Telepathy.com owns my surname as a domain name. Over the past 5 years I've e-mailed asking if they'd sell it to me or give it to me since they don't seem to be using it - but they want 15 K for it. Do I have any recourse to get this domain from them?
Do a WHOIS on the domain, and see if the registration expires. Wait till it does, then nab it off a registrar like GoDaddy.com for $8.95 a year.
Is the name you are concerned about one that you have a registered trademark for? If not, you may not have a lot of recourse other than striking a financial agreement with the current owner. If you do have it trademarked, or want to look into it further in case you feel it was a "bad faith" registration, for some general information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersquatting#Legal_resolution, and if you are in the USA see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Protection_Act .
I've been waiting for the domain to free up for over 5 years - telepathy.com keeps on renewing it. This site - http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts/reports/total_domains/TELEPATHY.COM states these guys own over 1200 domains - there was a thread on this board (which is how I discovered the board from a google search) where these guys also had the surname of a senior member on the board, Volitics.
I do not have my last name trademarked, but can look into doing so.
Any other suggestions?
what is the url you want?
