Domain Rights

[DevMike]

I apologize if this topic has already been discussed(if it has, link to post would be appr.)

I was wondering if I have a name trademarked/copyrighted, do I have legal right to the domain name. I.E. I have DevMike Inc. Trademarked, do I have legal right to devmike.com/.net/.org?

[buckworks]

You might, but it would depend on a variety of factors, including when and in what countries you had registered your trademark, when the other person registered the domain(s), how the domain was being used, and what sort of claim they might have to use the name for their own reasons.

[digitalv]

Nope.

If a domain name was registered by someone else before your trademark was active then you have no legal rights to it.

However, if your trademark existed prior to someone else registering the domain you do have the right to the domain providing it's not based on a dictionary word or words.

[buckworks]

Here's some interesting reading on Giorgio Armani's appeal for the domain armani.com. They lost.

[arbiter.wipo.int...]

[digitalv]

From the Armani document ...

The Respondent is a graphic artist and technical illustrator. His full name is Anand Ramnath Mani (see further below). According to the Respondent’s evidence he has been trading under the name "A.R.Mani" since 1981. The evidence filed in this respect includes a copy of the Respondent’s business card (stated first to have been used in 1982), an advertising flyer (stated first to have been published and used in 1990), evidence that the Respondent was using the e-mail address [e-mail] from August 1992 and various documents and correspondence addressed to the Respondent as "A.R.Mani" or "Anand R. Mani".

Glad this link was put up, as I forgot to mention these other factors in my post. If the domain is someone's name or an abbreviation of their name they've been doing business under like the above, it's kind of a first come/first serve basis. Even if you happen to have a trademark on that name you don't have any more rights over it than they do. If your real birth name was "Ralph Lauren" and you happened to register that domain before the major corporation did, tough luck for them. Of course they would probably try to sue you first, lose, and then offer to pay off your court costs if you give them the domain :P

[BigDave]

Even if you have a trademark in the united states, that does not mean that you are the only entity in the US that can have that particular trademark. If someone is in a different business category, they can claim the same word.

You could have both a "Big Time Squash" that sells pumpkins, and a "Big Time Squash" that is a newspaper that covers the sport of squash. And you could even have a monster truck event with the same name.

There are few trademarks using real words that are so powerful that they would keep others from being able to claim that mark in another market segment.

[Dan_Norder]

Trademarks do not give you an automatic right to any specific domain name. The person having it must have gotten it in bad faith (which would be impossible if, say, you didn't get the trademark until afterwards or if you are so small they'd have no way of knowing about you) and also must not have legitimate purpose for it (more than one person can have the same trademark if you are in noncompeting fields or areas, they'd have to infringe upon your field and area otherwise it's legit).

So if you are DevMike running a business under that trademarked name selling widgets in the US, someone else could own DevMike.com and run a business selling widgets in China, DevMike.net could be some kid named Mike who thinks he is devilish using it as a personal site and DevMike.org could be something else entirely. If someone knew about DevMike and bought DevMike.com to take business away from DevMike's ability to sell widgets and they have no other use for it except hurting you, then you go crush them like a bug.

Now if someone got DevMikeUSWidgets.com or DevMikeWidgets.us they'd be hard pressed to use it in a noninfringing way.