German trademark law??

[TLDnetworks]

"Inserting this domain violates German trademark law. Because of that, we cannot accept this domain name at the moment."

Got this error when listing "OlympicEvents .info" and "Resolves .info" at SEDO. What's up with that?

 

[primacomputer]

Olympic is a trademark

 

[Dave_Z]

Sedo and any provider can block out registrations at their discretion. In this
case, they choose to block out registrations that potentially infringe existing
trademarks.

 

[Genialnames]

I have a direct experience in this same field, a couple of years ago I registered www.olympicgolds.com and I received a rough message from a person of a german site warning me about german law infringment.
I tried to investigate on this topic and yes I found an international rule stated in 1953 for wich any brand containing the word "olympic inside, in whatevery form, it would be not allowed since the word Olympic is a trademarc owned by the IOC (even if I personally do not agree that an ancient word of common use can be subject to any trademark ,at least not in so extended way,to me it sound like a very powerful lobby could have the power to register the word "SPORT"as a trademark so they have the absolute monopole on such common and widely uised word with all the inimmaginable benefits that such thing could bring and also pretending to apply a tax to anyone who use it.....) and then on the other side the Olympic games are so important for brothership among the countries that some protection for the image it is neecessary....
Hope theese info are useful to you.

 

[bluesman]

I tried to investigate on this topic and yes I found an international rule stated in 1953 for wich any brand containing the word "olympic inside, in whatevery form, it would be not allowed since the word Olympic is a trademarc owned by the IOC (even if I personally do not agree that an ancient word of common use can be subject to any trademark...

I'd agree that a generic sports term like "olympics" should not have been able to be TMed... before 1953, that is. A little more digging might well turn up info about the Olympic Committee finally becoming offically incorporated or something around 1953, hence the ban on "misusing" the name after that year.

 

[SJM211]

"Inserting this domain violates German trademark law. Because of that, we cannot accept this domain name at the moment."

Got this error when listing "OlympicEvents .info" and "Resolves .info" at SEDO. What's up with that?

Snap! I just registered olympicevent.info and got the same message when I tried to park it at Sedo (I hadn't seen this post before otherwise I wouldn't have bothered). It seems stupid that you can't use the word "Olympic" - I guess this isn't enforced as I assume there are thousands of domains containing this word..

 

[DNQuest.com]

I'd agree that a generic sports term like "olympics" should not have been able to be TMed... before 1953, that is. A little more digging might well turn up info about the Olympic Committee finally becoming offically incorporated or something around 1953, hence the ban on "misusing" the name after that year.

The only problem with that statement is "Olympics" is not generic

 

[businessmoola]

I have :

2012summerolympics.net
2012summerolympics.org
summerolympics2012.org

I didn't know about this trademark crap. How the heck can u trademark a word, it's like saying I want to trademark my name and not let anyone else have my name!
Can I sell these domains, build them, etc ? What do I do?

 

[labrocca]

I have VideoGameOlympics.com since 2001 and never did anything with it. I wasn't aware of the TM till AFTER I made the registration but have kept it since with no problems. However I have not made a nickel with it not even PPC.

 

[DNQuest.com]

I have :

2012summerolympics.net
2012summerolympics.org
summerolympics2012.org

I didn't know about this trademark crap. How the heck can u trademark a word, it's like saying I want to trademark my name and not let anyone else have my name!
Can I sell these domains, build them, etc ? What do I do?

Go to the search bar and use keywords "TM" and "Trademark" and do several days of reading.

I have VideoGameOlympics.com since 2001 and never did anything with it. I wasn't aware of the TM till AFTER I made the registration but have kept it since with no problems. However I have not made a nickel with it not even PPC.

Yea, the IOC is very particular about the name. If they haven't contact you yet, they will eventually (they may be worse than ebay). But keeping off the radar is a good decision.

 

[primacomputer]

The only problem with that statement is "Olympics" is not generic

Sure it is. It's generic but protected by specific legislation. That's why the legislation was passed. A trademark wouldn't have been enforceable so they made a special law.

It's amazing what you can do when you can just make up laws willy nilly for fun and profit

I didn't know about this trademark crap. How the heck can u trademark a word, it's like saying I want to trademark my name and not let anyone else have my name!

No, it's nothing like that. Feel free to name your first child Microsoft. The trademark does not stop you from doing this. But don't think that you can use a name for business simply because it's “your name”

 

[Ringtonebro]

lol, I could not park bmwebhosting.com at sedo probably because it contains 'bmw'.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Sure it is. It's generic but protected by specific legislation. That's why the legislation was passed. A trademark wouldn't have been enforceable so they made a special law.
/QUOTE]

The legislation was passed to protect the TM worldwide, though I agree that the "powers that be" maybe over reached, but "Olympics" IS a TM, no getting around that.

 

[DanaTheDogMan]

Sedo with TM names

How does one explain that Sedo parks "wifi.com", when wifi is a TM of another company? What am I missing?

 

[primacomputer]

Perhaps Sedo is not all seeing, all knowing, and infallible?