I'm trying to make sure I'm not going to run into issues with copyright infringement and I thought this would be the best place to ask. If there is already a company that has a website like pantswarehouse.com and I start a new company at pantsfactory.com then this shouldn't be an issue right? The issue being that the first part of the url is the items I'd be selling and the second part is the same kind of thing (In the example, a building) is that too close? Another example would be something like flowergarden.com and flowergreenhouse.com. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Domain names never involve copyright issues, rather trademarks. Generally descriptive terms used in a normal fashion are not able to be trademarked - i.e. apple can't be trademarked for a fruit, but could be for a computer business. There are some exceptions when the term has established a secondary meaning (for example International Business Machines). It's impossible to give an opinion based on hypothetical examples. If this other company is fairly large, I would check the USPTO.gov site to see if their is a registration - although this is not required to protect a mark, most larger companies do so. The only way to really know for sure would be to discuss the actual name with an intellectual property rights attorney - or perhaps using a trademark search service.
yes it would be trademark issue not copyright issue. "If this other company is fairly large, I would check the USPTO.gov site to see if their is a registration - although this is not required to protect a mark, most larger companies do so." absolutely right
Thanks for your responses. Okay, so if you're selling clothing you can't trademark something like "pants" or "shirt" but if you were selling trucks you could? I don't want to use the actual domain as an example yet, because I'm just not ready for it to be out there, but I will use example names. Just for clarity let's say I wanted the name "Pants Factory" and the existing company is "Pants Warehouse". I did do a search on USPTO.GOV as you suggested and the "Pants Factory" is not trademarked. "Pants Warehouse" is and it has a disclaimer that says "NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "PANTS" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN" So in that case I could use "Pants Factory" since the only thing in common is "Pants" which has no claim, correct?
No, it's not that simple. Trademarks do not have to be exact - similar spelling, phonetic spellings, foreign spelling, and other marks that create "consumer confusion" can be infringement. As previously stated, trademarks do not require any filing. Again, it is impossible to give a specific answer - that is what a trademark attorney and their research are for. I will say that "if" the other company "thinks" it is trademark infringement and decides to file a lawsuit, you will spend vast sums of money arguing the matter in court. You are talking about six-figure sums, maybe more - and are not likely to be awarded legal fees even if you win.
CapitalGain: Your question really raises a number of issues. First of All, if you registered a domain that is similar to someone else in the business, you may have a trademark issue. Know that you have given examples of domain names above. If the company's brand is unique or registered as a trademark, you have to be extremely careful about what domain you register. This is really not a copyright issue but a trademark issue. Check out these websites if you are looking for more information about trademark registration rights and domain name disputes. Enrico Schaefer, Attorney Traverse Legal, PLC TraverseLegal.com 231-932-0411 (office) 231-313-0564 (cell) 231-932-0636 (fax)