Interesting Legal and Trademark Scenario

[TT]

Awhile back I read another member aquired a domain co.(something)

which lead me to ponder this scenario everyday I read here about trademark infringements and I also see many members buying domains and asking for appraisals for domains which are IMHO flagrent trademark violations.

Now supposing someone did own a domain co.(something) and then proceeded to create subdomains with the extension co.(something) would and could these be considered trademark violations hypothetically the owner of co.(something) made the following sub domains what do you think the actual trademark holders rights ( if any ) would be?

google.co.(something) I see this one here all the time
travel.co.(something) This is a highly sought after domain
yahoo.co.(something) Very determined Trademark holder

My next question is could the owner of co.(something) sell sub domains and what would you appraise these sub domains at:

Travel.co.(something)
Any 3 letter .co.(something)
any other highly sought after domain you can think of .co.(something)

lets just say for arguments sake that (something) could be .us or any other domain extension that allows 2 letter registrations.

 

[TT]

due to lack of responses maybe i di not make myself clear

lets say the original name is www.CO.(something)

could the owner legally sell/lease/or otherwise make subdomains to sites that would not lead to where they should

example www.google.CO.us and this led to some PPC program or something else, Does google have any rights to this subdomain? and can or could they make claim to UDRP

the original domain is www.co.us a 2 letter domain but the owner is using it to sell/lease sub domains is this legal?

 

[jberryhill]

http://www.whois.sc/news/2002-12/udrp-wipo.html

 

[RJ]

Was the ".co" part of your example vital to your question? I think that's a reserved term in almost any TLD, as are letters that equal other existing TLDs to avoid this type of scenario.

 

[resellerlogic]

Yeah I don't see how a co.ext would be purchased since they are reserved.

 

[TT]

Jberryhill Thanks for pointing me to that article it was very informative.

RJ yes the CO part was the vital aspect of the scenario. I understand that most ccTLD's reserve this letter combination but I am lead to believe there are a few in the wild. And that was the basis of the question if one was available in the wild and say for example I owned it would / could I legally sell / lease sub's ( Not to say I own or will ever own) to trademarked names that were not being leased by the trademark holder.

Joe Blow lease's www.GOOGLE.co.US Would google have any claim to this name, would they have any grounds for UDRP ect

Frank down the street lease's www.MSN.co.US

and me being the owner decided to make 500 popular sub domains and point them to a parking program.

 

[RJ]

Ok. Like John Berryhill pointed out, its probable that the subdomain would not be covered by UDRP. I say probable because not all TLDs are governed the same and not all are covered by UDRP process. Regardless, Google would have grounds to start a lawsuit against you if their trademark was used improperly.

 

[TT]

i only used google as an example as it gets alot of talk around here but it was just a general synopsis

 

[RJ]

i only used google as an example as it gets alot of talk around here but it was just a general synopsis

I understand. Replace 'Google' with the name of any trademark holder.

 

[TT]

yes correct,