elfs | Silly question:

elfs

Does anyone reading this LJ currently own Pendor.com? It appears to be parked.

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From:

wolfwings.livejournal.com

And they're quite up-front about being a ransom-style domain-name holder.

Minimum price for Pendor.com per their own website: $5000

I say trademark the world-name appropriately, use a UDRP to just take it.

From:

blaisepascal

Well, if Elf hadn't ganked many of the names (including Pendor) from other sources, he might have a shot. Personally, I think they are cool allusions that I haven't all gotten yet, but they hurt the ability to claim trademark status on them.

Pendor is the name of an island in Earthsea as well as the name of a ringworld system.

From:

kengr

So? That doesn't mean Elf can't register it as a trademark for his works.

He can even prove he's been using it for well over a decade.

From:

wolfwings.livejournal.com

Bingo. Trademark's don't care who gets there first. More than one person can trademark Apple, for a real-world example. So it's perfectly legal for Elf to trademark Pendor in relation to his fictional universe.

The question becomes if TM+DNRC is cheaper than the $5k or not, which is vaguely questionable unfortunately. =-.-=

From:

pendor.deadjournal.com (from livejournal.com)

They quoted me $7500 to buy it. And the company that owned it before this Bulk Reseller wanted $3,000.

Since I'm the owner of Pendor.Net, I thought they realized I wanted it for commercial purposes. Now I realize they are just ass-hats and want buttloads of cash regardless of who they are selling to.

And in regards to Trademarks and Copyrights, the have no influence over domain names. If I were to somehow buy Microsoft.com and used it for my own purposes, Microsoft can not sue me for Trademark infringement simply because I own the domain name. However, if I used the domain name and logo and tried to pretend to BE Microsoft, they could sue me.
Ownership and use of a domain name is not trademark infringement. That is what DNRC is all about. Not letting people take your domain name just because they think the word alone is thier trademark. There have been an awful lot of people who have tried to sue over domain names in the past few years. And it simply doesn't hold water unless the owner of the domain name actually tries to use the name to impersonate the trademark holder. But, since the laws are murky, and not everyone knows Internet Law, normally the little guy just gives up.
So, unless you have a big time lawyer, who is better paid, and more educated in DNRC than the bulk reseller's lawyer (which is doubtful... it is thier primary business after all) then don't expect to win in a Trademark Suit against them. It would cost you much more that $7,500 to get it. Which is probably why they charge in that ballpark.

And before anyone asks, I'll submit the following.....
#1 - My Handle of "Pendor", does not come from Elf's written works. (Untill 2 years ago, I'd never even heard of his stuff. It was a random internet search on my handle that brought it up. I've been using the handle "Pendor" on digital message systems, and BBSes since 1989)
#2 - I will not sell Pendor.Net (I fact, I might just by Pendor.Com before the price jumps again)
#3 - I'm certainly not Anti-"Elf's Work". I'm just not what you'd call a fan.