I fear I'll be accused of domain squatting - but that's not my intention

[drofwarc]

Hi all,

I've picked up a dropped .com domain made of two words that are trademarked by a product manufacturer. The trademarked term is the name of one of the company's products. The first word is a commonly used stylized abbreviation of a word that has several meanings. The second word describes the first word and gives the term its meaning, which is actually pretty flexible.

The company that owns the trademark is using the term in perhaps its most obvious sense.

I thought of using the domain for a product review website related to one of its other potential meanings. There is no overlap between the two product categories, except that they are both household products.

In other words, I truly would not be squatting. There are lots of review websites in this other product category already. What I'm proposing is a viable business model.

Also, there would be no benefit to me of type-in traffic to my domain by people looking for the trademark holder's product.

So what do you think? Should I proceed? Or should I throw in the towel before I get hurt?

I look forward to your comments.

Regards,

drofwarc

 

[Ronald Regging]

As long as what you are using it for is completely unrelated to what their TM covers, you should be fine. The most important thing is to develop it ASAP if that is your plan. Show that you are using it legitimately and you shouldn't have any problems. This is not to say you won't, some companies just have far too much time and money, but legally speaking, you should have a pretty sound defense if you can show it's not being used in an infringing manner.

 

[drofwarc]

As long as what you are using it for is completely unrelated to what their TM covers, you should be fine. The most important thing is to develop it ASAP if that is your plan. Show that you are using it legitimately and you shouldn't have any problems. This is not to say you won't, some companies just have far too much time and money, but legally speaking, you should have a pretty sound defense if you can show it's not being used in an infringing manner.

Thanks Ronald,

That's the response I was hoping to hear. It worries me that I could end up in a court tussle, but I do feel that my use of the domain would ultimately be considered legitimate. The question is, would I be able to stand up to the company's legal offense, if they chose to initiate one.

Regards,

drofwarc

 

[Dave_Z]

The question is, would I be able to stand up to the company's legal offense, if they chose to initiate one.

Now that's something no one here can really answer without knowing any and
all the facts of your dispute, if ever. And even if you share those details, they
are best discussed with an attorney with real-world experience.