Sorry, it's a counsel. I have registered the domain of their registered trademark in Britain but my site is hosted in US. He wrote to me probing with advertising service inquiries, what should I say to respond him? My thoughts: 1. He might want to know / estimate my traffic details by the advertising price I'm quoting. 2. And then opt to buy it based on his estimation instead of spending all the court fees to grab it? What's his intent?
It is very unlikely that they are trying to get the domain by court, because as far as I know, they can only make you unable to use the domain, but if they want the domain they would have to buy it from you, but i might be wrong now (at least that was the way it used to be). So I think you could be right, he wants to know if the domain is in any value for them, and then try to buy it on his estimation.
Maybe they want to estimate total damages before taking you to court. Court action is not expensive for companies with deep wallets. See here.
First make sure the person contacting you is actually legit. If he owns the trademark and is asking these types of questions there is a decent chance he could just want the information to mount a legal case against you. I would talk to a lawyer before you say anything further.
You can maybe do that if you can afford to lose the domain name. However, some people aren't willing. YangYang, you might want to contact a lawyer. I realize some people will find that stupid, but you never know what will likely happen when dealing with a party with possibly deep pockets. If they'll dispute it, bare minimum is they can file an administrative proceeding. If they sue, they'll have to enforce the judgment overseas somehow. If you're intending to make money off that domain name somehow, then telling them that can be used against you.
It's possible. Thanks for the tip. Rep added. He should be. I have checked with his email address and incoming server. Googled his name and found his profile on Linkedin as the legal counsel of that group. Great info, thanks Dave! Rep added. I was planning to reply to the message by saying that we are not accepting open advertisement offers and the adsense ads we have on is merely for hosting fees. How about this? It's just a .org bearing their trademark(I doubt that would be a trademark as it's rather generic) registered and hosted in another country, I'm no UK residents either. Who knows, it's a world where money rules.
wat are you hosting by the way? if its not that important, considering putting a pause over it for some time.
I wouldn't reply if I were you. If I had to reply I will say this site is for usage of something that is totally different from their existing business. This is so that you will not be accused of trying to profit from their trademark.
exactly , just say you use for personal purpose, or even for business, it's just different from their business, and it's fine. There may be yahoo and if you name a restaurant name yaho, it's still ok
That is quite an admission already. One that you should not be making in a public forum. Bad idea. You are better off saying nothing if you don't intend to further do anything with them. Your proposed reply only serves to aid their case of your bad faith registration of the name. There is nothing to gain with that type of reply. There is no reason to explain anything to them about your ads and what the money is used for. I would not reply either.
I believe trademarks are not international. I just looked at the USPTO and they say US registered trademarks are only good for the US jurisdiction, so I believe it is safe to assume that you are good to go. I recommend consulting a trademark attorney for this though.
I agree. Its the easiest way to stay out of any legal issues. Don't break the law, or come close. Seriously though, you need to consult a trademark attorney about this issue, as you may need them for some sort of defense, if the law is how I interpreted it, you should be good, but, as with anything, don't just take advice you get on a forum, consult an attorney. If I was in your shoes, thats what I would do, as if it is possible to keep a domain, I would want to, unless they decide to offer up some decent money for it. Maybe reply back asking them how much it is worth
You can trademark a name for your country only OR world trademark protection. Beware that big companies trademark their name all over the world. Even if you are in China you can't use Coca Cola for a restaurant name.
You might want to do some more readin up on the US patent and trademark site http://www.uspto.gov/ Also check if the name is trademarke worldwide or only US. Furthermore if you are promoting things that are not related to their business you have less issues as if you are piggy banking on their name. So if they sell "computers" and you are promoting stationary, there is less conflict. You might want to move your hosting to another country that does not have the name trademarked. That way they cant do much legal.
What references do you have for world copyright? Just checking as USOTO didn't have anything about a worldwide trademark, only said something along the lines of the trademark only being valid in the US. So, from that, I understand you would have to register a trademark with every country (not a hard thing for microsoft or one of those other countries.
You correct about that, you have to register the tradename in each country. For example I can open here locally a company and choose a name, as long as that name is not yet used by another company in the country. They will not check to see if that name was already used world wide. To enforce the world wide trade mark would mean you have to protected your name in each country and if there is an infringement you need to file a court case at the local justice system. So in your case you registered in the UK, you have to check if that name is already registered at the chamber of commerce. If not I would suggest you register the name for your website too. That way they cant get the business name and make their case stronger against you. However if they would register after your website registration, that make their case not stronger.
yea i think you have to register the trademark in each country. as a rule of thumb, i try to avoid things I feel confident about getting sued for and things I could go to jail for.