question I want to start a company using domain.com, but somebody is already using domain.in (India)

As long as there are no trademarks in Canada or US for that name you should be fine. We own a few great brandable .com's used in Spain and Italy for actual businesses (in their respective ccTLDs) and we are also based in Canada. DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer.

Certainly wouldn't be something I'd worry about. But then there isn't much I do worry about.

No

Name Options said:

As long as there are no trademarks in Canada or US for that name you should be fine. We own a few great brandable .com's used in Spain and Italy for actual businesses (in their respective ccTLDs) and we are also based in Canada. DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer.

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I'm not worried about getting into trouble from just "owning" the name. I'm worried about actually using it - for a company that is doing exactly what they are doing as well.

MarketingStrategies.com said:

No

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Can you elaborate?

magnate said:

I'm not worried about getting into trouble from just "owning" the name. I'm worried about actually using it - for a company that is doing exactly what they are doing as well.



Can you elaborate?

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Is your domain.com an actual brand name or some generic name in this category?

If its a generic name then do some research and see if they are strictly doing business in India or have some in your country aswell, but if its a unique Brand Name, then well I cannot comment on the legality of it but it sure wont be 100% ethical as it would seem you are taking advantage of an already established (if not successful) business name and may lead to confusion and other issues in future.

Just my 2 cents.

-CR

Check the trademark databases that affect your locale and your domain.

If there are some, check the goods and services that they have registered. Do they overlap with the ones that you want to offer under the same name?

If there aren't any, stop worrying and get your business started.

People get domains taken from them for registering them in bad faith. Use it for genuine means in the country that you live and then you're not "riding" on the back of their success, are you?

Also if all is clear for trademarks where you live, get the darn thing registered!!

magnate said:

I'm not worried about getting into trouble from just "owning" the name. I'm worried about actually using it - for a company that is doing exactly what they are doing as well.

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Register a company under that name in Canada. Whether as sole proprietor or incorporated.

It will go through a check to see if it is confusing with other business names and if there are trademark conflicts (if memory serves). But you can do this check yourself very easily online as well.

If the government allows you to register the business name then you are good to go.

Everything said so far points to you not having any issues. But if you plan to use the business name long term, you should also register the trademark in Canada and US. This will prevent the Indian company from branching out to North America under the same name and perhaps attempt to hijack the domain from you.

Again, you should do your own due-diligence and don't rely on anything on this forum as legal advice.