Here's a simple question, atleast I hope it is. Basically I'm interested in creating a forum but I'm not really trying to end up in court over it if I can prevent it from happening in the beginning. Lets say that America calls celebrities "Celeb's" for short. The term becomes so popular that one day a magazine/publisher decides to create a magazine and name itself "Celeb" and launches its site 'celeb.com' because of the terms popularity and acceptance throughout the entertainment world. This magazine basically talks about what any blog talks about; that being celebrity news, gossip, blah blah blah. Now let's pretend that I'm interested in the same thing, I to like the word or phrase "Celeb" and wanted to create a similar website/forum dedicated to the same content and named it "celebforum.com" or "thecelebforum.com". Would it be problematic for me to do so since this magazine/site is in existance. I would hate to think that they now own ANYTHING "Celeb" but nothing surprises me in the legal world. FYI: I'm not interested in creating ANOTHER celebrity website it was just an example.... Any help is appreciated
It really depends on the word that you're talking about, but if it's in the general vernacular, you can't be kept from having a site with a similar name. I'll give you an example. Esquire magazine owns esq.com. I am an attorney and I own esq.cc (don't bother looking, I just use it for email addresses). I have a legitimate right to use the term and so, it's not a problem. There's a magazine called Good Housekeeping. Can you own a cleaning service website at houskeeping.com? Sure. Make sense? If you have other questions, let me know. Deena __________________________________________________________________ Any opinions are offered without knowledge of the specific law of your jurisdiction and with only the limited information provided in your post. No advice given here should be reasonably relied upon by you or any third party without consulting an attorney who is aware of all of the facts and law surrounding your situation. Any advice given here is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship in any way.
I appreciate everyones help. SOULZRIPPER I read the link that you posted and towards the end it really turned into a mess because started mudslinging. DeenaEsq Thanks for posting, having said that could I use GoodHousekeepingforum.com I'm assuming that magazine names are 98% of the time trade marked ... Therefore I wouldn't be able to create a site like "fortune500forums.com or would I?
oh my friend, laws dont make a bit of difference in corporate america any more, it all comes down to bank roll, and who's higher priced attorney will win. It will all come down to how good your attorneys are against their attorneys. I have a feeling they'll win.
Heh, Esquire had that kind of problem with another domain lawyer. Of course, he won and still uses that domain name to advertise his services. GA, I agree with Deena it depends on the word, and sorta agree with FightRice it depends if the trademark holder (if they even have one to begin with) might decide to make it an issue. There can be a variety of things to consider, but it all boils down to likelihood of confusion with someone's (possible) trademark. That's saying it simply, though. Unfortunately, it isn't always simple.
OP, Two word titles are more of a problem. I would say that using GoodHousekeepingforums.com would be a problem, but if you were to use Styleforum.com, that'd be ok because Style magazine can't restrict the use of the word Style on the internet. Likewise for Inc. magazine and Incforums.com. Or Fortune magazine and fortune forums. Make sense? Deena __________________________________________________________________ Any opinions are offered without knowledge of the specific law of your jurisdiction and with only the limited information provided in your post. No advice given here should be reasonably relied upon by you or any third party without consulting an attorney who is aware of all of the facts and law surrounding your situation. Any advice given here is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship in any way.
Torhost, that is possibly the worst advice that I've ever heard. That's called cybersquatting... Dave, you want to give him a kick in the pants??? Deena __________________________________________________________________ Any opinions are offered without knowledge of the specific law of your jurisdiction and with only the limited information provided in your post. No advice given here should be reasonably relied upon by you or any third party without consulting an attorney who is aware of all of the facts and law surrounding your situation. Any advice given here is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship in any way.
In addition to DeenaEsq's good advice, keep in mind that no one can trademark generic terms in the United States.
Maybe not for their so-called generic meanings, but not for their distinctive use. Are Tide and Head and Shoulders generic for detergents and shampoo? And torhost, doesn't it feel good telling others what to do and not potentially be held responsible for what might possibly happen to the OP if he did what you've told him to do? Surely you won't be upset either if you asked online what to tell your girlfriend if she tries a dress you think make her looks fat, I seemingly state jokingly tell her she looks great, you do what I stated, but she slapped your face and told you she doesn't ever wanna see you again?
No. Those are trademarked terms. Some examples might help. These are trademarked: Xerox, Kennex, Rollerblade. These are generic: photocopy, tissue, inline skates.
Paintball, What Dave is trying to say (and Dave, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) is that the word tide is generic but is trademarkable (and trademarked) because it's not being used to identify something oceanic. Just like apple is a generic term which is trademarkable (and trademarked for both the computer company and the record company) because it's not being used to sell apples. It's easy to ascertain that words that are "fanciful and arbitrary" like Xerox, Google, Ebay, etc. are trademarkable. What's more difficult is to explain how certain words that are in the general vocabulary and are seemingly "generic" can be trademarked and can, in fact, be very strong trademarks. Deena ___________________________________________________________________________ Any opinions are offered without knowledge of the specific law of your jurisdiction and with only the limited information provided in your post. No advice given here should be reasonably relied upon by you or any third party without consulting an attorney who is aware of all of the facts and law surrounding your situation. Any advice given here is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship in any way.