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Is a Domain Name an Automatic Trademark?
TheWorkingStiff writes "I registered a descriptive domain name (something like "thesimpledog.com") and started a blog on it. About a month later I get a threatening letter from a link farmer who owns "simpledog.com" The owner of simpledog.com is claiming that he owns the trademark to the words simpledog even though he has no real business or rights by that name other than a static page with some text and Adsense slapped on it. There is no product, service or brand whatsoever. Does simply registering a two or three word domain give you instant trademark rights to those words even though you've never done anything with them? Should I give up my domain to a link farmer who is trying to bully me, or does he have a valid right to any phrase he registers that isn't already trademarked?"
Question: Is a Domain Name an Automatic Trademark?
Answer: Ask a lawyer not Slashdot.
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It wouldn't matter if he did have a trademark.
It would cover his area of business, not an unrelated blog. There is no way that somebody would find the sites "confusingly similar."
The guy's just trying to introduce a second revenue stream from his link farm. If anything, I think your site would increase traffic to his site, when people type it wrong.
I'm gonna need a spec.
Then sue the fucker. For real.
Deleted
Honestly, I'd just asking him for the USPTO serial/registration number for his trademark (and obviously search the uspto web site to verify it). If he has one, he's shown he actually cares about it, plus he's got all the paperwork he needs to dispute your domain with ICANN. Do you really want to spend time and money fighting at that point?
But of course he doesn't have one, so just asking will show him you're not just going to hand over a domain because you got a nasty email, which is what he's expecting. If he tries to quickly file the papers, he'll discover that just owning a domain name is not enough to even file for a trademark, much less get one. He'll have to find other uses of it (prior to yours) to complete the paperwork, and if his site is just a link farm it's questionable whether even his web site would qualify.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
From the post description it doesn't sound like he is trading in anything but ads.
Unless he has a registered trademark, or a well known business name (he has neither) he's just trying to scare you. As someone else said, ask for his trademark rego details, plus his registered business name and address. That'll scare him off unless he's legit.
You're technically correct but only that. The argument doesn't apply to the real world in which we have legal systems and laws, trademarks, fair use, etc.
Likewise a business name is just a bit of marketing that happens to be helpful to humans for branding puroses, conceptually not different to a person name for identification.
Also technically correct, but cannot stand on its own in the real world.
It would be like throwing a bucket of water at the ocean. Uzi Nissan is putting up an amazing fight, but eventually the guy with the most money usually wins.
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Oy.
First, learn what the law says. A trademark gives you an exclusive right to use a mark in a defined geopgraphical area in a specific class of goods or service. You don't turn on your delta faucet and expect to hear airline shcedules.
If he/she is doing business under that name and you are too in the same class or service then he/she may have a point and you should wait till he files a $1500 UDRP against you (which you can simply say "ok, it's yours, here"). Otherwise, ignore it.
If you two aren't doing business in the same class of goods or service then just ignore him.
A trademark is to protect the consumer so they can identify the source of a service or goods.
You can read a lot of UDRP decisions online. While not a court of law they're meant to be a quick and cheap alternative to a court case and if you're in the com/net/org/most other tlds you're bound by them.
Don't offer your domain for sale is considered "bad faith".
Consult a lawyer, who'll pretty much tell you the same thing (if they understand trademarks and domains which many don't)
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