Also if a big company owned a domain name and did not renew it (it is a non- trademarked domain name) , can they take the domain from the domain name owner without compensation?
Thanks in advance for any suggestion
They may not have trademarked the exact term, because they may feel it's protected by existing trademarks.
For example (and I've no idea of the facts, it's just for illustration), Coca-cola own 'coke' - so if they dropped 'dietcoke.com', and hadn't bothered to trademark 'diet coke', they'd still reclaim, as the term includes 'coke'.
Although big companies make mistakes (M$ famously forgot to renew Hotmail once), it usually safe to assume that :
(A) They know more about TM than you or I ever will
(B) They have better lawyers than you or I ever will
The domain wars are over; even if they haven't thought of it, if 'common sense' links it to them, they'll win.
Ask yourself why you want it. If you want to benefit from their name, that's exactly why you won't win.
And losing is expensive, because no court will believe you made a genuine mistake; there's been too many chancers. They'll skin you alive.
No, if the name is a companies 1st letter + generic word , what happens? I bought domains because the name was short and catchy.
Does your registrar just hand over the domain, or do they inform you?
Will you be compensated for atleast the registration fees?
Also what is the status of acronyms, are they also covered under trademark?
For example if webmasterworld is a trademark, do they have a right to WebmasterWorld. tld?
[quote]If you want to benefit from their name, that's exactly why you won't win.[quote]
If you're planning to use "abcm" to profit from someone else's name and product, they won't be happy. If you're using abcm for something completely different you may be OK.
Responses from companies to infringing domainers range from C&D letters to UDRP actions, to lawsuits. They MAY offer to reimburse your registration fee, but they're under no obligation to do so.
HOWEVER, I'm not a lawyer and every situation is different - if you have your heart set on a possibly-infringing name, you're best off seeking legal advice or going with something "safer".
[edited by: MamaDawg at 1:44 pm (utc) on Jan. 24, 2007]
If there's a product the company used to make and you want that name, let's say, to profit from visitors still looking for that product, chances are you're asking for trouble.
If the company itself is no longer in business - I don't know. Probably depends on what happened to the assets of the company when it went out of business.
Maybe Webwork will weigh in on this, but if it were me, I would be asking my lawyer's advice or choosing a different name.
And many companies will go to end of the world to stop you - then send you the tab.
When these discussions started - round about 1998, maybe earlier, there were a few grey areas. Not now.
You'll lose; so why put yourself though it?
