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Startups that use "the" or "get" to avoid premium domains

15 points by gacxllr9 ↗ HN
Facebook was "thefacebook.com" before it was "facebook.com." Groupon was "getgroupon.com" before it was "groupon.com". Likewise, Dropbox was "getdropbox.com" before it was "dropbox.com"

Something that's never discussed, though: wouldn't the original owners of "facebook.com", "groupon.com" and "dropbox.com" have seen that these companies were gaining traction, and raised the prices on these domains? I just don't get this.

If I owned facebook.com and I suddenly heard about a company called The Facebook that was getting hot as hell, I wouldn't leave the domain name up for the same price as before.

Hopefully this isn't too confusing for people to follow. I'm only asking because I want to start out on "the+insertcompanynamehere.com" and I'm worried that the "insertcompanynamehere.com" owner could respond to growth by hiking up the price of that domain. Anyone know anything about this or have any experience with this?

18 comments

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pwim
If you have a trademark, you can file a domain name dispute and try and claim it that way.

http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain/faq.cgi

gacxllr9
My understanding was that if their domain was registered before your company name was trademarked, they have a right to that domain. I'll check out that link, though.
_delirium
Having an earlier registration date can be overridden if a dispute panel finds that it was registered in "bad faith", though. The clearest cases are where you know about or guess an upcoming trademark registration (say, due to rumors of a merger or new product release) and then register the domain before it happens, with the sole purpose of hoping to sell it to the new trademark holder.

A few panels, though, have made the much stronger holding that you have to both register and use the domain name prior to the date of trademark registration; i.e. if all you did was domain-park it and try to sell it, it's a bad-faith registration.

yosho
I'm sure the companies you've mentioned paid a solid price for those domain names.

They can't raise it too high otherwise, you might not buy, but no, they're not dumb enough to keep it low either.

mg1313
Facebook.com was bought with $200,000. Isn't that a good price the original owner got?
mg1313
By the way, try first to buy that domain you want to buy...before gaining traction. Gaining traction brings traffic to that owner also...thus, the price is raised because of this too.
btmorex
I would think that would depend on how much money you started with. You might need to gain a little traction before you even have enough money to buy a premium domain. Even if you do have the money, spending say 5000-10000 on a domain might be a little hasty before even convincing someone that your idea should be funded.
coryl
If your the owner of a hot domain getting traffic and typeins from another brand, you have to walk a fine line with what you try to achieve. If you do want to sell it and get a payday, you have to play the negotiations right, because there is always the threat of them walking away and entering a UDRP proces. Lets say your too stubborn to know better and list your price at something incredibly high and unrealistic.

In order for them to win the domain in a dispute process, all they need to do is prove a few things:

(i) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and

(ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and

(iii) your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

(http://www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp-policy-24oct99.htm)

A panel of judges will go through the presented arguments and defense and award it to a winner. Of course, it will depend on each domain's individual circumstances, as well as what the current owner of the domain is using it for.

rick_2047
My guess is they should set the price as the patent trolls do. If someone has a patent and threatens to sue another company, they set the settling price at just below what it would take to fight it out in the court.

Well the domain name holders are allowed to do it only once though.

bdickason
I'm working on a startup with getmochi.com right now. IF the app launches and IF it gets popular and IF the author doesn't want to sell and IF we decide there is worthwhile business purpose to grab the original... we'll deal w/ that problem when the time comes.
ericflo
Good luck on that particular domain. (I work for Mochi Media, and we weren't able to get it)
bdickason
Mochi Media is a great company!! That's a bummer that you guys weren't able to get it. Congrats on the acquisition btw :)
imp
I'm pretty sure that all of those (plus mint.com, which started as mymint.com) had VC backing to help pay for the domain. If you want to go with that kind of domain name, it seems like getting VC is going to be a requirement.