Classmates.com going after me for trademark. What to do?

I think your name is totally different from their name. They have paid for the one word and that is it.

Here is a thought. Why not just keep it and not use it. If you are not actually doing anything with it online I do not see how you are doing anything wrong. For $10 a year you not out a whole lot and get the satisfaction that a bunch of crooks are not getting their hands on it either.

 

Another idea would be to go to the attorney general of your state and see what they have to say about it.

 

Just no one else knew NOT to register it.

 

There is a international law,

If the TM is classmates.com registered you don't have any problem. Your domain is classmates-forum.com So that is not a registered nic. You are safe don't worry about it. They are just trying to shut down you.

 

Why don't you read the entire thread before you post with bad advice.

 

Given that some people seem too lazy to read the update, perhaps the thread
ought to be locked up since the domain name will be given to the complainant.
Whatever you tell the OP to do with the domain names mentioned here is too
late, unless he files a dispute within 10 days from when the decision is made
to stave it off.

But since the OP already said s/he is moving on, then s/he is highly unlikely to
pursue this matter further. Unless one or some of you wish to donate to their
legal fund to sue in a court of competent jurisdiction?

 

Would Clasmates.com have a right to go after anyone that used the word "classmates" in the URL? What about Classmate? Would finance.com be able to close down anyone with the word finance in the URL?

Anyone know of a good site that explains the rules of trademarks and copy rights as it applies to domain names?

 

This looks like an old thread. Should I start a new thread with this? Guess if nobody replies ..I'll have my answer

 

Everyone believes they have a right to something. Question to that is how are
they going to enforce that, especially on those who don't agree with them.

Maybe one actual question is do they have a so-called enforceable claim.

 

Do you live in the United States? If you don't I wouldn't worry about it just keep your site up, and let them dispute it with ICANN

 

What does living outside the US have to do with it? Do you think people outside the US are immune from a lawsuit?

 

Not really but I doubt that Classmates would go to his/her Country to sue them if they lived outside the US and they didn't go to court in the US there really isn't much they can do about it..

 

Large and small companies based in the US file lawsuits outside of the US all the time. Thinking that a company which does hundreds of millions of dollars a year wouldn't file outside the US is a huge mistake. In all probability, they would probably do a WIPO action first - but even if that is all that would happen, who wants to build a site that can be taken with a simple action?

 

"Respondent argues that Complainant should never have been awarded a trademark for a common, generic term."

What a lackluster argument. I don't know if there is a winning argument, but certainly there is something a tad bit more compelling than this.

It's like arguing with the cop who pulled you over for speeding that the speed limit is too low. The cop isn't going to let you go and then raise the speed limit. Just like the WIPO panelist wasn't going to overturn a US trademark.

The least he could have done was argue that "Classmates" was a generic complement to "Forum". There is a TM on "Geek" relating to computers and the internet. Maybe they have a claim against every tech site with Geek in the domain, or maybe they don't and an attempt at the same principal could have been applied here.