Can a trademark be implied?

[mczarnek]

Please note though that these other domains are not trademarked in any way.

 

[quincy]

Ok.. Well I will buy one or two of them as I'm directly involved with those organizations but I guess I'll ditch the rest :/

Thanks guys.

Even if you are directly involved with an organization, you still have to be careful how you use their trademark for your own site. Permission will still be needed if you hope to avoid any legal action.

As for ditching the domains that contain existing trademarks and that you intended to sell to the trademark holders, I think that is smart.

And, to explain a little better perhaps, a trademark does not have to be registered to have trademark protection. A trademark is the name (or logo or slogan) that is used to identify a business, product or service. There is no "trademarking" involved - the trademark exists when the company uses it as an identifier.

We all thank you for the thanks.

 

[FlyingRon]

Buying domains in bad faith for no other purpose than to sell them to people who have legitimate company names or trademarks will result in them being wrested from you by the UDRP arbitration if the company wants to invest the ~$1500-3000 fee.

 

[quincy]

Buying domains in bad faith for no other purpose than to sell them to people who have legitimate company names or trademarks will result in them being wrested from you by the UDRP arbitration if the company wants to invest the ~$1500-3000 fee.

Yes. Today it is not a good way to make money. Famous trademark holders are not tolerant of those who try to profit off their names.

When STEPHAN spoke earlier of having "thousands" of domain names, it reminded me of a case out of California and I meant to make mention of it - although the case and the circumstances have nothing at all to do with Stephan and his domain names.

In some cases, registering thousands of names can lead to a violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and this can lead to a lawsuit, if the domain names are being registered for the purpose of testing variations out in the marketplace. The "tasting" of domain names has led to at least one suit that was successful for the trademark holder/plaintiff. The suit combined the tasting of domain names with typosquatting to see which domain name attracted the most traffic. See Verizon California, Inc. v. Navigation Catalyst Systems, Inc., 568 F. Supp. 2d 1088 (C.D. Cal. 2008).

Because there are various ways one can run afoul of the law, if someone is starting a new business, they would be smart to sit down with an attorney in their area to go over all plans and the legalities involved.

 

[mczarnek]

Anyone have legal advice for who to talk to to get it turned over to us?

 

[STEPHAN]

UDRP arbitration.

 

[quincy]

Well.. I might as well say it.

I was trying to register .money domains for cryptocurrencies.. Looks like someone else beat me to it though and is squatting on the same domains.

On the plus side, now I know how to get back my currencies particular domain name! Above all got into this because someone is squatted on the .org version. So I figured .money is better anyway.

Ah. You are thinking of using a new gTDL. Refer back to STEPHAN's post about traffic.

The .biz, .travel, .mobi, .museum, etc., TDLs are not generating traffic because they are not familiar to consumers. A lot of costly marketing must be done in advance to make these worth the expense.

Here is a link to ICANN: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/

I suggest you sit down and review your personal wants and needs with a professional in your area, before investing in a name that can get you sued or a name that can drain your finances with no hope of any return.

 

[STEPHAN]

One thing I was going to mention when STEPHAN spoke of having "thousands" of domain names is that registering thousands of names can ALSO lead to a violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and a lawsuit, if the domain names are being registered for the purpose of testing variations out in the marketplace.

Just to make it very clear, I know what I am doing. These are generic (descriptive) names, not violating anyone's rights.

 

[quincy]

Just to make it very clear, I know what I am doing. These are generic (descriptive) names, not violating anyone's rights.

Oh, geez. I didn't mean to imply YOU were doing anything wrong, STEPHAN. I am really sorry if it came across that way.

It was just that your mention of registering thousands of domain names reminded me of the Verizon case and I thought I might as well include it in this thread.

 

[STEPHAN]

I know Q. Also you are a pro. Just making sure nobody else misunderstands.

 

[quincy]

I know Q. Also you are a pro. Just making sure nobody else misunderstands.

I can see where the wording in my post could have led to a misunderstanding so I am glad you pointed it out, Stephan. Again, I apologize for the poor construction of my sentence in that post. I will do some editing for clarification.

 

[STEPHAN]

Don't worry, we are good ;-)

 

[quincy]

Whew! Good.