Fun Friday afternoon topic: domain name disputes

[mirod]

Hi,

I figured some of you might have some information about this: I have a friend
who owns a small company. She has a web site, with the .eu suffix, but would
like the .com one. That domain is owned by someone in the UK, who is not using
it (its parked on a US server that seems to advertise it as for sale). They are
offering to sell the domain... for several thousand pounds. Actually they first
wanted to sell it for that amount, then said that someone else was interested in
buying it and that even at that price they could not sell it.

My friend owns the trademark for the name in Europe, the US and Asia. It is a
very distinct name and a Google search on the name returns only hits related to
her product.

So it looks like a clear case of cyber-squatting to me.

I am not sure what she can do about it though. It seems like the only solution
is to go to court, and there have been very few cases that went to trial.

Does anyone have a suggestion on the course of action that might best get
results? I fully understand that not everyone here is a lawyer (and the ones who
are probably wouldn't admit it ;--), but maybe someone has been in that
situation before.

Thanks

-- 
mirod