Kennedy Tube Audio Website Hijacked

[kevinkr]

Hi All,
I am trying to regain control of my business name entity so if you know of anyone still linking to www.kta-hifi.com please be advised that I, not fully understanding the implications allowed the registration to lapse a couple of years ago. This site is now being used without my permission to sell tube audio gear. The business failed and in the aftermath I was too distraught (2000/2001) to want to think about keeping the registration active, but I did not understand that other unscrupulous individuals might find commercial value in the name of my site and business.

Note that my current domain registration is www.kta-hifi.net Please update your links if you reference my old URL.. (Thanks)

I am not currently engaged in commercial activity, but would like to protect my reputation and potential future usefulness of the site.

To moderators: If I have unknowingly violated forum rules by creating this thread or have put it in the wrong place please feel free to remove it or move it as required. I did look at the forum rules and didn't see anything that specifically precluded this thread.


Thanks, Kevin Kennedy

[Geek]

Your 300B amp project link is a 404

[kevinkr]

Yes unfortunately that is true because the article in question was actually hosted on the old SED website which is no longer with us. I will eventually get around to converting it to pdf and putting it on the site. I am slowly starting to update the site - it needs a lot of work as it is pretty stale at this point.

Thanks for looking.

Kevin

[amperex]

Sorry to hear about the business issue. New audio business is a tough nut to crack in the last 5 years. I considered it, but I do not have a power name like Nike that many want & will pay for.

[kevinkr]

Yeah, I closed my business nearly 5 years ago, ran from the late 1980's until late 2000. Finally closed doors in late 2001.

The stock market crash during the summer of 2000 is what partially did me in - many of my customers were dotcom millionaires who went from wealthy to bankrupt in some cases literally overnight. The other problem was a bad relationship with my primary distributor.

It was my mistake in thinking that my domain name would not be of interest to anyone else. I thought since it was so obviously associated with me that it would have no value to anyone else. Oh well guess I was wrong.. LOL

Today there is so much competition in the field it seems hardly worthwhile to even try to start a business. I marvel at how well some of my then struggling competitors are now doing. It is partially a matter of paying one's dues and developing good name recognition. The other key part is having a good business plan and plenty of money or alternative income..

Kevin

[hagtech]

Like they say, the best way to make a small fortune in audio is to start with a large fortune.

jh

[kevinkr]

Or how to make a large fortune small - invest in an audio business..



Happy Thanksgiving All!

[kevinkr]

Added the pre-amp project featured in issue 16 of PFO and added the files for the 300B pushpull amplifier originally published in VTV.

Cleaned up some links. Still looks pretty passe though, definitely need to work on a more modern interface in addition to adding more recent content.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[kevinkr]

I had hoped to recover my old domain name, but checking WHOIS today I discovered that they have renewed the domain name registration for another year so any hopes I had of re-registering it are dashed.

The domain name registration originally lapsed just before the laws changed making it illegal to grab someone else's site registration so I doubt I have any recourse under current laws..

I feel frustrated that an unethical company is profiting by the results of my efforts all those years ago. My current site is basically invisible on most search engines and it will take even greater effort to get my site to anywhere close to the same level of recognition. Not to mention that there are an awful lot of sites out there with links pointing to my old domain name..

Anyone have any advice? I suppose I should just let it go, but sadly I do feel differently about the issue than I did in 2001 when I let the registration expire.


Kevin

[Geek]

The only advice I can give is talk to a lawyer about any anti-squatting laws you may have at your disposal.

I know with many domains, the .ca included, if you can prove you are the lawful business with entitlement of the name, control is tranferred back to you, even without the squatting parties knowledge. I had to use it once for a client