How to handle domain squatter?

Question

What is the best way to handle domain squatters? I know this topic has been discussed before, but I haven't found anything that was addressing my specific case.

The situation: I am creating a website for a small company in Germany (lets say it's called blablub) and they own the blablub.de domain and the German trademark of the name blablub. All google searches are also related to this small company in germany, so it doesn't seem like anybody else uses the name. Somebody owns the domain blablub.com since 2000 but hasn't done anything with the domain since then as far as I can see, except diligently updating the domain whenever it is about to expire. There isn't even a site hosted at the domain that advertises to sell the domain (when I ping blablub.com, I get a Request timeout, this has been the case for at least a year now). According to whois the registrant is "Domain Discreet Privacy Service", who seems to own a whole lot of domains or probably just hides the real owner. I feel uncomfortable contacting them to buy the domain because I don't really want to support domain squatters. Is there a chance that a UDRP would be successful or should I swallow my pride and simply ask them for how much they would sell it. I am also hesitant to contact the domain holder because I don't want to signal to him/her that I have an interest in the domain.

Answer 1

Is there a chance that a UDRP would be successful or should I swallow my pride and simply ask them for how much they would sell it

There's always a chance it will work but the more likely end result is going to be litigation and potentially international litigation (neither of which comes cheap). Unless the small company has deep pockets and legal resources available to it, I would serious consider your latter option and see what they want for it. If they are willing to hand over the domain for a few hundred dollars or so and this is THAT important to have, then you can at least make an informed cost-benefit analysis.

Another option is to tell them to pound sand and plan to wage a better branding campaign and make sure the general public knows that the .de domain is the destination. This seems to me to be a much better use of the money that would otherwise be spent on lawyers and/or squatters.

Answer 2

So far I have had both experiences:

• I wanted to sell a domain to somebody who was 'interested', but who wasn't willing to pay more than €100.
• And I myself wanted to buy a domain for less than €100, but the owner didn't want to sell.

So in the end it doesn't really matter – if you don't agree on a price that's ok for both sides. Everything stays the way it is. So either you have interest in that domain, and are willing to pay a certain price, or you aren't.