Stupid Letter III: Conclusion.....?

Heh. Sorry about the rambling background post, but I wanted to get the thought process that I was going through down. At that point I honestly forgot about this guy and continued on with life. Until, six months later, when I got that simple piece of paper delivered to my door.

To sum up, the letter stated that he had been legally operating under that business name since 2003 with records in the state department to verify. It said that he had invested a significant amount into advertising (which the letter implied I should have seen before I opened my business), including his YellowBook ad and advertisement on his car. It also stated that he already owned and operated a website under my domain name, and it said that I was currently illegally using both his business name and the domain name, and that I had seven days to not only stop using the business name, but to relenquish the domain name back to his possession or he would file civil and criminal charges against me. The letter had a message at the bottom saying it was CCed to an attorney.

Ahhh.....where to begin? :-)

This letter ticked me off on so many levels I'd need an elevator to reach them all. It didn't help that I got the letter on a Friday evening and had to wait until Monday to actually get ahold of any form of legal representation to ask about this mattter, but that was only the beginning.

Don't get me wrong, I was scared. I didn't know what to do. It didn't seem legally like he could do anything to me, but what did I know? I thought I was operating my business on the up-and-up (I had a tax ID and paid every few months), but I really had no idea. But the thought that I might have to just....just GIVE my domain name to him because he decided to be a bully rather than pay for the name, simply because he screwed up and gave a website name he didn't own for an ad he was paying thousands on....well obviously I wasn't thrilled. Adding to my ire was the the fact that he was lying about half of the stuff he put in there, he was threatening to file criminal charges against me, and last but certainly not least, he included my wife in the letter (and the threats) as well.

Oh and did I mention these seven days he gave me were over the Thanksgiving holiday?

I don't usually try and make blanket statements, but screw this guy....

I called lawyers, and even met with a copyright attorney to find out if I was in trouble. I did a lot of research on US laws in this area. I also started looking into public records of his business. His letter started looking sadder and sadder the more I found out.

Obviously it was just as I had said....a bully's attempt to get me to make a quick bad decision and give him a domain name he was too stupid to register beforehead. CRIMINAL CHARGES??? IN SEVEN DAYS???? DEAR SWEET JEZEBEL I'D BETTER SIGN THE DOMAIN OVER TO HIM RIGHT AWAY!!!

Here is what I found:

1. His claim to have legally operated his business since 2003 - Lie.
I did find out I had neglected something. Businesses need to register their names (called Ficticious Business Names) with their Secretary of the State office. I checked our online database of names, and found he had indeed registered our business name. Exactly two weeks before he sent me the letter. In another county. Obviously he had done some planning and got the business name reserved, but was either too dumb to realize it would have a registration date on it AND that he would need to register in a county I did business in....or he thought I was too dumb to check. Even if it was the latter, it was ten dollars to get the name in our county, so that brings me back to the stupid argument. In fact, the name is still free in my county. It's only a misguided sense of honor that keeps me from buying and hedging him out of my city with regards to this name. But hey, I was able to register my NEW business name, so I don't count it as a total loss.

2. His claim to have operated a website under my domain name - Lie
Okay this one I already knew. I had records from ICANN that list me as the sole legal owner of the site. In fact, this was the one thing I could be sure on. He didn't register the site and wanted it to look like I stole it from him....at least to me. I was a bit wary that if he owned the business name (in any counties) that he could demand it from me legally, but the attorney we talked to alleviated those concerns. Unless he filed for a copyright, that wasn't going to happen.

3. Seven days (over a holiday) turnaround time - Umm....no.
Got this one pretty easily too. By law any cease and desist letter gives the recipient thirty days to respond and to seek legal counsel. The letter became more of an obvious bully's ploy. Speaking of which....

4. The letter itself - Crap.
It ocurred to me almost right off the bat. This letter didn't actually arrive in an envelope. I had no identification from the guy who delievered it to me. It wasn't on any legal letterhead and actually looked like it was printed out from MS Word on some home Inkjet printer. This wasn't official in any sense. I also looked up the name of the attorney. It didn't come up. I find it highly doubtful that any attorney in the city isn't listed in the phone book or on the web. If I gave one whit about countersuits I'd sue him for false legal representation.

I could go on, but I realize I'm just spewing words onto the page at this point. That is how fresh this still is after two months. I may be whining and I may be an idiot for thinking it, but I've never had someone try to do something like this to me before. It hit me so hard that I was afraid to answer my door for a month, and I was just too angry to work on the site or even on web design, and that eventually translated over into the rest of my life.

In the end, I sent him a certified letter back saying that I wasn't going to comply with his deadline, that I was seeking legal counsel regarding his claims, that I needed written proof that he had legal rights to the business name and the domain name prior to last month before I'd go any further with the negotiations....and asked him to forward the letter to his attorney because I coudn't find him listed. :-)

Once again I haven't heard from him since....

So that is a brief overview of what drained the creativity, and in general what I've been doing lately. ;-)

I'm sorry for taking so long with it. I know it isn't well written and isn't pretty, and it doesn't come CLOSE to how I really felt, but I think it was important to get out anyways.

Soapbox or not, I promise I'll put more thought into the next post. For now, thank you for reading (because if you've read this far you obviously care at least somewhat) and may the rest of your day be better than the last few minutes.

- Chris