Stolen Name?

[thomhee]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

Here is the situation. We wanted to start a cabinet business and we were coming up with names. We settled on the name Dutch Town Cabinets.

We went ahead and bought the domain name www.dutchtowncabinets.com on Feb. 28th 2009 just to be safe in case we started up our new venture.

I ended up mentioning this information to an associate a couple of weeks later (I know, a big mistake). That individual then registered the business name with the state of Indiana in April of 2009.

I'm not sure what to do, because I really wanted that name. Is there anything I can do?

Thank you,
Thomas

 

[Antigone*]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

Here is the situation. We wanted to start a cabinet business and we were coming up with names. We settled on the name Dutch Town Cabinets.

We went ahead and bought the domain name www.dutchtowncabinets.com on Feb. 28th 2009 just to be safe in case we started up our new venture.

I ended up mentioning this information to an associate a couple of weeks later (I know, a big mistake). That individual then registered the business name with the state of Indiana in April of 2009.

I'm not sure what to do, because I really wanted that name. Is there anything I can do?

Thank you,
Thomas

This person did not steal anything. You don't own the name. You might want to negotiate a purchase from him of the registered name, or you consider selling the domain name to him and picking another name.

 

[FlyingRon]

Absent a trademark or business name, you're squatting on the domain. He doesn't even need to buy it if he's willing to push a complaint through the dispute policy. They'll just award it to him.

Buying a domain name doesn't establish name or trademark rights. The FIRST thing you should have done was register the name (be it a corporation or just a fictitious name (DBA) for yourself) and then start using it in commerce. THAT'S how you establish rights to the name.