Domain Dispute - Former Employee

A typical domain dispute arises when an employee of a company leaves with passwords and information related to the management of the company's domain name. During the exit interview / processing, discussion about the management of the company's domain name is commonly overlooked. Accordingly, the company fails to update the domain name passwords and contacts, which allows the former employee to continue to access and manage the domain name.

 

If the employee leaves on bad terms, they may change the password and contact information related to the domain name and try to deface the company website and/or use it for other purposes. Although the company may have a good case and high likelihood of getting the domain back, the failure to lock the former employee out will cause at least a few days of stress and hassle.

 

The prior blawg posts on the Domain Dispute process may be a good starting point to assist you.

Domain Dispute - Part 5

If you are looking for monetary damages and/or do not like the result you obtained via UDRP, your best option may be to file a lawsuit with respect to your trademark rights that have been infringed. This should be filed with the assistance of an attorney in a court that will have the best chance of enforcing your judgment against the other party.

Domain Dispute - Part 4

In the event a letter from your attorney does not resolve the situation, one solution is to go forward with a UDRP. The typical forums are WIPO and NAF. They are essentially arbitration forums that try to resolve disputes involving trademarks within a two or three month time frame, in most cases.

Domain Dispute - Part 3

If you have run into road blocks with working directly with the registrant and/or registrar for the domain name, it may be time to have an attorney assist you. If you believe you have trademark or other rights in the domain name, you may be able to work with an attorney to send a letter to the registrant of the domain name to inform them of your rights and requests to settle the matter amicably before having to go forward with other strategies to assert your rights.