Ask HN: Cybersquatting a startup domain, how to protect?

[vrde]

I'm the founder of a small Italian startup. In 2010 we developed a simple web app called http://urli.st/, in 2011 we got founded and we established a company (an italian SRL, similar to an American LLC). We worked a lot on the new webapp and we are almost ready to deploy it.

In 2010 the guy who owns urlist.com wrote me to "put the two together in some manner" (his domain was empty), I answered "no", he published on his domain a fake urlist page with our "about" in it. Now urlist.com il just a redirect to his "personal" delicious page.

It would be great for us to have the urlist.com domain but I don't know how much the guy will charge us. We do not have much money. I just do not want urlist.com to redirect to a delicious page.

Is there anything we can do to protect us?

[jasonkester]

You can either buy the .com or not worry about it.

By starting your company with a .st domain, you were making an implied statement that you weren't concerned with being mistaken for the .com version of your site. You were always going to leak a substantial portion of your traffic to urlist.com because that's the first thing anybody would think to type in to their browser when they heard your name. That's the world you set up for yourself.

Until this guy wrote you, you were (presumably) perfectly happy with that situation. Why then is it a concern today? That is, why is it suddenly worrying you that you don't control urlist.com, when it was never your intention to control it?

[vrde]

You are right, I get your point.

The thing is that at the beginning we were just three friends trying to develop a simple webapp. The domain hack (.st) was to keep our URLs short. The .com domain was parked. As you wrote, "I was happy with that situation". Well, I was not happy but I though it was not so important. Now we are a company and things are different.

My fault was to not act directly against it. The urlist.com guy did a fake landing page with our contents before, now he is linking to a webapp related to bookmarking: he know what he is doing.

I was wondering if anyone has ever experienced a problem like this one, and what he/she have done to solve it :)

[chris_dcosta]

Honestly speaking I don't know how far this bookmarking idea will go - I don't mean to sound negative - it's just you're in a cowded space.

I'd go with what you've got now, and if your site takes off then you'll have the funds to get it.

[bricestacey]

Buy it or sue (or don't worry).

[chc]

IANAL, but I wouldn't give you good odds in a squatting suit if the guy owned the domain before you owned the trademark.

[proexploit]

That's true, but even temporarily copying the about page and not otherwise using the domain may be slightly more substantial in appealing to ICANN directly.

[chc]

I really doubt it. ICANN doesn't tend to involve itself in this kind of thing AFAIK. From all I've ever heard of people's dealings with them, it's clear-cut squatting on womebody's rights, they don't care, and the URL currently points to the owner's Delicious page, which doesn't qualify.

[proexploit]

You're right, I mixed it up a little bit. They won't personally hear it but have rules related to domain name disputes: http://www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp.htm