HuskyPup - 6:39 pm on Oct 25, 2010 (gmt 0)

Interesting, I see they actually trade as Hotels.com L.P., I wonder if an LLC, Inc or PLC would have made any difference?

I bet hotels.de/info are glad about this ruling and I see they trade under a GmBH.

If I set up a market stall selling T-shirts with "Google" printed on them, I don't think Google Inc. would be overly concerned

Some companies guard their marks intensely. A local hairdresser to me called her salon "Smarties" and Rowntree Mackintosh descended upon them heavily!

Is trademarking for generic named domains a waste of time

Good question, in the early days of the WWW my e-mails from address would always have a TM when corresponding with potential new suppliers just in case any disreputable company thought it a good idea to pass themselves off as us.

It seems to have worked, mind you we are an extremely well-known widget trade B&M business!