I bought the domain and didn't bill for it, how much do I sell for?

[chasstan]

Domain rights??? Do I own this???

Hi there,
Not sure if this is the best place on this site for this dilema I'm having, if not please advise, thanks... My fiancee has been working for her company for approx 3 yrs, she started from entry-level all the way to a 20% partnership, which was great in such a short amount of time, during this process I've used what few computer/design/programming skills I've picked up since college to help boost her company forward through brochures, networking comps, logo design, domain registry, web hosting, etc. What my dilema is, is this; we found out in October that we're going to have a baby, she knew not to let her other partners(owners) know, or there would be consequences, we sought advice from other professionals that we're networked with and they said to go ahead and let them know, it's a miracle, it's a great thing, not something to hide... So, she did... A woman's intuition is superb... She was right... As soon as she told the owner, he got the lawyer on the phone and closed the door for the rest of the evening. Since then (2 months ago), she has had to face impossible odds, but she doesn't want to let them "WIN", she has been uninvited to business group meetings, brought from salary, company credit card, and stipends, to hourly pay. She used to be graced with a Starbucks coffee almost every morning, that definitely stopped. And a whole bunch of other just mean stuff, pidley, childish, passive-aggresive stuff. So, we both know, because she keeps interviewing for her job, that they will be letting her go, which is OK, because she has 3 investors as well as our savings to start her own company. Which is where we both are mentally now, but, the big question here is from me?

I took it upon myself to buy their domain domain name, web space, and set them up on Google's business apps for their email accounts, which to me was a minimal investment for me in my honey-baby... Now, they're realizing I have it, and they are asking for it. I'm going to wait about 2 weeks to reply to their email, unless I recieve some sound advice from this forum post.

Here is the email I recieved:

afiance directed me to contact you regarding the web address www.adomain.com and the emails that are being used. I am requesting the management/ownership of that site and the email addresses to given to me so I can direct/maintain their management. I understand that she paid for the address and acompany will reimburse her for that cost. I thought her intention was for that site and emails to under the management of acompany. Please address this with me today. I may be reached by cell phone @ 555-555-5555.​

I guess the only reason I'm asking, is because I kinda wanted to maintain control of that until we had successfully passed all of our personal business inspections from fire marshalls, etc.

Any and all comments & advice are appreciated...

Best...

 

[chasstan]

An update

I just recieved this email, I didn't disable this account, but I'm wondering how I should proceed?

I have attempted several times to log on to my email at ([email protected]), since I have emailed you. I have gotten a message that my email account has been disabled. Please correct this matter immediately. This effects my ability to conduct business communication. Contact me by phone between 8am and 9am Thursday 3/15/07, 555-5555-5555.



I now making a second request that the web address (www.adomain.com) and the emails that are being used on that site be transferred to ACOMPANY for ownership, management, use and maintenance. Again, the intention and the use of the emails and of the registered web address was and is for the sole purpose of ACOMPANY and its business transactions.



Disregarding any of these stated request’s, not correcting the disabled email account today, not responding to this email today and not contacting me by phone at the requested time in the morning, will consider a hostile act.​

Again, thanks for any advice

 

[Damion]

Take my advice with a grain of salt since i am not a lawyer but i don't want to leave you hanging here

First of all Congratulations on the baby on the way! :tu:

It's hard to say without knowing the domain itself to say if you could keep the domain or not?
Is it the company name or a generic domain? Like for example HydraulicHoses.com

If it is a generic domain you have a good chance of keeping the domain since you are the registered owner.
And it was a bad business move from them not to have their domain which they use for their business communications registered under their company.

But the best thing you can do now is to contact a lawyer to explain your situation and to defend your domain.
I presume the domain is generic enough to use for your own business?

Contact John Berryhill as soon as possible to state your case and to determine where you stand on this.

Tel: (610) 565-5601

Don't waste any time and get professional advice and help on this!!

Good luck :tu:

 

[Ronald Regging]

I'd be more interested in getting a lawyer to figure out the situation about the crap that the company is pulling with her. There are federal laws in place to protect women from being fired, etc if they become pregnant. Not only this, but you said she was a 20% partner, so as a partial owner in the company, she would seem to have even more rights. I wouldn't just accept this and move on personally, what they are doing is terribly wrong and they need to be made aware that they can't treat people like this. I'd at least consult with a lawyer to discuss the situation, just my opinion.

As for the domain. I'd probably just give it to them. It'll save you alot of hassles in the long run and it's the right thing to do since you admit that you did register it with the intent of it being used by the company and you provided these services to help advance your fiance's career. Right now it may seem like a nice little "F you" to the company, but it could definitely bite you in the ass.

If they want the domain it's not going to be something thats settled online, through WIPO or the likes. Theres personal ties here. They'll come after you in court and they'll sue you for the domain and any damages they've incurred due to their inability to do business/communicate via their website/email. Not sure how that would work exactly if you are the legal owner of the domain, but I wouldn't want to have to go through the time and money to find out

I say choose your battles. You should be more concerned about possibly suing them based on their actions towards your wife than the domain. But regardless, I think you should talk to a lawyer immediately.

 

[chasstan]

That was our primary focus when the ostracizing began, the labor law on pregnancy, but to my understanding, and this is just doing some intense Googling, the company has to have at least 25 employees, which this company is sitting on approx 15, so I kinda let it go. Although her family, very woman strong, is urging her to pursue, at least one of her potential future biz investors is concerned of being blacklisted within this industry, which I seriously doubt... I'm only wanting to hold on to the domain for protection, I have no intentions of malice, redirects, etc. It's just a chess piece, because she's beginning to wonder if she's legally still a partner? We looked up the registrars for her company a few weeks ago, and she was not on there as a registered agent. But she was at one time, I'm not sure how this could've happened, she said she never signed anything, they gave her a huge partner check at the end of the year and everything, so I really don't know. But from what I'm reading so far, it sounds like I just need to get a lawyer, not sure if I need to get labor law lawyer or what, but we definitely need some protection...

