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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?"
Tell that to this guy: http://nissan.com/
"There is no real right or wrong, just what the majority accepts at the time."
He does not own nor can he own a trademark unless it is registered. Secondly, you cannot own a trademark to words that are too simple, such as ABC Computer. I think SimpleDog would come into this category of simple names. It's just too common. There was kid named Mike Rowe who was a software developer. He registered the domains MikeRoweSoft.com and MikeRoweSoft.net. Microsoft threatened and sued and lost. They finally did what they should have in the first place. They bought the names from this highschool kid.
.net before McDonald's Hamburgers did. McDonald's sued and lost and finally bought the name from Mr. McDDonald.
There was also a man named McDonald who was also a software developer. You guessed it. He registered McDonalds.com and
Here's an article: http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/?m=20040306
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that Michelle Grosse did not violate the law when she used the *name of Lucas Nursery and Landscaping Inc* in her domain name for a Web site she created to complain about the Canton, MI nursery.
WARNING: IANAL. And you really should talk to one. Nevertheless...
I had a somewhat similar experience a few years ago. A domain that I registered and was using for personal projects attracted the attention of lawyers from Shieldmark, who asserted that I'd registered it in bad faith, and demanded that I turn over ownership of my domain to their client or face an arbitration proceeding according to the rules of ICANN's UDRP process. In Belgium.
In the interest of fairness, I should say that their client did have registered trademarks on the phrase that made up my domain name. On the other hand, their trademark specifically addressed the realm of agricultural products, and... well, let's just say I'm not in the agriculture business.
I sent them a polite letter back saying that while their client had my sympathies, I had registered the domain in good faith, was actively using it, and that if they initialed a UDRP against me, they'd lose. And that was the last I heard of it.
The situation here is different: this guy apparently has no claim on this domain other than the fact that your domain sounds kinda like one of the many he owns. Given that, I'd first talk to a lawyer, then do what I did: write a polite letter suggesting he pound sand.