Fictional characters...trademark issues?

[Ixix]

hi,

say you take two words together and they form a name that happens to be the name of a fictional character, would that be a trademark issue?

for example

super man
bionic man
spider man
bugs bunny
green goblin

what's your take?

I'm asking this because i found a CUTE and brandable domain name available...but it happens to be the name of a children's fictional character (i did a wiki search )

what's your take?

 

[DNQuest.com]

Just "happens"........ Is that the defense you will use when you are challenged...?

"I wasn't regging a TM, I regged 2 seperate words that just "happen" to be a TM"

Yes, fictional characters are owned by companies/people...

super man DC Comics
bionic man I think ABC (off the top of my head)
spider man Marvel
bugs bunny WB
green goblin Marvel

 

[Ixix]

ok ok , so the examples i gave you is pretty well known

how bout something like this

what if you registered

"laser beam" and that word happens to be a fictional character, or "super kitty"

I"m not saying the name cuz i haven't registered it yet.

 

[Dave_Z]

Well, if someone can prove trademark rights to it and decides to use any and
all options available, why not?

Ain't life great? :D

 

[DNQuest.com]

The reason for TMs exsist are to protect the owners rights. Well known, not well known, it doesn't matter. a TM is a TM. As has been discussed, there can be exceptions (do a search), but usually, people reg TMs with full knowledge of the TM (bad faith registration, of course, the TM would have to prove that).

 

[labrocca]

Well if you use the domain in relation to the TM characters that's really where the problem exists. If you took superkitty.com and used it as a personal blog for your cat your are not infringing on their TM. TMs are specific to a usage.

Let's say you had microsoftcat.com ...you named your cat this. Then took photos of your cat and placed them on this domain. MS might come after you but you may have an arguement for usage. This is an extreme example and I don't recommend you do this. Microsoft is NOT a generic term like superkitty.com would be.

Anyways good luck.

 

[godinu]

In general, if you are even asking this question, it means you suspect there may be a TM issue, so it's best to stay away. There have been loads of cases of TM/copyright owners sending cease and desist letters for things as simple as creating a Harry Potter (fictional character) fan page.
In the last year or 2 Microsoft sued a guy named Mike Rowe for creating MikeRoweSoft.com (he had his own software company).
Whether or not a TM/Copyright holder will actually sue someone for using a name of one of their characters is a guessing game. Some police their TMs more fiercely than others. I think you'd be hard-pressed to prove a term like "spider man" "just happens" and I'm sure that if you had some good idea you wanted to develop, you could find an alternate name.

 

[labrocca]

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