freecad.org domain

[yorik]

Hi folks,

The other day I sent a mail to the "owner" (pretty nebulous concept ) of the freecad.org domain, asking what would be the price. And I got this reply:

Mike - The Seller
Hello Yorik,

Thanks for your interest in freecad.org. The owner of this domain name is willing to consider offers but has not specified a price yet.

If you would like to make an offer you may do so via this link:

Make an offer

I will do everything within my power to make sure your offer is reviewed and given careful consideration.

Please let me know if I can answer any questions about this domain or the purchase process.

Thanks again for your interest.

Mike

What do you think? Should we make an offer? Is that worth it? If yes, what would be a good amount we could get be each of us putting a couple of bucks? I'm thinking we could easily get a few hundred dollars. But would that be enough? I don't have the smallest idea.

On the other hand, who these people are going to sell freecad.org to if not to us? We are probably the only interested clients. So if they don't want our offer they will likely not get another one before very long...

[NormandC]

The "owner" is a f$%?& parasite. We should not encourage this by giving him money. If we want the domain we should go to whatever net authority to make a case that it should belong to the FreeCAD project. How long ago was the domain registered? Surely it does not predate FreeCAD's founding.

EDIT: it was registered after FreeCAD was started.

Domain Name: FREECAD.ORG
Registry Domain ID: D101444957-LROR
Registrar WHOIS Server:
Registrar URL: http://www.directnic.com
Updated Date: 2017-08-03T03:42:03Z
Creation Date: 2003-09-10T15:31:20Z

[vejmarie]

That is a tough stuff to do. Last time I had to do it, we purchased the domain around 30k$ (but this was for commercial activity and a .com not a .org). The issue was that most of the registar let people purchase a domain even if they don't use them, that is a pity and a fact unfortunatly.

So Yorik, if you can negotiate pricing, I am ready to help on the funding. Ideally knowing at how much the guy is ready to release help will help .

[kkremitzki]

I emailed about this near the beginning of the year. After I didn't reply, I got like 4-5 followup emails pestering me about whether I was still interested in the sale or not. So, I'd say they're looking to sell... as for a realistic offer, I can't say. But drive a hard bargain! I'd start the bidding at $100, personally.

[saso]

I'd start the bidding at $100, personally.

And I would not go too much above that for the final bid, they can continue paying for it if they like it that much. $200 should about cover their expenses renewing it since 2003... For one of my domain I refused to pay anything, after few years they have let go of it and I got it for the normal price

Edit: I don't think we would be able to get it based on legal evidence, would probably need to have something like an registered trade mark before that. It is mostly "first come first serve" rule with domains...

[triplus]

Is it worth the hassle?

P.S. Can't the current domain name serve us just as good in the following years to come?

[pablogil]

Start with $100 explaining we are an open source community with no findings at all and let's see what they say... If they show they are talking about thousands them let or go...

[chrisb]

Is it worth the hassle?

The "owner" is a f$%?& parasite. We should not encourage this by giving him money.

I am completely with triplus and Normand. What will come next: freecad.fr, freecad.de, freecad.nz? 100$ would be the absolute maximum and we should never ever pay an amount which could make them continue this business model.

If people search for FreeCAD they hit immediately freecadweb.org. So it is no problem to find us.

[PrzemoF]

"Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy

The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) has been adopted by ICANN-accredited registrars in all gTLDs (.aero, .asia, .biz, .cat, .com, .coop, .info, .jobs, .mobi, .museum, .name, .net, .org, .pro, .tel and .travel). Dispute proceedings arising from alleged abusive registrations of domain names (for example, cybersquatting) may be initiated by a holder of trademark rights. The UDRP is a policy between a registrar and its customer and is included in registration agreements for all ICANN-accredited registrars."

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/d ... 25-en#udrp

We live in a less-than-perfect world, so I'd give him 50 € max. I believe it would be worth to send an email to ttps://directnic.com/

[jmaustpc]

Start with $100 explaining we are an open source community with no findings at all and let's see what they say... If they show they are talking about thousands them let or go...

We live in a less-than-perfect world, so I'd give him 50 € max.

What do you think?

Honestly I think you guys are crazy to "start" with offering any amount. I would just ask them to donate it, as FreeCAD is open source. They don't appear to be using it for anything, it just redirects so some seemingly useless search site "www.searchstarters.com", whatever that is.

I would have thought FreeCAD would have a very easy case with just taking that domain as others have said above, but I would guess that we would have to have first established some sort of legal entity for FreeCAD, and presumably have it own the "FreeCAD" name in some way.