Domain Name Trademark Issues

[pbhav]

Hello, I was recently contacted by a sleep number attorney because I own the domains sleepnumberhotel.com sleepnumberinn.com and sleepnumberinns.com. I have not made any profits from this, and I do not own any companies. What should I do? They are threatening legal action if I do not remove the websites. Am I in the wrong?

 

[quincy]

Hello, I was recently contacted by a sleep number attorney because I own the domains sleepnumberhotel.com sleepnumberinn.com and sleepnumberinns.com. I have not made any profits from this, and I do not own any companies. What should I do? They are threatening legal action if I do not remove the websites. Am I in the wrong?

What is the name of your state or, if not in the US, what is the name of your country?

The company contacting you is apparently asserting their rights in the "Sleep Number" trademark. Your websites might be seen as infringing on the trademark holder's rights by directing consumer traffic to sites not affiliated with their company.

Because trademark law centers on consumer confusion, if the trademark holder has evidence of consumers being confused by the unauthorized use of their trademark in your domain names, of if consumers are likely to be confused by the usd of their trademark in your domain names, the company potentially can seek an injunction preventing you from using the domain names, and the company potentially can wrest away from you the domain names, and the company potentially can sue you for trademark infringement.

If you purchased the "sleepnumber" domain names for the sole purpose of selling them back to the trademark holder at an inflated price, you are a cybersquatter and the trademark holder potentially can sue you under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. Not only could you be forced to give up the domain names, you could be held liable to the trademark holder for monetary damages.

 

[FlyingRon]

UDRP is not based on any sane rule of law. However, that being said, it appears that you are cybersquatting (obtaining domains in bad faith) on domains affiliated with their well known mark. If they take it to the UDRP arbitration, you will lose the domains withiout any compensation (even for your costs).

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, under which (depending on all facts) pbhav could be sued:

https://www.govtrack.us/Congress/bills/106/s1255/text