When I got home last night from a dating, judging the local county science fair exhibits with my husband I had a very welcome email in my email box……seems the TV “personality” who was challenging my grandson’s right to the domain has withdrawn his domain dispute!
Apparently he (or his attorneys) now believe that Billy is real and has legitimate rights to own the domain.
This has been a very interesting experience, and I certainly learned a lot – a lot more than I really wanted to know about the person who brought the complaint, but also a lot about the process itself.
If you’re interested – or if you find yourself facing the same thing and want to know how I handled it – you can read about it by clicking on this link.
That’s the Great News. The Good News is that it was withdrawn before I had to make all the copies and pay for shipping to Switzerland, so it’s not costing me as much as I thought it would.
However, I’ve already poured a bunch of time and money into gathering the evidence and having pieces of it overnighted to me, so there are still some expenses.
While I was dismayed in the beginning, thinking I had to find an attorney, not knowing what was needed to successfully respond to the challenge, knowing I would have to go learn a BUNCH (I’d have to read the prior cases and figure out which ones applied to us, as well as respond to every one of their allegations, and all within a 5000 word limitation), in the end it was a lot less of a burden than I had been afraid it would be.
In fact, by tackling it myself, I found I was up to the challenge. I did the research, I did the writing, I responded to each of their allegations, I gathered my evidence, I talked with attorneys (including his), I corresponded with WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), and I continued to talk it over with my 15 year old grandson.
Ultimately, with each and every step forward I knew without a doubt we would win the dispute.
So on Friday I only had to dot a couple i’s and cross a couple t’s before sending it in. I had received my final piece of evidence (a certified birth record for the grandson). I planned to re-examine everything over the weekend in a final review and send it off on Monday or Tuesday to the WIPO Center for the Panel to decide.
Late Friday afternoon I received a call from one of the Complainant’s attorneys. At that point I was certain of prevailing in the dispute.
After a short discussion, during which he brought up (for the fourth time) the possibility of their purchasing the domain name, he told me he was 99.9% convinced that my grandson existed (!) and they would withdraw the complaint on Monday.
By end of day on Monday I had not received notice from the attorneys, so decided I would have to move forward. Tuesday evening, upon returning home from judging the local County Science Fair, the withdrawal email was in my inbox. Wednesday morning I received confirmation from WIPO and Wednesday afternoon my Domain Registrar had unlocked my grandson’s domain.
The process can seem tedious, and definitely if you are dealing with attorneys, it can be intimidating. Fortunately, though, the rules are fairly straightforward. If you have legitimate rights to the domain name, are capable of doing some research, and able to write in a fairly clear and understandable manner, you should be able to handle this yourself.
Oh, and the lesson? Well, actually there were lots…the main ones being:
- Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself, especially when you know you’re right.
- Persevere, and hold steady.
- Be nice, even when they’re not. (Okay, these guys weren’t bad once I actually talked to them – it just looked like it by the arguments they submitted in the dispute. Plus, they never bothered to call before filing the complaint.)
- You don’t have to be the biggest dog on the block to win.
…plus a bunch more that I’m sure will come to me over the next few weeks!
