WARNING: YOUR DOMAIN NAME COULD INFRINGE ON TRADEMARK RIGHTS! by Al Martinovic
If you have or are about to purchase a domain name, YOU
could be in trouble and you don't even know it yet...
See, what the domain sellers won't tell you is that the
domain name you are purchasing or have purchased can
possibly infringe on trademark rights and you can lose
that domain name or even worse.
Trademark and servicemark laws apply not only off-line
but on-line as well and they even apply to domain
names.
Now, a trademark generally applies to goods where as a
servicemark applies to services. For the purpose of
this article I will refer to trademarks as the same
rules apply.
A trademark can be a word, name, symbol, or device and
it is used to distinguish and indentify the goods and
services from one person or company from that of
another.
The purpose of a trademark is to prevent confusion in
the eyes of the consumer relating to particular goods
and services. Basically, they are in place to prevent
unfair competition.
So with that said, just because you purchased a
particular domain name it does not necessarily mean you
have exclusive rights to it.
If there is a trademark in your domain name, the mark
owner has a legal right to send you a "cease and
desist" letter and possibly take that domain name away
from you.
If you don't believe a word I've said so far then I
offer myself as proof because it happened to me. I
recently lost one of my domain names under this exact
same circumstance.
For legal reasons I can't tell you the domain name as I
agreed to make no further references to it, but there
were two words in my domain name that were associated
with a trademark.
Now, I wasn't aware of this when I purchased the domain
name. And I definitely wasn't aware of trademark laws.
Don't be ignorant on the subject like I was. You can
avoid any potential problems by educating yourself and
thereby preventing the samething from happening to you.
Don't make the same mistake that I did!
Do your research before you buy a domain name and make
sure there is NO trademark associated with that name.
There are trademark search engines where you can type
in a word or a phrase and it will tell you if it is a
trademark.
You can visit the United States Patent And Trademark
Office (USPTO) website to do a trademark search:
http://www.uspto.gov/
Now, in my case I chose not to fight the trademark
dispute and gave up my domain name voluntarily. I felt
it just wasn't worth the time, money and headaches to
launch a fight over this.
If this should ever happen to you, you do have rights
and there are proper channels to go through to settle
the dispute. Contact a lawyer who specializes in this
field.
And don't even think for one minute that this sort of
thing can't happen to you. Trust me. If you have a
trademark in your domain name it is only a matter of
time before you get that letter in the mail like I did.
There are numerous cases all over the internet
concerning disputes over trademark and domain names.
Don't you be one of them...
If you would like more information on the subject of
trademarks and domain names then I highly recommend you
visit this website:
http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain
This article and any links associated with it are for
informational purposes only and not intended as legal
advice. As always, speak to an attorney who specializes
in this field in the event of a dispute.
Al Martinovic is the publisher of the Millenium
Marketers Newsletter where you will find powerful
internet marketing concepts, killer strategies, useful
tips and no bull business advice.
http://www.milleniummarketers.com
almartinovic@aweber.com?subject=TSubscribe
More articles on DOMAIN-NAME
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Warning: Your Domain Name Could Infringe On Trademark Rights!
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