As for the domain, I would gladly hand over, I just want to make sure my fiancee get's out clean and clear with no depression, she's been an unstoppable force since I've met her, and I feel this would take away her strengh if she didn't come out winning some how. That might sound crazy, but that's how I've been viewing things...

Thanks for all the advice,
We're definitely listening

 

[Ronald Regging]

As for the domain, I would gladly hand over, I just want to make sure my fiancee get's out clean and clear with no depression, she's been an unstoppable force since I've met her, and I feel this would take away her strengh if she didn't come out winning some how. That might sound crazy, but that's how I've been viewing things...

I agree with that sentiment completely, thats why I said you should not let this issue rest. So many times people just take the hit and prefer to just put it behind them and move on, but I don't think this is healthy for the psyche. Deep down she knows she got screwed, she knows she was treated like a lesser being, and if she continues to accept this type of thing, eventually she'll start to believe it herself. She needs to believe in herself, believe in her abilities and achievements, and do everything in her power to fight for what is rightfully hers.

I don't know you or your fiance so I dont mean this to sound presumptuous, I just feel it's a universal law. Don't get me wrong, sometimes we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good, but we also have to be cognizant enough to realize when a decision could possibly effect the rest of our lives. Those decisions are not always easy to recognize But like I said, I don't know you or your fiance so only you guys know what is best for you and what you both feel most comfortable with. I guess your description of your wife made me feel compelled to give my opinion. Probably because I've been there myself and I know what happens when you miss a step and suddenly the world is beating you down.

 

[TT]

From my past experiences. That include alot of what you are going through I can advise you this. The domain is yours NO matter where you have it directed or pointed. You are free to do with it as you wish... They apparently have already agreed that they realize SHE is the person who paid for the name... Its hers... If they want to dispute this they will have to go through UDRP and its up to them to prove they have claim to the domain.

Last year I went threw a similar issue whereas I purchased about a dozen domains and I let another company lease these from me, When invoices went unpaid for 90 days I redirected all domains to my server stating that website was no longer operational due to non payment. They threatened me with legal action and had thier lawyers contact my lawyers... After all was said and done I agreed to sell the domains to the company for xx,xxx.xx

If I were in your shoes I would be proactive , meaning I would shut them down immediately and cancel all email accounts... But thats just me ( I am trying to put myself in your shoes with the spouse, baby ect)

 

[chasstan]

Wow, that's pretty heavy...
I'll wait til I get a lawyer before I go there...

 

[mulligan]

What you need to do is get professional advice on this immediately.
Do not contact them. Don't reply to their emails.
Get in touch with a good lawyer and let them handle it.

John Berryhill is your man for the domain side of things, and ask him about the labor law side of things:

http://www.johnberryhill.com/

As was advised above, do this NOW

It might also be wise to remove the emails you received from them in this forum until advised otherwise

 

[liquidcherry]

Here are my 2 cents:

Congrats to the baby

In my understanding the rights of a woman in america are greater than anything, you should seriously consider to do something...but with a lawyers advice....heck you could even contact the ACLU!

I don't know if it is the same name, but in europe we have a name for things like that, it's called mobbing and can lead to serious depressions(been that road, but i haven't had depressions because i 've quit early enough)

The mobbing happens quit a lot and like slip said, a lot of people are taking the beating....but your wife shouldn't.

I would just quit, relief myself from this burden, it is not worth it....and see it in this way-they will loose her power, her passion for the company what she showed a lot...so there is no WIN anyway.....and you guys could concentrate soly on your new endevour, right? (your wife is pregnant, she needs to relax)

You could sue them anyway afterwards, you have records of the discrimating acts they commited-but i am not a lawyer, talk with one.

I have a client, she is not a lawyer but a paralegal and she offers advice, wrote a well respected book,it is a cheaper way than hire a lawyer (and she is a woman, maybe you get her to answer you for free)

Her website is : http://www.legalremedies.us/
(i am not an affiliate!)

To the domain situation, like others stated it is difficult to tell (generic or not ) but you already said you just want to hold on to it until your wife is no longer with them.

So if you are going to reply no matter what, slow down the replies to them, like you already planned.

Your answers to them could be" i am happy to transfer the domain to you but i lost my password to my registrar" (you could even tell them the domain is with registerfly, there is a big thing going on with them right now, just search the forum here for horror stories), or something like " sorry i had a computer crash, it takes me a while to retrieve back my data but once that is resolved i am happy to transfer"....and after a couple days you pull the registrar story what i just wrote above, that buys you another couple days

BUT: GET LEGAL ADVICE FIRST, sometimes you could shoot yourself in your foot with replying to their email...

To their email, i think it's just BS and something for them to have on record .....but since you have the passwords, just check if you can login in his account...or any.....i assume they check their emails over the web interface? If they check it with an email client like outlook , i never heard about becoming a message via outlook when your account is disabled(maybe only about the quota when the account is nearly full) , normally you just cannot retrieve your emails and you get a error message like "cannot login or server not found"

So, again these are just my 2 cents and i hope everything works out smoothly for you......good luck(with this, your own biz and of course the baby)

Cheers,

Frank