We asked for nothing from Activision, id, or SD, no t shirts, decals, interviews etc. We just tried to make a little website where like minded people could learn and talk about this great game, no one gave a crap about any of this before.
btw, Activision may have some good lawyers, but don’t assume they can’t be beat
also, id Software are the trademark holders
Of course you didn’t ask for anything, why would you. But you’ve been doing good and instead of taking away your domain they should be thankful.
I wonder if this is a one-time thing or maybe Activision is getting some other “new” domains too…
What I see is that Activsion wants 400.000 members (and their clicks) for 250 bucks.
And by activly acquiescing the site for several years they gave Nail some kind of customary law (is that the correct phrase?) to use this domain - afaik at least in Germany it would be so. So he has some kind of implicit licence to use it, even if it might be trademarked.
I assume they will go after all the sites using any of “their” names, there’s actually quite a few, the Chilean ET site, there’s a French one, and several with enemyterritory in their names all across the net, not to mention all the new Quake Wars sites. A mass membership mailout is in the works, what it says will obviously depend on how this progresses.
This will sure make me think long and hard about spending hundreds and hundreds of hours on a fan site that can be taken away on a whim
Let us wait for more comment from Wils…I am confident that SD will be on our side on this. I’ll wager that ID will also be on our side on this.
Some penny counter over at Activision with a bee in their bonnet is to blame…I love corporations. They trip over $20 to pick up 50 cents.
i’d see it from a realistic point of view:
if your website is good, then the current visitors will move with you. if it isn’t good, then there’s no use for it anyway. ask yourself: what benefit do you get if you keep the website? what benefit will activision/id/SD get when you give them the domain? i bet theirs is a lot larger than yours.
i’d take a good advantage from it if possible, ie make a deal. eg: that your new website is ranked first on their list of community sites. or that you get exclusive info whenever the press gets one. or something like that.
on the other hand if you give them the domain it will only turn into something lifeless like the current quake wars homepage: once set up it never changes. i dunno how many new bf2142 trailers and pictrues i’ve seen last month, but they were a lot. activision suck at advertising. seriously, has anyone ever received a quake wars newsletter from them?
i don’t think so. i think it’s only your domain, because it’s a key domain. www.enemyterritory.com and www.enemy-territory.com and the likes.
anyway, it’s a tough thing and a really cheap deal they offer you. but if you really think like this:
you better think again why you keep the domain at all, because this attitude sucks. in fact what you write sucks more than the letter you received. it looks like you’re the wrong person to host that domain.
“Enemy Territory” has become a franchise name, hence the value on the name…“Enemy Territory: Quake Wars” for instance…I’m sure that is what they will cite.
Joe999, my attitude sucks ???
give your head a shake buddy,
your website isn’t really filled with lots of information
we’ve held back on quake wars for several reasons, all of them none of YOUR business, and news about ET is few and far between these days
btw, our FAQ includes more info than SD’s site about playing the game and fixing problems, we aren’t a mapping or modding forum although we do ok with some of our more helpful members, our downloads alone rate us as one of the largest supporters of the game
I understand you may have problems, but DO NOT dump on me or our site again thanks, YOU are not involved
erm … how else do you call this attitude:
this involves quake wars. and you post that on the developers public forum? :uhoh:
you don’t have to justify yourself, i’m just a reader and that was my opinion about your site.
well, then why do you post this on a public forum for PUBLIC discussion ???
if you want to keep your things private, then keep 'em private. you can’t start a public bashing and not expect reaction you don’t like.
i understand your words come out of anger, nontheless in such cases it’s important to keep a cool mind and think before you write 
notice I said COULD not will, it totally depends on THEIR attitude
as said before YOU are not involved, you didn’t spend 3 years working on the site to have it just taken away, it’s sites like ours and a few others that supported the game when Activision did nothing, even it’s downloads were from id Software’s server, it’s also the fans from all the ET sites that have kept ET one of the most played on-line games even after 3 years, ya figger that could be one of the reasons Quake Wars has the money to continue, expand on the already fanatical devotion to the gameplay aspect with a new game ??
