I am in receipt of your letter (CERTIFIED MAIL RRR #7106 4575 1294 0438 3584), dated March 6, 2002, in which you insist that I surrender to you any and all rights to a domain name of which I am the legal owner. I would like to make it unequivocally clear to you and others at TRS Quality and RadioShack Corporation, that at the present time, I have no intention of surrendering my right to own and utilize the Internet domain name radoshack.com and its associated World Wide Web address www.radoshack.com.
Several months ago, I visited RadioShack’s consumer website and read through the guidelines related to applying for participation in RadioShack.com’s online affiliate program. After carefully reading the application materials, I felt that my website (The Electronics Link) was a good strategic fit with the affiliate program and that there could be a productive working synergy between my web site and that of your company. I invested substantial time, energy, effort and capital resources in order to establish a presence on the world wide web so that I could participate in your company’s online affiliate program. Certainly, you can understand the disappointment I felt when I received an email on January 15th, 2002, from Lynn McCullough, Senior Director, Online Affiliate Programs of RadioShack.com in which she says “We regret to inform you that your application to the RadioShack.com Affiliate Program has been rejected, because your site, The Electronics Link, does not reach the RadioShack target audience.” For reference purposes, I am enclosing a copy of this email for your perusal. Although I was very disappointed that my web site had not been admitted to RadioShack.com’s affiliate program, I had to accept your company’s decision that my web site, The Electronics Link did not reach what RadioShack.com feels is its target audience and I decided to move onward and develop an alternate business model.
On March 9th, I received a lengthy certified letter from you, sent on the behalf of RadioShack Corporation in which you state “It is clear that www.radoshack's use of this misspelling of our trademark and domain name is intended to and actually does confuse and misdirect customers who mistype RadioShack's website address.” Surely, you can imagine the shock and confusion I felt when I read this statement and compared it to the previous email I received which says that my website “does not reach the RadioShack target audience.” Clearly, these two statements are in direct opposition to each other.
I found your letter of March 6th not only very upsetting, but also intimidating, misleading, devious and frustrating, since you make baseless assertions and then via transference, refer to these assertions as facts, which they certainly are not. I want to make it clear to you that my acceptance of your certified letter in no way indicates that I agree in any way or form in part or in whole to the contents of the letter. I feel that the leaps of faith made in your letter of March 6th are insulting to my intelligence and are further proof of RadioShack Corporation’s lack of business ethics and integrity.
I feel that RadioShack.com’s online affiliate program is nothing more than a cleverly disguised modern day bait and switch shell game in which RadioShack.com misleads private individuals to invest their own time, effort and money researching domain names which may prove profitable to RadioShack Corporation. I further assert that in many cases when such private parties submit these names in good faith for participation in RadioShack.com’s online affiliate program, RadioShack Corporation uses its vast legal resources to bully, intimidate and pressure individuals to hand over all rights to domain names which the company determines could be of commercial or retailing use, while at the same time making no provision to compensate these individuals for their domain name, or the work they have performed in researching and setting up their internet domain. Furthermore, I believe that RadioShack Corporation may be guilty of interstate e-commerce fraud and I insist that you send me, free of charge, copies of all records of all applications to the RadioShack.com affiliate program, including, but not limited to all candidates which were accepted or denied and the basis for such acceptances and denials. It appears that RadioShack Corporation is merely using its affiliate program as a covert marketing research tool, designed to dupe legitimate internet domain owners into surrendering their domains and associated rights to RadioShack Corporation.
It is obvious to even the most casual of observers that RadioShack Corporation is pursuing a clear cut case of double standards. In the situation in which RadioShack Corporation would potentially pay me for traffic which I direct to its website, the company states that my website does not reach its target audience and refuses to admit me to company’s affiliate program. However, in a situation in which I decide to pursue an alternate business model with my website, RadioShack Corporation demands that I sign over all rights to my domain name and has the arrogance to infer that RadioShack Corporation would be entitled to “preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, money damages, and a defendant's profits” in this case. It is impossible for my website to concurrently “confuse and misdirect customers who mistype RadioShack's website address” while at the same time “not reach the RadioShack target audience.” These two statements are in direct opposition to each other and are proof of RadioShack Corporation’s unethical double standard, designed to steal legitimate internet domains under the guise of rightful ownership.
I feel that RadioShack Corporation is attempting to exploit this opportunity by singling me out and demanding that I sign over all rights to the domain name radoshack.com. I would like to draw your attention to the domain name rdioshack.com, and in specific, the World Wide Web address www.rdioshack.com, which redirects to the RadioShack.com corporate website, yet is not owned by RadioShack Corporation. In fact, the internet domain rdioshack.com and associated World Wide Web address www.rdioshack.com is owned by the company named Dot Liban and not by RadioShack Corporation. For reference, I have attached a copy of internet domain registration of rdioshack.com, as well as contact information for Dot Liban. RadioShack Corporation seems eager to pursue legal action against me, in an attempt to acquire rights to radoshack.com, yet seems to have worked out a business arrangement with Dot Liban, the owners of rdioshack.com. I demand you provide me, free of charge, with copies of the records you have for business transactions with Dot Liban regarding any payments which may have been made to Dot Liban in exchange for web redirection services from www.rdioshack.com to www.RadioShack.com. If anything, I am entitled to the opportunity to work out a similar working relationship with RadioShack Corporation similar to the agreement with Dot Liban. I fail to see why the domain name radoshack.com would be considered an infringement on RadioShack Corporation’s rights, while the domain name rdioshack.com would not fall into this category.
It is also important to note that internet domain names such as radshack.com, radioshak.com, and radioshac.com are currently not owned by RadioShack Corporation, but are owned by other entities and are being used for profit.. I have attached copies of these registrations to this letter. I believe that I have just as much of a right to own the domain name radoshack.com as other entities do to own any of the domains listed above. As such, I have the right to pursue a business model which I believe will be profitable, without being threatened, harassed or hindered in any way or form by RadioShack Corporation.
I sincerely hope that we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement without legal action. However, I am prepared to defend my rights and I assure you that if this matter is taken to court, I will take all necessary legal steps to defend myself, the vitality of my business and may potentially file a countersuit against RadioShack Corporation for unfair competition and loss of profits.
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