Fucking lying bastards of Oakley Inc., how cheaters win the game...

Gee and I own four pairs of oakleys. I can understand their position but also yours. They did do it a bit ignorantly.

 

I'm going to catch any Oakley extensions and make sites about how Oakley glasses are so cheap and break the first time they're worn! =D yay!! ...
I would have used a tactic similar to Oakley's though.. however, if they sued me for something like that I'd drop-kick them until their brand was only marketable at a thrift store.. 0_o

 

Speaking of I bought a pair for over 550.00 last year and the lenses they won't replace free because I'm not american.. What a crock.

 

I do not believe trademark should extend to the internet. Domains are very expensive to develop and people should not have the option to take them from you after you develop them. If they want to protect their name on the internet they should buy the domain first and then trademark the DOMAIN NAME including the ending part. You might have a trademark for xyz.com, but I might want to use xyz.biz or xyz.info. Why should your trademark extend to my trademark just because they are similar but not identical? You want to protect your name recognition, then buy the domains from the beginning, don't wait around.

In the future courts will not be able to provide this kind of unusual protection.

 

This is the way of business, unfortunately. Like you, I also have a domain name that's a direct product name, but a .us...I happened to hear about the product a year in advance before it hit the shelves, and that was one of the last extensions available for it. I'm just leaving it idle, not even parking it.

 

Yes, this sounds fair to me. And I believe it already is this way, and Oakley may have provided lies because of that.

Why else would they have done such a "stupid" thing? If they could just get the domain with their trade mark, they could be friendly to me, right?

 

have you ever heard of ray ban? good luck mate!

 

Yes, VERY WELL SAID

 

It is kind of a necessity, though. I mean, I'd be pissed off if someone used my trademark and registered it, and profited off of it. Its something that everyone has to comply to.

You could probably get away with it if the company name you've registered doesn't have an international trademark. Looks like Oakley did, in this case..

 

You and others can believe that all you want. But tell that to the trademark
holders whose marks were infringed due to cybersquatters from the mid-90s,
and subsequently got laws in their respective jurisdictions passed to address
this sort of thing.

And you think courts won't provide protection for this in the future? That is
bull crap as there are various decisions upheld on this kind of dispute over the
past couple of years, and that's for them to decide on their own.

Jan, the truth is neither you nor the mark holder are really obligated to do a
thing for the other. I agree it's nice if they were friendly about it, but no one
can force them to be so.

It's your tough luck they got grounds to hold you accountable. The last thing
anyone ought to do is give someone a demonstrable cause to sue you or do
something worse.

Luke Beale gave the simplest and best advice around here: don't register or
buy domain names bearing trademarks if it can be helped, period. That'll really
make your lives a wee bit easier.

 

As it happens I have studied several constitutions and have a good understanding of the nature of legal systems. This is the year 2008 not 1995 anymore. In 1995 those cases you mention protected trademarks for .com not for .org or .net. The trademark only protects you from unfair competition. So if you are Cocacola someone else cannot produce another softdrink and pretend it's Cocacola. But if I want to make shoes and call them cocacola I can do that any time I want.

The problem with trademarks on the internet is very simple: if you make a softdrink called Cocacola and I make shoes called cocacola, who should have the right to the domain cocacola.com?

And another case, if you have the coca cola trademark in the US and I have the coca cola trademark in the EU, who can make me give you my cocacola.eu domain?

Case in point, I just bought the domain www.ValueInvesting.Asia
The .com version of this domain is owned by a rich investors' club. The reason why I bought this, for a significant price, is that ValueInvesting is more popular in Asia even than in North America itself. But this club does not seem to know this and they use the .com site just to forward unsuspecting visitors to their club application page. Only 250 people are allowed to join this thing, you need to apply with a business plan and you need to be a very rich investment manager, and this is just to join the forum. They provide no information whatsoever about ValueInvesting, what it is, etc.

Now what makes you think that they have any right whatsoever on the term ValueInvesting? In fact they don't, and shouldn't, because it would be beneficial to the internet users if someone develops a domain and provides useful information and resources for that topic.

 

You couldn't be more wrong in your understanding of intellectual property rights law. You can't use cocacola is a domain name regardless of what you sell. It's an international trademark with broad protection. As far as who can make you give up the domain, you should familiarize yourself with the Madrid Protocol and the reach of the WIPO (and cases such as cocacola-lottery.com, cocacolastore.com, etc) before you keep posting nonsense and bad advice.

 

Unfortunately, even if it doesn't seem right, this is the way the "system" has always worked since internet copyright/trademark laws were introduced. Oakley glasses is their product, their registered trademark. To be honest If you took my trademark I'd be a bit annoyed too, but once you sent me an email saying that I could buy the domain off you or you would develop it for profit - that would piss me off. You should have gained their permission before you started this endeavor - maybe your site would have compromised their future plans into your country. Who knows the real answer. But I'm favoring oakley on protecting their rights.

Read this:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=830788&highlight=blizzard

^It's how a webmaster developed a domain/site called Diablo3 for 11 years, and had to give it away for free when blizzard asked for it due to trademark issues. He willingly gave the domain up because he was that much of a fan to the company. I suspect he made out good in the end because of his cooperation. It's a similar story to this (kinda), except that he did the right things in the situation.

 

Mwahaha, your ignorance is amusing. Try this www.FUCKcocacola.com

 

Ignorance is bliss. If you knew the first thing about infringement, you would have known that the courts have ruled that "sucks" type of sites which are non-commercial in nature are not infringement, but rather a form of free speech. The basis is that a consumer would not assume that such a site is being run by the trademark holder, thereby eliminating the "likelihood of confusion" argument from an infringement claim.

Of course this exception has nothing to do with your original ignorant statements. lol.

 

very sad story..

 

And you think there's no more court cases involving domain-TM disputes since
1995? Look at eBay v PerfumeBay and Dell Computer v BelgiumDomains etc as
recent cases, the latter still pending.

Now as to what I think gives the Value Investing people in the U.S. have any
rights towards the .asia you fortunately got? That's up to them if they're able
to demonstrate trademark rights in your region, if the domain is infringing the
mark, and whatever applicable laws and/or policies are in place they opt for.

Here's a rule of thumb: where the authoritative Registry of that extension is is
subject to that jurisdiction's laws. The .com Registry is in Virginia, so they are
obligated to follow any applicable U.S. law (e.g. ACPA) or court order in there.

(And for those who are curious if registering with an offshore registrar will help
you evade liability, look up the Dell Computer case I referenced above. You'll
be amazed.)

For .asia, any trademark holder can opt for .asia's dispute resolution policies,
or go to court there. Where, that's their problem.

The problem with domain names and trademarks isn't necessarily who should
"have" the domain name, but will the domain name infringe someone's mark or
so. Some are no-brainer cybersquatting cases, others aren't black and white.

I'll agree it's unfortunate there are some parties who seem to overreach their
claims. Well, that's what lawyers, courts and mediation panels are for.

So...what's the problem again?

 

Looks like you learned your lesson. Under the law Oakley could have done much worse to you (sue you for damages, etc). Too bad 95% of the DP community knows nothing about intellectual property law.

 

wow thats sad

 

Did you just lose the name, or did they sue you for even more?