After weeks of seraching I have finally found and sealed a deal for a great four letter domain name which will be used for a (hopefully) very lengthy project - it's the 'brand' type domain opposed to 'keyword'.
I will be registering the domain name as a LTD company here in the UK - however I am yet to find out where this stands me internationally.
I have searched for companies, websites and names that may be using the same name incase of any dispute in the future.
There is a very large company that distributes motor fuels. The company name isn't the same as my domain/brand however the company name is often shortend to my domain - example of use is as their OTC:WINI in the stocks and shares and written Widge Niche Inc (WINI).
these are just examples:
widge niche INC = WINI.
Webmaster world = WEWO.
Baked Beans inc = BABE.
The company has millions of dollars and could easily bully me who has next to $00.00 dollars.
Could anyone with more knowledge on this help me out?
Your fear is their lawyers taking a position that you are treading on their trademark, right? Perhaps if you show them that you have no intention to do so they might ONLY send you a stern letter saying "Well, okay, but don't you ever . . . "
How much peace of mind will you get from free webmaster quasi-pseudo-legal opinions based upon an analysis devoid of critical facts?
Face your fear head on or never know peace of mind.
My website will have no relevance what-so-ever to companyx (infact it couldn't possibley be further away) I wll go ahead and contact them directly straight off for permission.
If using the domain name is a no-no, it's not the end of the world for me as the domain was a steal for how cheap I picked it up.
Fingers crossed the responce will be positive.
Thank you for setting me mind straight.
If your plans truly steer clear of their rights to the term (whatever those might be), is "permission" really the concept that applies here?
You want to protect yourself by gaining formal assurances that the company won't take action against you, but that's not necessarily the same as "permission".
Get some advice from a trademark lawyer, and ask whether you might be wiser to present this more as a professional courtesy to let the company know what you're doing, rather than assuming from the outset that "permission" is theirs to grant or deny.
If they do in fact have rights that would affect your proposed use of the term, permission would probably include "licensing" so be prepared for that.
Trouble is easiest to avoid by not copying a trademark, but note that it's not illegal to use the same trademark as someone else. You just have to be in a clearly different line of business, or in a different geographical location.
An example of this is that Canada's high court recently ruled that a business may call itself "McDonalds" as long as it isn't a hamburger restaurant. This was a stunning blow to Ronald McDonald and friends, but is a correct interpretation of the trademark laws in Canada, and most other places as well.
for the UK
[patent.gov.uk...]
or here for the EU
[oami.europa.eu...]
if it's not taken ..register your domain ..and then ..and only then ..worry or not :)about if the other guy will be happy about your proposed site ..
