I have some experience of a similar situation, having at one point run a web dev blog at ilovejackdaniels.com, before the JD legal team contacted me ... and I'm on a new domain now.
The problem, as explained to me by a lawyer (I am not a lawyer, so don't go taking this as legal advice, as I'm paraphrasing what I was told), is that legal departments for really big corporations just care about winning. It doesn't really matter whether they are in the right or not. What's going to make it difficult for you is that they have a huge amount of resources that you don't.
It sounds in your case like they have no actual case for cybersquatting or similar. But that doesn't mean they won't sue you. And if you can't afford to be sued, then that's an automatic win for them.
You also need to evaluate what level of stress and trouble you're prepared to go to to protect the domain. It may suck, but there will be a point at which it would be better for your sanity and your health to let them have the domain and get as much as you can out of them for it.
If I were in your shoes (and I was) I would first visit a lawyer. Get some proper advice.
I'm sorry of asking, but what's wrong in the US when you go to the court alone, without the lawyer? I'm asking because I live in Europe, I did that in civil case and I did won. Actually judge in the end of the first day advised me to hire a lawyer, I said I cannot afford that and then government pointed one to me.
In this case there's obviously no cybersquatting, so what's the excuse not going alone?
The risk is that it's not just the domain name at stake. A lost court case can result in an order to pay the opposition's costs. For a large legal team, that can be expensive.
I don't think so, no. Why should a person or company be financially punished for doing nothing wrong? Your suggestion means that if you are sued and pay for a decent lawyer to defend you, but your opponent pays someone dirt cheap (or no-win, no-fee), and then you win, you will be out of pocket for your own defence.
The problem, as explained to me by a lawyer (I am not a lawyer, so don't go taking this as legal advice, as I'm paraphrasing what I was told), is that legal departments for really big corporations just care about winning. It doesn't really matter whether they are in the right or not. What's going to make it difficult for you is that they have a huge amount of resources that you don't.
It sounds in your case like they have no actual case for cybersquatting or similar. But that doesn't mean they won't sue you. And if you can't afford to be sued, then that's an automatic win for them.
You also need to evaluate what level of stress and trouble you're prepared to go to to protect the domain. It may suck, but there will be a point at which it would be better for your sanity and your health to let them have the domain and get as much as you can out of them for it.
If I were in your shoes (and I was) I would first visit a lawyer. Get some proper advice.