i want to register a .ro(romania) domain name for a webmaster forum, but i saw on an italian website that blabla is a registered trademark of an italian company(replaced name with blabla) does this affect me (being in romania) in any way? are trademarks limited to the countries they we're registered in? Thanx, tom
Changing the domain TLD does not get around trademark infringement. There are International trademarks and the Internet blurs infringement. If the trademark in Italy has nothing to do with a forum or webmastering, you would probably be OK as you would be in a different usage classification. A good trademark search can run hundreds of dollars and still isn't any guarantee that a company won't sue you. There are really a couple of concerns. Are you infringing upon a trademark usage? Will another company think you are infringing upon their trademark (do you want to go to court)? How aggressive are they in defending their trademark (i.e. Mattel sues almost everyone they think are remotely infringing upon one of their marks).
i just need an other confirmation: is it OK to use the domain for a webmaster forum or not?(i feel like a bonehead atm...)
What is the trademark holders website about? Without that information, no one can begin to give you an educated guess. You should really consult an attorney if you have concerns about being sued. There is no way you can get an accurate answer without a lot of legal research on the specifics of the name you want to use. As I said, a good trademark search runs several hundred dollars.
Copyright has no bearing on this. There is a US trademark by Lehman Brothers, but their usage appears unrelated. I would check to see if this company actually filed for a trademark in Italy, and if it was International. If not, and your site isn't going to be in Italian, it would be less likely to cause you problems.