Is It Illegal To Use....A Domain....Similar To Someone Elses...

Alright,

Here's another issue. Say a guy named Rogger owns the domain: roggerboat.com and only gets a DBA at a county clerks office for Rogger Boat.

Alright, now, is it now illegal for someone else to register: roggerboat.net or roggerboat.org/info/etc... domains that are very similar but only have a different ending?

Lastly, if it is illegal to do that, what proof does Rogger need to give the domain registar in order to use the domain for his company/website?

Thanks

 

I think it might be if it's copyrighted.. not completely sure though.

 

Alright, well take this group of domains for example:

videogame.com
videogame.info
videogame.org

All of those have different websites and owners. Are one of the parties using the domain illegally?

 

Well, see, "videogame" isn't under copyright, that I know of..

So, I think it would be different.

 

Ok, so what do you mean by, it is not under copyright? Like how can you check or how do you know?

I think a lot of people will find that useful

 

Do a copyright check first,if it's not listed then i think it's legal.Not sure though...

 

Can't find anything for you, but look for "trademark check" or "copyright check" or something like that, all I've found are services where you have to pay and/or download a program.. well, best of luck.

 

well technically, if the business name is only registered locally, there is nothing preventing someone in another state or in another line of business from using the name.

Using a different extension on an already successful domain name is not illegal either. However, that's kind of like bidding $501 when someone else bid $500 and they win on Price Is Right.

 

That's more of what I was thinking too. So what exactly would you need to prevent the issue from coming up?

 

buy all 3 extensions . . . .com .net and .org then you dont have to worry about it

 

locals is right. The only way you can prevent that is to buy "all 3" extensions. I put that in " " because now there are wayyyyyyyy more than 3 extensions. .com .net .org .biz are the more common ones but if a person were really trying to bother you, they have all kinds of extensions.

but if you go to yahoo you can get domain names for $10 a year. That's $40 per year to prevent countless hours in headaches and $$$$$$$ in loss revenue to misguided traffic.

 

Both of you are 100% however, this is an "aftermath" type thread. We are focused on rather you can do anything about it if someone has purchased a domain exactly like yours but with a different extensions if you have a regular DBA license (not trademark).

DBA's usually are only valid in your state or county, so I wouldn't think it would apply or do you any good, however, I may be wrong

 

Now we definitely have a challenge. Remember, if you're registered only in your county, a person can go to the next county and open the exact same business with the exact same name. You would have a hard time fighting that. Just an illustration because very rarely would you register in your county and not your state. If you don't have a nationwide registry then you would not be able to stop someone in a different state from starting the same business with the same name. Your mission now becomes a marketing improvement. How do you make yourself and your website stand out from the other?

Notice I said make it STAND OUT and not different. If you focus on being different then you're running from the other business. If you're focus on STANDING OUT then you are focusing on your own business. You should be trying to STAND OUT anyway from any other business.

something like: THE Bookrag.com. Everything else is just... everything else.

 

Copyrights have nothing to do with domain name usage. A DBA has nothing to do with domain name usage (unless it establishes first usage). Domains names fall under trademark protection and a person does not need to register the trademark to establish rights to a name - only be able to prove they were the first to use it, in its classification... so checking for prior usage is not always an easy thing to do. A good trademark search will run several hundred dollars and still not be a guarantee.

Generic terms for the normal usage cannot be trademarked .... i.e. apple could not be trademarked for a fruit, but could be trademarked for a company that sells computers or music. Videogame would be a generic usage for a site about video games, but a company could trademark the name for a jewelry line, clothing line, etc.

First usage is the key. It doesn't matter if your real name was Don Trump, you couldn't open a Trump Casino because first usage has already been established by someone else. You can't ride the goodwill established by someone else.... also similar or phonetic names can be infringement... and don't add words to a trademark like applecomputersupport.com or appplecomputers.com

 

DONT LET IT HAPPEN IN THE 1st PLACE BUY ALL THREE

 

It would be better if You use unique domain name and buy .com .net and other domains