First off, I would just like to say that I have lots of first-hand
experience with domain disputes from both sides of the issue (all
non-porn related).
In every thing I tell you to do here, save all communications and
e-mails with everyone for legal reasons.
Your first step should be to e-mail the owner of the website and
request that he give the name back to Robbie. I can 99.9% guarantee
you that this approach will not work, but you should try anyway. DO
NOT OFFER TO BUY THE DOMAIN in your e-mail, just ask him to give it
back. DO NOT reply to any offers requesting payment for over $100 for
then name. Anything under $100 is acceptable and you should pay that
willingly. If they offer to sell for over $100, do not reply and
contact a lawyer for further advice.
Second step after the first step fails to contact a lawyer. Lawyers
are expensive. I will be honest. This will probably cost you several
thousand dollars minimum to get this name back. I would recommend Ari
Goldberger to you. I have personally worked with him in the past and
he has a very successful case record (as you will see on his website).
Ari Goldberger's Website: http://www.esqwire.com/
Other intellectual property attorneys specializing in domain disputes:
http://www.brandxperts.com/
http://www.internetdisputes.org/
http://directory.findlaw.com/lawyer/servlet/PStateFirm?practice=FL31
From there, your lawyer will more than likely file a WIPO complaint.
WIPO is an arbitration and mediation service assigned to decide over
domain dispute cases by ICANN (the organization in charge of domain
names). There is a $1,500 (or more) just to file a WIPO complaint. A
case is normally concluded within two months.
WIPO domain dispute website:
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/index.html
This is the only real method of getting the domain back. I'm not sure
about the legality of actually taking them to court, but I can assure
you that WIPO would probably be cheaper.
To summarize, a domain dispute is often very costly. This is
especially true in cases involving porn. I would also like to note
that this is just general advice and not intended to be legal advice.
As you can see, my recommendation is to definitely find a lawyer. You
will need a lawyer to obtain the domain back. You really can't do it
yourself, I'm sorry.
On the upside, I took the liberty of examining the traffic
robbiekerr.com might recieve. I doubt it's a lot. There are only six
links and no indication of type-in traffic. Unfortunately, however,
one of the links is from Yahoo and you should look into getting that
changed (that is probably expensive, but a definite answer on that
subject is outside the scope of this answer).
Other links that may be of interest to you...
Nicole Kidman and other domain dispute WIPO cases:
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/161519.html
Harrod's domain dispute WIPO case:
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167543.html
FindLaw.com's domain dispute website:
http://www.findlaw.com/01topics/11disputeres/
To prevent your names from being registered in this manner again,
visit:
http://www.snapnames.com
Thanks for the question and if you require more information, don't
hesitate to ask for clarification. And if you find this answer
satisfactory, please feel free to rate it. Thank you!
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