Question About Domain Trademark, Is this alright?

[oldgreat]

I am thinking of creating a blog (school stuff) - unofficial school fan club.
my school is using country .edu extension, .net is available ,is it ok if i use it? the title i will write unofficial school website
Are school names trademark? Any thing I should do to protect myself against legal issue?
I already bought the name, what should i do if it's not alright?

[lucy24]

If you are worried, look at USPTO and see if the school's name is currently a registered trademark. I stress "registered". "Trademark" alone just means someone is de facto using it; in the US there is no such thing as "trademark pending". Frankly I think the chances of a school having its name registered as a trademark are fairly minute. Unless your school is something on the order of Harvard [tmsearch.uspto.gov]. (Hope that was right. There are 168 "live" trademarks as of today. Most for some reason seem to be plumbing supplies.)

Are you planning on saying nasty things about the school? If so, trademark as such would be the least of your troubles.

[not2easy]

You would need to be guided by the regulations and laws of your country, USPTO covers US Trademarks. Generally (but not everywhere) as long as you aren't using their logos, etc. or pretending to be the school, a partner or subsidiary or sponsored by, etc. you should be safe. But always get local legal advice on laws.

[lucy24]

.edu implies US (similarly .gov, .mil etc), so that was my starting assumption.

[londrum]

Why dont you just ask the school

[oldgreat]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for your reply.

searching at USPTO, i didnt see much school being registered.

Nope, no nasty things, just a unofficial fan club, blog.
I am a student, couldnt always get local legal advice on laws, appreciate you guys comments

Let say what if I received a email from the school?
I have to give in the domain?
is there anything i have to do or i can protect myself? Like put a remark ,is it sufficient?

[lucy24]

If they wanted the domain name, they could have bought it for themselves at any time.

:: detour here for predictable search for harvard.tld, revealing that the name doesn't really seem to be much value to anyone ::

[LifeinAsia]

is there anything i have to do or i can protect myself?

* Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, nor do I play on on TV.*

If it were me, instead of getting [SchoolName].net I would probably use [SchoolName]fans.net. And I would put a notice on the front page that the site is not officially associated with nor sanctioned by the school.

I am a student, couldnt always get local legal advice on laws

Are you a student at THAT school? If so, a simple chat with an administrator at the school should get you the information you need. (And make sure you get a copy in writing of the administrator giving you explicit permission.) Even if you ar enot a student there, reach out to the school and find out what their thoughts are.

Remember- although it is often easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission, it is not always cheaper in the long run to do it that way.

[oldgreat]

Hi guys, thank you all for your reply.
I got rejected by the school as it against corporate policy for non official school.

Seem like there's no workaround, is there?
So I should just leave it to expire in another 358 days?
Is it legal to domain park the domain like sedo?

[lucy24]

What does "corporate policy" have to do with anything? In what way is that binding on you?

You don't have to get an organization's permission to talk about them. At least not until the Supreme Court says so. Which will be the week after next, give or take.

[londrum]

just pick another domain name — one that doesn't use the school title. and don't use their logo either, or any of their photos (take your own photos). as long as you are not claiming to officially represent the school, and aren't bad mouthing them, i don't see what they can do about it. people set up unofficial fan forums for bands and products all the time.

don't let them beat you!

[oldgreat]

Hi all, thank you for your reply.

I am stuck.

I heard for trademark domain best to delete away fast.If I want to cancel a domain, Anyone know what happens after that at godaddy? Is it open for registration? I heard domain get hold by godaddy and they park it (like ads landing page)
imagine after deleted, and the other party requested for the domain... Both way i am stuck

[not2easy]

If you have not received a specific notification regarding Trademark (not corporate policy) you don't need to delete anything - and yes, godaddy will place ads on their parked domains.

You weren't requesting an endorsement, you aren't trying to pass yourself off as them or using their logos, right? You aren't starting a non official school, maybe call it alumni group or something like that. It is done all the time, search for similar sites and see how old some of them are.

[oldgreat]

Hmm , they mention they cannot approve my request to use this website, so now it like left idling , waiting for legal letter to come?

yes that right, i think because of the name exact as the school...

[lucy24]

Who says you need their permission to use a domain name that you own and they don't? If they had wanted to take the name out of circulation, they could have registered it themselves at any time. If they didn't feel like spending the $10, how much were they planning to spend on lawyers to justify pure dog-in-the-mangerism?