Generic words Trademark Infringement Doubt

[CYDomains]

Hi everyone,

Newbie here and to domaining. I have read many posts on this forum and learned a lot here and there.

Long story short, I was hand-regging some new gTLDs a month ago (although I agree that .com is king ), and did not check TM word/phrases completely. Now I am afraid some of the domains I have regged involve TM infringement, so I would like to ask for some advice/ comments.

Is it true that "No company can claim exclusive use to a generic term" for domains?

I can provide some examples of the domains I regged, since it's new gtlds, I'll use .--- . If anyone of you would like to know what the extension is in order to fully determine if it's TM infringement, please let me know!

Note: the following comments in brackets are found after I hand-regged the domains, so I had completely no idea there was existing TM associated (e.g. DRMD). Funny for a sec I thought I was lucky when I was able to hand-reg them.

ManagementAccountants.--- (TM with CPAs? CMAs? Not sure if it's generic enough not to infringe with those accredited bodies)
DrMD.--- (found DRMD TM on http://trademark.markify.com/trademarks/uspto/drmd/86164686 So I guess I should drop it?)
EyeMD.--- (found TM on http://trademark.markify.com/trademarks/uspto/www.eye.md/85491278 drop it?)
CurriculumVitae.--- (found TM on http://trademark.markify.com/trademarks/uspto/curriculum+vitae/86130421; and I thought it's generic enough not to have any TM issue)
OutdoorSport.--- (generic enough, but there are TM's including this phrase, and even with http://trademark.markify.com/trademarks/uspto/outdoor+sport/77511168 exact match)
Invests.--- (very generic, so there are lots of TM including the word. singular match: http://trademark.markify.com/trademarks/wipo/invest/1016480 Drop it?! At some point I feel like we should never hang-reg ANY single word (even for .com) because mostly likely there are all inclusive in some sort of TM, and this theory is weird because single word(.com) domains are worth so much)
Supplement.--- (as above, very generic, but some TM includes this word)
Brewing.---(as above, very generic, but some TM includes this word)
Classifieds.---(as above, very generic, but some TM includes this word)

Any comment/advice as for which one I should drop?

Thank you so much!!

 

[enlytend]

Is it true that "No company can claim exclusive use to a generic term" for domains?

Not really.

First, you need to look at the details of the trademark - what class(es) of goods and services was it granted for? Are there any notes about not having rights to certain words except when used as part of the mark?

Also, is it for a logo/symbol ("design mark") or for the phrase? Or both?

- A tradmark asserts that a phrase and/or symbol uniquely identifies a source of a particular class of goods and services (the trademark owner).

- When you apply for a trademark, you apply for it in context of one or more classes of goods and services.

- Terms which are purely generic, like dictionary words, can't be trademarked for same class of G&S as common usage of the name. For example, you couldn't tm Apples to sell Apples.

- There's a class of names one step above "generic" known as "descriptive" - this is a phrase that DESCRIBES the G&S being offered in some way. The tm office will turn down an application if they think it's descriptive, but you MIGHT be able to tm an otherwise-descriptive mark IF you can prove that it uniquely identifies YOUR G&S.

- Once the trademark office has granted a tm, it has legal power regardless of whether or not YOU think it's generic or descriptive.

- You can usually use a phrase for a DIFFERENT class of G&S than the trademark covers, unless it is a "famous mark" - (like Disney or Verizon.)

It always comes down to the specifics - what exactly is the tm for, and how are you using it?

Those are just guidelines - only a lawyer with the details would be able to give you a thumbs up or thumbs down on using a domain which matches or overlaps someone else's trademark.

I would say the last 4 on your list are safe, by themselves.

 

[CYDomains]

I see, thank you @enlytend so much!

So I guess if I use CurriculumVitae.--- as a portal related to Resume/ CV writing, which is no where close to wine where the TM holders specifies in the G&S section, then I am okay right?

 

[Ms Domainer]

I see, thank you @enlytend so much!

So I guess if I use CurriculumVitae.--- as a portal related to Resume/ CV writing, which is no where close to wine where the TM holders specifies in the G&S section, then I am okay right?

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I think you'd be okay.

Just make sure that any ad streams are not related to wine.



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