domain is trademark or not

hi,
how can we know if the doman is trademaked or not ?

If it's 2 dictionary words that would be ok right ?
thanks

 

It depends if someone has previously trademarked those words.

 

well how can I know ?

 

You might be able to get an idea just by searching for the words and seeing if there are any obviously trademarked products/company names out there. If you want something with legal teeth, you'll have to pay for trademark research.

 

isn't there a site that shows trademarked/copyright domain names? usually if it is copyrighten/trademarked they will pay you back for the domain.

 

For starters you can check for filed US trademarks at this page:

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=ks2tbl.1.1

However, note that this only shows registered trademarks. There are many trademarks that are perfectly legal but are not registered.

Hope that helps.

 

if a word in my domain is trademarked what is the worst that can happen ?
like can I get sue or I only have to give him the domain ?

thanks

 

you could get sued.... I think most companies will be nice enough to repay you, with what ever amount you paid for it. If you disagree then they will contact ICANN or the host and have them take it out of your account.

 

so if my domain would be a trademark I can only give it to thems and whitout any problems ?

thanks

 

Having a trademark and having a domain name are NOT necessarily related. You can have one without the other, and having both is NOT necessarily a protection for the domain.

Registering a domain name that has a trademark will NOT necessarily get you sued, either. The domain and trademark issues are separate. Another company could have that word trademarked in an entirely separate industry where there would be no chance of confusion between your trademark and theirs. For example, my former company makes telecommunications equipment, and has the same name as a medical device manufactured by another company. Both my former company and this medical device company have a trademark on the same word mark. Since there is no overlap in our businesses and no hope that any person would confuse our products, both of our trademarks are valid.

When it comes to domains, you are subject to ICANN's domain arbitration procedures, which have nothing to do with trademarks necessarily. It is a separate process and the standards for it are outlined at ICANN's site.