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So this farewell match is a good time to talk about my relationship with Bastian Schweinsteiger.

It all started when Schweinsteiger had started playing for the main team, and I liked him, I liked him a lot. So I registered two domains, bastianschweinsteiger.com and bastian-schweinsteiger.com and made him a fan site. This fansite developed and I opened a forum there as well.

Eventually I was sued. The first time was by an official photographer of Schweinsteiger. I can't find the emails anymore but basically he told me that he asked Schweinsteiger himself whether he approves his photos on my website and that he told him no. Therefore I was forced to comply and change some of his photos with other photos.

In 2006 I opened BayernForum. The forum would not have existed without BastianSchweinsteiger.com. What I did was issue a deadline by which time all BastianSchweinsteiger.com users should register on BayernForum.com because the forum on BastianSchweinsteiger.com would close down. And it did, and BayernForum.com got the kick it needed to start. If you try to find the oldest posts in the forum, you'll find a lot of love towards Bastian for this reason.

While I was busy with BayernForum.com I neglected BastianSchweinsteiger.com.

At the same time, I had opened christianlell.com and andreasottl.com. Yeah, I know. I only had the domains, just in case they improved and deserved a fansite So one day (October 2008) I was sued by Lell's lawyers who wanted the domain. I remember chatting to him and I said I would transfer the domains if he would send me a signed shirt, and he said OK. I was stupid enough to transfer the domains, and he never sent the shirt, or answered my chats again. Thanks to him I learned an important lesson.

Then I was sued again.

And this time it was big. On 13th May 2009, Bastian Schweinsteiger and/or his manager advised his lawyers to sue me. I received a very long document both by email and in a package at home. Basically they quoted the international trademark on his domains and demanded that I cancel the domains. That's where I struck with a brainwave. Two days later, on 15th May 2009, I sent this email back to his lawyers:

Dear Dr Klinger,

With reference to your letter (ref code Ref: 27cl13472 S 1712) dated May 13, 2009, please note that you mentioned 3 internet domains:

- bastianschweinsteiger.eu
- bastianschweinsteiger.com
- bastian-schweinsteiger.com

I own the latter two domains, but not the former which seems to be owned by some company in Karlsruhe, Germany. As regards the domains that I own, I have used them to put up a fansite that has been online before your client's official fansite. It's true that it hasn't been updated in a while, but I still care about it and wouldn't like to lose it.

Also, you have asked me to cancel the domains. Given the Google Pagerank of these domains, and the importance in search engines, you can safely assume that my internet registrar will keep the domain and put up yet another search site for expired domains that has polluted the internet. You would then have to threaten a lawsuit against this international company.

I am offering to settle this matter in an amicable way, as you put it, and am offering to take the trouble of transferring the domains (as opposed to cancelling them) and making sure that they end up registered in your client's name, upon receipt of an original Bayern shirt signed by Bastian Schweinsteiger himself. Such a gesture would mean a lot to me and make up for the time and money spent on developing the site, and your client should be all too happy to settle this matter easily.

Regards,

Mark Cilia Vincenti

I didn't hear back. I was scared.

So I asked for confirmation of receipt, and I got an answer back "Received with thanks".

Months passed.

On 16th December 2009 I received my greatest Christmas present ever. A signed shirt by Schweinsteiger, paid for by himself.

And I transferred the domains over as agreed.

I wish I could meet him one day and tell him about this story. I still love you buddy Oh, and thank you Christian Lell! It wouldn't have been possible without you

Dumbledore7 wrote:You have a gift of a pioneer, to leverage every little thing you have to achieve something bigger. The only reason I signed up for this forum was because you locked out Lewandowski’s transfer thread to the public, when BayernForum.com was literally the best place on the internet for following his transfer (see my join date).

Haha I got one

Yes at the time I was occasionally making the whole forum inaccessible to guests to force more lurkers to register. Eventually stopped doing it

Thanks for your compliment!

FCBayernMunchen wrote:I'm sending this to your wife to make her jealous.

I find it sad that they treat massive fans with legal action though. Luckily Basti was a gentleman about it, unlike Lell.

Is there actually any legal basis to demand someone hands over a domain? I doubt it...

No I had nothing. I negotiated with just a 'threat' to cancel the domains as per their request and having them to sue GoDaddy instead.

Not only the trademark. If you find a domain registered using your name by someone who didn't have your name you could sue him and take the domain. I actually had another option to avoid losing the domains: I could have changed my name to Bastian Schweinsteiger