Internet Business Ethics?

[2Na]

Hi all,

A short rant, I own a business in Thailand for the last 3 years.

Now, a new competitor had arise, using my brand name (and company name), only with one change, my company name finish with Thailand (so does the domain name), and they just cut it to Thai.

Now he goes and publish himself by misleading my customers.

Is there a law against this in Thailand?

Thank you very much.

[handydog]

yes you are protected by copyright law and IP.

Unfortunately you are in thailand and enforcing it may be ineffective and expensive

[ShopBoy]

I feel your agony.

As what handydog as said "you are in thailand and enforcing it may be ineffective and expensive"

[Shah Jahan]

You can get an amerikan lawyer to file an UDRP with ICANN to take down the domain name

provided you have all the correct documentation and proof that the brand is yours

it will cost about $3k USD and they can go ahead and register another which you will have

to repeat the same process

[Satcommlee]

A lot will depend on whether you have actually protected your brand, as in international trademark registrations.

[AyG]

Realistically, you're unlikely to be able to do much about the other website.

What you can do, however, is ensure that your website comes up first in any relevant web search.

There are plenty of companies out there offering search engine optimisation (SEO), some of which actually know what they're doing. Or you could read up on the subject and do it yourself if you're technically inclined.

As a first step, think of common search queries that people are likely to use to find your website, then try them out on Google. If you're coming out consistently ahead of your rival, then really, there's not too much to worry about.

[dave111223]

Get a lawyer to contact their WEB HOSTING (provided they are not hosting their own website, which is unlikely).

Hosting companies hate dealing with sh*t like this especially as they can potentially get sued if they fail to act after being informed of the issue.

Chances are they are only on $5 a month shared hosting account and their hosting will drop them like a hot potato after the first letter.

If they get a new host do the same thing again...after a while they will decide to just get a new domain.

I was on the other end of this thing of situation were someone (a very large company) was claiming that I was violating their copyrights, although i feel strongly that i wasn't; hosting company would not even listen to my side, even valid legal documents. It's much easier for them just to drop the account and forget about it, and this works in your favor.

It's much more difficult to actually go after the domain name with ICANN; but a domain isn't much use if no one will host a site on it for you.

Note do not contact the hosting company yourself. Make sure the letters/emails come from a legit looking law firm so that the hosting company knows you mean business (there are law companies online that specialize in just thing kind of hosting intimidation)

Of course they could go out and get a dedicate server in Russia, or buy a server and setup hosting on it, but if these people are the kind of people who just try to lazily steal other peoples business by misrepresentation they are not going to bother with all this.

Edited October 2, 2011 by dave111223

[manarak]

copyright and intellectual property laws are sometimes complicated.

if your brand is composed of generic terms, like "restaurants thailand" for example, then the brand office should have refused registration in the first place because the brand name lacks originality. It can be registered together with a graphic design though, which makes the name+picture unique.

the brand name alone would not be protected.

but there should be also laws on business competition inside the commercial code, and if a competitor was using your brand, even non-protected, to cause confusion for customers, then you could sue him over unfair competition at the commercial court.

best is to consult a lawyer for commercial law.

[Swiss1960]

You can get an amerikan lawyer to file an UDRP with ICANN to take down the domain name

provided you have all the correct documentation and proof that the brand is yours

it will cost about $3k USD and they can go ahead and register another which you will have

to repeat the same process

ICANN is normally not the first point of complain, most local domain name registration providers have their own resolution processes and you should visit their website first. As far as i remmeber, it is THNIC who is the main provider in Thailand, but not completely sure... In Switzerland, it would cost CHF 600 for simple cases and CHF 2'000 for more complex cases... after that... court with all the hassle and cost and IP disputes etc etc.

Yes, after that, you can go to ICANN and follow their uniform domain name dispute resolution policy, you can find the rules on http://www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp-policy-24oct99.htm