I've thought of a unique name that combines 2 words that are not normally combined together. If I start using this name and selling merchandise online worldwide etc, will someone be able to copy this name and use it for a different industry?
Trademarks are granted by classification. You can have several different trademark owners of the same word combination - i.e. myspace. If the person isn't infringing upon your usage, you wouldn't likely have a valid claim for infringement. A name does not need to be registered to have protection, so make sure no one else is using this combination, or even a similar combination. First use, for that classification, establishes rights. A good trademark search will run a few hundred dollars - and still not be a guarantee. Without knowing all the details, the simple answer to your question is yes.
yes it is possible to steal your domain because i lost a domain this year... my domain was purchase by the hosting company from godaddy. but someone send godaddy a fake email from my hosting company's email and give permission to sell the domain... when my hosting company contact godaddy, they said he give permission to transfer the domain... so the domain was taken out from his account... that is how i lost my old domain and so this time i buy it so that no one can steal it because when i register the domain, i use a different email which is showing in whois list. but as soon as my email is in the whois list, i change the email from my account... so that now even if they send fake emails to godaddy, it wont help because the email is different... however godaddy did send me a email that someone try to send a email to them claiming its me but since the email did not match, so they take it as a hack attempt and report to me... so i will suggest you change your email as soon as possible because anybody can get your email from whois info... this is the only possible way i know how they hack domains and take it out from your account... also i will suggest you to buy domains from godaddy because after i report this incident to them, they did some update on there system... so now they will give you back your domain even if it get stolen... copying is different issue. its not stealing...
I assume you are not asking the practical aspect of "stealing" but if it is legal for them to use the same domain with a different ending.... The two tests that the courts will use are "will Joe Public believe that site A is related to site B?" and "Is site B using the name simply to gain business at the expense of site A?" Things like design, geographic areas of customer base, industry etc are all taken into consideration and so if you have two sites with the same domain but no cross over in terms of customer areas (eg one if for USA customers exclusively and the other for South Africa exclusively) nor products (one a grocery store the other a dentist) and totally different designs then it is highly unlikely that the owners of the original site would have any case over the other unless they can prove intent.
But if a name is unique then it's obvious they are copying it. Like someone starts a company named MicroSoft, I don't think someone else can use that name even in a different industry.
That was one of the bones of contention in this recent UDRP decision: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2007/d2007-1293.html The keywords there are "commercial success". Then again, the main reasons the complainant lost are because they didn't prove the respondent was aware of their trademark, and the domain name was registered before the trademark existed. The decision above doesn't dictate how similar disputes will be decided, but it can give you a few ideas.
Microsoft has broad trademark protection as they have created a lot of different products in order to get trademarks in many different classifications - as well as International marks. This sort of protection is usually only seen in very large companies who can afford to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to establish global protection of their mark.
You have to remember that the law predominately protects the individual rather than companies and so a lot of the tests are looked at from a consumer angle, could a customer be mislead into buying something because they believe that company A is part of company B because their names are very similar. The other part is motivation, microsoft is a globally recognised brand and so it would be hard for another company to argue that they had never heard of it when they set up their website and on the balance of probability (which is what civil law is normally judged against rather than beyond reasonable doubt of criminal law) their motivation was to gain trade from MS. On the other hand if a site opened in the Kenyan market called The HeadMasters it is unlikely they will have chosen that name because the hairdressers in Croydon, England has that name and they are trying to steal trade from them.
I think the real term is Hijack... Its possible if someone have access to ur email or password so that he can change the ownership of the domain.......
What breakaway seems concerned in this thread is someone might register a domain name bearing a word he'll make up and get a free ride on it. While trademarks grant holders "exclusivity" for the term in its specific use, it doesn't give carte blanche over any usage of it even in unrelated fields. And neither do domain names. I can understand the concern. But it's not one to lose sleep over.