I have a registered business name which happens to be the name of a prescribed medication, which I learned of only long after registering my business in that name. The pharmaceutical company (the name of the company is different from the name of the drug) in Europe have the .com and .biz of this name registered in their company name. The .net is available. I want to secure the .net and use it for my company. Would this cause any problems?? Would appreciate expert advice! Zabith
If they are a pharmaseutical company they probably have the lawyers and financial resources to make like miserable for you should they desire.
Yeah, it's a trademarked name and that's what put me off taking the .net. Thanks guys for the advice. Zabith.
I can't give you advice (either expert or otherwise) due to liability issues. But if you are willing to settle for less, it should be ok as long as your business is not medical-related and you won't be profitting off their trademark
I dont think it will be a problem unless your plaining on selling the same thing as them, on ebay theres tons of trademark infringemented domains for sale.
Since the name is Trademarked, even if your business is not medical-related you are not completely safe using that domain.
In the US, Trademarks are granted by classficiation and there are over 40 different ones. There can certainly be more than one trademark holder for a name - they just have different rights. An example is "MySpace" which has at least three different owners - all for different classes. "Apple" is another. There are companies (like IBM) which have broad protection and have registered their name in most or all classifications. It's very expensive to do, and you can't have a trademark unless it is in use (so IBM had to create a jewelry line to get a trademark in that classification).
There can be multiple uses for trademarked terms. For example, you can use the word Monster to sell computers. But you cannot use it to run a job site (because of Monster.com). You can call your Gate Repair business Gateway, but you better not use "Gateway" if you're a computer manufacturer (because of the famous Gateway manufacturer). What we're talking about here are "classes" of trademarks. A trademark is valid for only the classes (or categories) of business its registered for. It's quite possible to use the word Blend for coffee but not for clothing (since there's a famous and trademarked line of clothing called Blend) You can use this name for your business, provided that you steer completely clear of the classes (categories) of business they have their trademarks for. That also means you absolutely can NOT put up advertising banners or links that advertise services in their field. Have no content related to them or their line of work. It will also help if you can prove you started using the business name some time ago. The most common tool for a company to take your domain (especially a foreign company) is a UDRP complaint, which is arbitration. It's not a formal process and costs you nothing but if you lose, you lose the domain, unless YOU go to court and file a lawsuit contesting the arbitration results. The 3-part test in UDRP Arbitration for domains is 1) Is the domain identical or confusingly similiar to a trademark, 2) Does the domain owner (you) have a legitimate interest in the domain, and 3) Did the domain owner (you) register the domain in bad faith? They would have to prove all 3. By running a bonafide business you can easily disprove 2 and 3. Josh
I have a feeling that if he is looking for the .net version of the pharmacy domain that he is going to be offering the same product lol So if it's trademarked, you've answered your own question.