Domain name trademark question.

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by greekmooman, Apr 17, 2008.

  1. #1
    If a website has a domain name and within it contains another website name, is there infringement?

    For instance,

    is this bad:

    www.example.com and www.bestexample.com

    Or, what if the name contained the other website name but within one word:

    www.exam.com and www.example.com

    I assume that if the later example everything is ok, as its an entirely different name, but I am not so sure. Whats your opinion?
     
    greekmooman, Apr 17, 2008 IP
  2. nofullstop

    nofullstop Peon

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    #2
    I think the first example might be breaking laws but the second seems simple with no problems
     
    nofullstop, Apr 17, 2008 IP
  3. lpstong

    lpstong Notable Member

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    #3
    If the trademarked name is in the name no matter what order it is within the domain name is an infringement.
     
    lpstong, Apr 17, 2008 IP
  4. Dave Zan

    Dave Zan Well-Known Member

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    #4
    Unless the word/s within that domain name is being used as a trademark, no.

    And it's not just opinion. There are several decisions backing that up.
     
    Dave Zan, Apr 18, 2008 IP
  5. lpstong

    lpstong Notable Member

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    #5
    Lets see if the word Wii, Coke, World of Warcraft, XBOX, IPOD, IPHONE are all trademarked. What makes you guys think by putting words before or after those trademarked words would nullify the tradmark? This is an obvious answer to the question otherwise people would not continue to ask.
     
    lpstong, Apr 18, 2008 IP
  6. dadaas

    dadaas Well-Known Member

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    #6
    what about personal names? Let say soccer players?

    or si there a website where i could search if soemthing is trademark?
     
    dadaas, Apr 18, 2008 IP
  7. Dave Zan

    Dave Zan Well-Known Member

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    #7
    Personal names per se don't have trademark rights unless used in commerce.
    Using your example, soccer players don't have such unless, say, they sell or
    market certain products or services using their names over a period of time.

    One place to possibly search for trademarks is Google itself. It doesn't give an
    exhaustive search, though, especially since registration isn't required for TMs
    to exist.
     
    Dave Zan, Apr 19, 2008 IP
  8. KillaWho

    KillaWho Banned

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    #8
    I think the first one would be illegal if maybe it was a unique and registered name like "microsoft", if you used www.microsoftware.com or something along the lines of that, you would be in to some fines.
     
    KillaWho, Apr 19, 2008 IP