I really need some legal advice. I bought " what I think to be " an amazing domain name on godaddy last week, I bought .com .ca .net .org etc For fun I just googled my domain name to see what would happen.. and I see both a myspace and facebook page with a logo of my new domain name saying coming soon.. for example lets say my domain name was shop.com.. well his myspace and facebook page say " shop.com coming soon with all kinds of logos " the myspace and facebook page has not been logged in for a year so this was project that died i am sure.. Now the person made a logo for a domain name he does Not own i own every variation. and he even added .com at the end of his logo.. his concept is similar to what I intended on doing with the domain name / site.. What can I do? just cause i own the name does not mean I own the trademark for it correct? Who can I call to Trademark this name Internationally ? and how much will this cost? even worse what happens if this person trademarked the name already but never bought the domain name? I planned on getting started on building this site. I want to make sure I can have a lawyer send him a letter saying take down the name / facebook pages.. my space pages and logos!! I need to make sure I completely covered prior to doing this.. in his logo it put a little tm at the top?? does this mean he Trademarked his ugly logo which or the name ? if its the name what can i do ??? Thank you very much for your help!! I am new to all this so I really appreciate it! I plan on dropping big money into developing this site.. I want to make sure the name / domain name etc are all owned by me and I am 100% protected... For example .. someone can't make facebook or myspace or logos saying youtube.com I need to make it the same for me...
I guess before you buy you do your due diligence and check that the domain name is "clean". Doesn't stop anything happening after the event though... then it's just up to you to out-SEO MySpace and Facebook.
These issues require some patience, since establishing trademark rights in your domains is the key to stopping this and any future similar behavior. You don't need to register your trademark everywhere. You would obtain the protection you need from a US registration. Once your trademark rights are established, both myspace and facebook will likely respond to requests to have the sites removed. Feel free to give me a call and I can give you further information concerning trademark clearance, trademark registration and on-line brand protection.
Be careful not to get emotionally bogged down by fears of all the bad things that could happen. It is important to keep moving forward. Do not use this as an excuse to slow development of your project. Maintain momentum.
Agreed. Anything can be problematic. You can be paranoid and be afraid of everything. You can go gung ho and get shot or convicted Or you can just be moderate and ask in forum. I think you've done the right thing buddy... Another tips that I would suggest is to check actual court cases and "life" cases. Most "cases" are not solved in court. If you see people get shot walking alone in the dark then don't. If you see no body get shot, then go ahead. That sort of thing.
Give Enrico a call, he advertises himself as a trademark attorney, maybe he'll give you a free consult However, if you choose not to call him, you need to attempt to find one locally for you, as this is an issue you really should be getting legal advice from a barred lawyer not just a forum, especially if you plan on doing anything with the site.
i wouldnt get bogged down with it, maybe you should just contact him? If he wouldn't spend $10 to renew the domain name, he probably would not spend the money to get a trademark. But I would CYA