Trademarked Name In Domain

kvmcable said:

Which is exactly why the US Government passed the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act



Such a bad idea to think you'll profit off a trademark in the USA. If they want the domain they'll take it and won't have to pay you a dime. I've said it many times before, a company that has enough money to obtain trademarks typically has enough money to defend them.

You just threw money away.

The OP should have taken the first offer. Now they'll just wait and see if his website causes any legal definition of consumer confusion and file a complaint to seize the domain without paying him a dime. $50 was a generous offer for an trademark infringing domain.

Click to expand...

Hobocop said:

I'm not looking to sell the name to the company and make a profit. I want to use the site on my own to market amazon affiliate products which has the type of the product in the name, with no relation to the actual company. I see that the point would be if there is any bad intent to defraud, mislead or tarnish the reputation of the parent company, but if in this case what would really draw the line in determining whether or not I get a cease & desist.


Here just for an example (not my site), Here at ala moana mall, they just leased out the space to Bloomingdales. We haven't had that retailer here in Hawaii yet, but say for the sake of this post, I made a site called "HawaiiBloomingdales.com" . With that being said, if I were to go to amazon and just sell items such as this

"Linen and Ivory Bloomingdale 3-piece King / Cal-king Comforter Cover (Duvet-Cover-Set) 100 % Egyptian Cotton 300 TC"

would I get into trouble. See I'm using the Hawaii aspect because I'm here in Hawaii, and the Bloomingdale part just because that is what I would be selling or dealing with primarily.

And to reiterate, that's just an example of what I previously mentioned on how I would justify having a very similar name. But I would probably need your guys' advice on this situation.

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

kvmcable said:

Anytime the trademark is in the domain the mark holder can claim customer confusion and 99% of the time a Judge will agree. A shopper could see Bloomingdale in your HawaiiBloomingdale example and believe Bloomingdale owns the site.

While you'll find thousands of domains with trademarks in the title being used for commercial gain; you should realize they only exist because the mark holder allows them to exist. The mark holder could take just about all of them down using the vague legal argument of consumer confusion. Even if you have a good argument, it could cost you at least 5 figures before you get your argument in front of a judge.

With the recent lack of EMD SEO benefit, it's almost foolish to invest so much time and energy into a website with this sort of liability. Back when EMD held a lot of SEO weight it could be argued worth the risk. These days it's silly to mess with them.

Click to expand...

Dear Sirs Registration and use of movemberaccessories.com
We write further to your letter/email of 25 June 2013.
Your request for payment for the domain name of more than $50 is more than the actual administrativecosts of registering a new domain name. It is not for the Movember Foundation to meet the costs of youdeveloping an alternative brand when you have clearly taken advantage of our client's rights. Yourinclusion of the word "Movember" in the domain name cannot realistically refer to anything other than ourclient.
The Movember Foundation owns a number of trade mark registrations around the world for MOVEMBERand a stylised version including the same word:
These include United States trade mark registration number 3,514,689, Australian trade mark registrationnumber 1462968, and International Trade Mark registration number 1106394 designating the EuropeanCommunity and many other countries.



We repeat our request that you transfer the domain name. Our client's offer of paying $50 to cover youradministrative expenses will automatically be withdrawn after 19 July 2013. If we do not hear from youbefore this date, we will be advising our client to commence proceedings to recover the domain namethrough the relevant domain name complaint channels.

Click to expand...