Enemy Territory got to be the game it is through it’s fan base, NOT advertising by a publisher, NOT pre-release hype
but, I’ll wait to hear what Wils has to say
btw, if ET will become redundant after Quake Wars release, wtf do they need our domain for, I have no problem selling them our Quake Wars domains, we have a few
well, then why do you say it in the first place?
anyway, if you take suggestions, here’s mine: ask Wils to remove this thread. remove your bashing as well on your site. deal with it in private in a professional and polite way. this is a private issue and should be dealt with in private. i’m sure you’ll find a solution that satisfies both sides. although taking money for the deal isn’t the solution imo, they should offer something of more intellectual value.
this is NOT a private matter, but once again I ain’t bashin, I’m bitchin, big difference
if I was bashing, you’d know exactly how I feel about your input
well, it concerns you and your domain and nothing and nobody else. it’s private.
for me as a visitor it wouldn’t make a difference if i bookmark this or that site. if you have a strong community, then they don’t care whatever your domain is. seen it before several times.
one question, as this is a PUBLIC discussion: do you have a deal with 4players.de or why does www.enemy-territory.com switch to enemy-territory.4players.de?
[b]In view of the fact that your domain name includes id Software trademarks and thus could be transferred without charge,
Well from the way I read this site they would have to prove you acted in bad faith, or are attempting to divert consumers from the trademark owner’s web site in a confusing way, or have a habit of cybersquatting.
No doubt though could throw their millions at a court case which would be expensive to try to defend.
Until this matter comes to a satisfactory conclusion I will not be buying an Activison or id software titles.
“Horniblow”… what a funny surname.
Still, they’re right. Yeah, it’s sad/etc, but it’s not about “beating” anyone. It’s just that the name belongs to them and that’s it, not much to do about.
If I were you, instead of the $250, I’d ask for a copy of ET:QW signed by SD. Since they’re the publishers, I guess than can get that quite easily…
Of course, this depends on what you actually value.
lol @ Nail who said he isn’t bashing 
btw: regarding court he has no chance at all. i’ve seen eg www.dvd-inside.de losing aginst intel. guess why? because the inside stuff … intel-inside. and dvd-inside doesn’t even have to do something with it. they lost, although they were there before intel trademarked the “inside” thing. now they call themselves cinefacts which is anyway a better name and it didn’t change a thing.
well, as www.enemy-territory.com makes a redirect to enemy-territory.4players.de it is obvious that Nail used the intellectual property name to get a higher visitor count. no reproach here. but that’s the same that activision wants with their new game, and imo this has more value.
What I suggest is not to fight Activision (they have the better lawyers) but try to reach an agreement with them. What I would reply is an offer to create a new intro site thats opened whenever somebody just enters the URL, which explains that this is a fan site and not the official game site, and offers 2 clearly distinct path to proceed, one to the official game site and one to your current main page.
That way everybody who accidently opened your page will immediately realize his error and be forwarded to the real official site, which is exactly what Activision wants.
That should make both sides happy, it’s worth a try I would say. Just try to be polite, harsh words wont help you
Give that a shot.
Ignore it. They don’t have a leg to stand on (OK they have one leg, but it’s a peg leg, like a pirate, and it’s wobbly). “Enemy territory” could mean anything.
If they make threats, get another domain for the site, put something completely unrelated to “ET the game” but otherwise related to “enemy territory the phrase” at the current domain, and funnel it’s traffic back to the old site under the new domain.
In short: Tell them to go !@#$ themselves. And when this all blows over, register active-vision.com and draw a picture of a robotic eye on the front page or something just to thumb your nose at the bastards.
$250? Thats pathetic. I agree that nail is not bashing… In fact I would be hell pissed if this happens to me and someone tries to buy me out with $250 for a site I built over the years. Hell, I make 10 times that in a month…
joe999: why are you so keen on him (nail) keeping it under wraps? The fact the he has so many members makes it a very public issue. And though I know no legal stuff, Activision’s mail sounds nothing more than a bully. Lik ouroboro said, enemy territory can mean anything… What makes it their site to own? And I thought there was an issue having such common words as Trademarks? Like how blu-ray is not actually blue-ray because you cannot trademark commonly used words…
I say fight for your rights. Or at least something more tangible than a measly $250 and a game (which is another insult really).
Maybe you should try registering the trademark “enemy-territory.com” Nail. “Quake 4” and “Quake IV” are different trademarks, so it might be possible.
I completely agree that this sucks. If it was a real problem they should have protested a long time ago, and they should have a statement/guideline helping fan sites come up with acceptabel names.
Maybe it has something to do with the advertising on the site (which made me stop going there), and you potentially making money off of their trademark? (I’m not saying you do, but in Actv’s eyes you might.)