Hello all So I have an idea for a site that I am currently developing. I have been thinking of a catchy name that fit the idea of the project and finally settled on SchoolYah (actually it was originally SchoolYa but that was taken and owner never responded to my offers). So anyways I was happy enough with it until my partner said that we may run into problems from Yahoo. My first thought and response was that that was going a little far on the whole property rights infringement, might as well be able to corner the market on certain letters. So I didnt really think much more of it until I was having a logo developed and the guy used pencils as the 'YAH' part....red pencils. So I do not plan on leaving that part red, but what about the future legal ramifications on this? This project will have nothing at all to do with Yahoo or mirror them in any way other than that 'YAH" part. Am I now over reacting?
Definitely overreacting. It's my understanding that you're okay unless you're using a trademark or something that sounds exactly the same as the trademark to benefit from that company's existing business. I hope others will add to this.
I personally don't see a problem with what you're doing, as long are you and your partner honestly never intended to ride on Yahoo's brand. But the sooner you put up something to show your possibly unrelated use to that of Yahoo's, the better you can establish your legitimate usage and intent for it. OTOH, Yahoo doesn't have to see it the way we do.
Phonetic, misspellings, even foreign spellings can be trademark infringement. The content of the site is often the determining factor, however, you can't register "applecomputers.com" and then sell pencils or something else that in no way competes with the trademarks holders classification as the domain name itself is enough to cause confusion. Even a disclaimer won't help in that situation because the visitor has to visit the site and by that time you have gained the benefit of riding the trademark holders goodwill. IMO, you aren't likely to have any problems with your particular name from "Yahoo" as long as the content of your site isn't about "Yahoo". "SchoolYahoo" could be a different story. Some companies are extremely protective of their trademark and will file suit against any usage that is remotely infringing upon their mark (in their opinion). Even if you prevail in a lawsuit (court rules you weren't infringing) you don't get to recover your legal fees (in the US). There is always a chance of a trademark claim with a large percentage of domain names, but I would think the chance of problems with Yahoo are very low. You mentioned that "schoolya" was already taken, and that name (or other similar) could be more of a concern. In the US, they have common law trademarks, so you don't need to file for a federal registration to establish trademark rights. First and continued usage, for a particular classification, establishes trademark rights (assuming the name isn't generic and unable to be trademarked). Trademark searches can run hundreds of dollars and they are still not a guarantee that someone won't claim prior usage.
I think if "SchoolYahoo" is different from Yahoo you need not worry also add a disclaimer that this site is not related with Yahoo in content or some other thing
I don't think you'll run into a problem with SchoolYah as long as Yah doesn't stand for Yahoo somehow. Also it is a good idea to make sure your logos and branding doesn't look like Yahoo--just to be on the safe side.
When you own a trademark, you own the rights to the use of the "name" by classification. Adding other words to the domain name does not get around trademark infringement. Disclaimers to add any protection if the trademark holder can successfully argue that the domain name along is enough to cause confusion. (Microsoft has just filed many lawsuits against cybersquatters who have registered "xbox", "microsoft" domain names.) The person has to click and visit the site before they see the disclaimer and by that time, you have used their established goodwill to obtain (trick) a visitor to your site. Many large companies have broad trademark protection as they have registered their trademark in many classifications and almost any use can be infringement. Using a term like "paypal", "ipod", "ebay" etc., and adding words i.e. IPODsupport, etc., is still infringement. You do not have rights to use a trademark in your domain just because the domain name is available to be registered. You never know how aggressive a company is going to be, but using "schoolyahoo" as a domain name opens the door to an infringement claim - and few people want to put a lot of work into a site to only have it taken for infringing upon a trademark. If you're going to put a lot of work into a site, it is worth getting an opinion from an attorney who specializes in intellectual property rights.
You may never know Yahoo may start another service say school.yahoo.com then come after both schoolyahoo.com as well as schoolyah.com Big fishes might grab small fish and there is no law to defend
I dont think there will be problems with Yahoo, but you'll need to emphasise that throughout your site by creating your own brand identity....if youre really serious about your site. If you are afraid that Yahoo might come after you, think about all those guys who register typos just to make a fast buck...shouldnt they be the ones who need to be worried? But schoolyah doesnt look like a typo....unless maybe Yahoo wants to do schools.yahoo or somethin like that....even so, schoolyah is a pretty lousy attempt at being a typo, if you ask me...
It wouldn't matter if Yahoo started a service that was school related because his website would have been registered before Yahoo's subdomain, so I highly doubt there would be a case for Yahoo to prove that they are trying to receive Yahoo's hits when the service wasn't available yet.
You're definitely overreacting. No reasonable person would assume that SchoolYah.com had anything to do with Yahoo... And thats what it comes down to, what a reasonable person would think. I agree with the person who said you should be more concerned about the owner of SchoolYa.com, but since there isn't a website up, assuming you set one up first, I don't think they'd have much of a claim. Looks like that domain will be expiring soon also, assuming the owner doesnt renew, so you may wanna put in for a backorder.