stuff, but at one point I read them enough that I believed I understood them and the definition of fair-use (at one point I was threatened for squatting on a name I owned).
Obviously the purchase date in relation to any trademarks may be relevant. Maybe what I should have said originally was that if I felt he was attempting to extort me, I'd handle it in a manner other than paying what he asked because he beat me to the purchase.
That being said, this bridge is a long way away from being crossed and the .com doesn't even warrant an entry on my todo list.
10 characters. It's two words, no spaces or dashes. Nothing trendy. I don't know whether he bought it as an investment or had plans for it, but he's clearly only trying to get out what he put in. I'm willing to bet the initial investment is a huge regret at this point.
Without knowing the exact name and owner you have dealt with it's hard to speculate.
That said being in this industry I can tell you:
a) "I get asked regularly" - very common to claim others are interested and considered a good way to get someone off the fence to make a buying decision.
b) "to pay $xx,000 like I did" - could be a complete lie. Once again hard to speculate w/o know the info I stated above (owner/name). But would tend to think that's bs from my experience. Another big one is "we just turned down $xx,000". Also "we are not looking to sell at any price" (means "make me a big offer and I'll think about it").
c) "can't find any public record" - not unusual at all. Only public records would be news stories on sales (not common) or auction sales (sedo.com etc.). Most domain sales info are not public.
The good news is that the seller would consider selling and may just be bullshitting. Other sellers (large companies) really won't sell at any price and you are totally SOL.
-> On an unrelated note, it seems like buying up a bunch of well-named domains 20 years ago would have been a smart thing to do lol (if you just wanted money). But I guess that's like owning real-estate in a way.