Copyright Question

[rfontaine]

OK, here is one:

There is a site - lets call it DoThis.com - that is quite popular. A client of mine wants to obtain a domain name that is like

widgetDoThis.com

In your opinion, and I realize you are probably not lawyers, is this a copyright violation or are common words open for anyone?

[urlreader]

it should NOT be a problem. otherwise, can soft.com sue microsoft.com?

[LifeinAsia]

Anybody CAN sue someone else. Whether or not the suit has any merit is a completely different story.

Can the owner of soft.com sue microsoft.com? Yes, the owner can. Would he win? Doubtful.

But Micro$oft DID sue Mike Rowe, who ran MikeRoweSoftware.com (or something like that)- there's a thread on WW from some time ago.

There was also a lawsuit between goto.com (which later became overture.com before being bought by yahoo.com) and Disney's go.com.

If the owner of DoThis.com has deep pockets, they may sue your client even if they don't expect to win. They know they can bleed your client dry from lawyer fees before it even goes to trial.