Can I get in trouble?

Hi fellow people. Everyday I am thinking about ideas and noticed that there weren't any good forums around for local motorcycle riders... Since I life in Orlando I thought about Orlandoriders.com since its available.... but then I thought, if I broaden it up I might get more people so I figured out I would buy www.centralfloridariders.com because its easy to remember, so I did... After I ordered it I google "florida riders forum" and I see a site called just that, but the domain is cflriders.com and the forum is pretty dead, has about 414 members and about 40 are active so there's obviously not much promo going on for this site. I own various websites, one of them got 10,000 members in just 5 months and alexa rank of 60,000 and my biggest site has 340,000 members and 100-200 people register daily so I am confident this site is going to be very big and I can benefit from sponsors since I have very good contacts...

Now.... can I get in trouble for doing my site even though this person already has one with the same name? I do not want to be short on the money I am going to spend on this! I also do not want legal problems

 

No you won't get it trouble. But do learn some English, you don't life in Orlando, you LIVE there

 

I haven't slept. I know English just not when I am sleepy.

 

I agree. You are ok and will not get into trouble of any sorts. If you could get into trouble, then the domain name would not be made available.

Where you can get into trouble though, is if you use or infer any content already on cfl.riders, so be aware of that. Don't use their headings or the titles they already use in the forum.

 

if you look at v and f you will notice that are near one another

and you will not have any problemes. the only problem with domains is when you register brands

 

I understand. Thanks guys! I am going to get the website up ASAP and hope I can spread the word to hopefully get some supporters. I just wanted to avoid a war with other webmasters that could ruin the reputation of the site early. Gosh I always over think stuff! x_x! I just found out ANOTHER site uses a similar name and this one has even less users... I guess as long as I stand out from the competition it will be fine... And sisk thanks for defending me against this spelling/grammar Nazi.

Terry I am going to make a banner for the site myself, what do you exactly mean by not using their title or headings? I assume you mean I shouldn't use the banner or graphics they already created? I plan on making all the graphics myself.

 

Well I would not use Central Florida Riders as my heading. I would use something like "Welcome Central Florida Riders".

I am just thinking about someone doing something similar to my site. I would not like anyone to use my h1 or h2. I would not want anything close as that would make me upset.

I would also use unique names in describing sections of the forum so no one could accuse you of copying their site.

Good luck to.

 

I see. Thanks for the advice!

 

Agreed, the domain name is self-explanatory. Unless that other forum has the copyright to the phrase "central florida riders" then there's no infringement at all. You are safe IMHO.

cheers

 

Generic words can not be copyrighted, this is official ICANN policy, there is no problem with your domain.

 

Almost all of the advice given on this thread is wrong.

"I agree. You are ok and will not get into trouble of any sorts. If you could get into trouble, then the domain name would not be made available."

This is 100% wrong. There are literally millions of unregistered domains that will get you sued for infringement. All registrars require you to check for infringement before you register a domain. Being available means nothing.

"Unless that other forum has the copyright to the phrase "central florida riders" then there's no infringement at all."

First, you don't copyright names, you trademark them. In the US, you don't have to do anything to gain trademark rights other than being the first person to use, and continue to use a mark in a particular classification. It's called a "common law trademark" and there is no database to check. The USPTO.gov will show registered marks.

"Generic words can not be copyrighted, this is official ICANN policy, there is no problem with your domain."

Wrong. First of all, it's not a copyright issue. Second, generic words can certainly be trademarked (Apple, Amazon, etc) depending on the classification. ICANN has nothing to do with trademark lawsuits - only UDRP actions.

Descriptive phrases/marks are not usually eligible for trademark protection unless the mark has acquired a secondary meaning.

To answer the OP's question, a trademark lawsuit is always possible. If the person/organization "thinks" it is infringement, they are free to sue you. Whether or not they will win is another issue. The cost of defending yourself in an infringement suit will run you tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you win, you will likely not get awarded attorney fees. Without doing any research, on the surface, it would appear to be a weak claim if your use of the mark is descriptive. While the other site claims to be an "organization" - it would seem to be very small and you probably don't have someone who is willing to spend the money to take you to court - although stranger things have happened.

 

I think you need to stop worring about that. If the trade makr owner want that domain name he would have it already

 

That's what she said! (Every single person on the so called internet says that) That's why you have a spell checker on your computer.

 

Thanks for the extra advice. Bora and dollar-guy stop being so concerned about a word that I misspelled. Obviously the spell check would see live and life as correctly spelled words so leave it alone. Either way, I did not ask for advice on how to write!