Legal Help Selling my First Domain Name

[Sam Boomer]

I just got off the phone with a lead hoping to sell my first domain name. The domain name is a six letter brandable, and I picked it up for reg fee. Before I bought it I checked trademarkia and nothing existed. I was hoping to the list the domain on BB or Namerific, but after googling the name, a local wholesale beer licensed store in New York owns the domains name + beverages. For example my doamin is LLLLLL.com theirs is LLLLLLbeverages.com. So after a pleasant phone call with the owner he informs me that he isn't the most technically inclined and would run it past his more tech savvy business partner and his lawyer.

So my question is, since there is no trademark, it there anything to worry about? I couldn't get a read on the owner, he seemed pretty open to the idea, but as I said wasn't technically inclined. I informed him I was going to try and sell the domain on brandable site for $1000+ so he is jotting down $1000 as the starting price. Another question is that if the name is registered under a liquor license, does that put me in any legal turmoil?


Thanks for you help,

Boomer

 

[Sam Boomer]

UPDATE: I have found them under the NYS Department of State. They are an active domestic business corporation! Did I screw up?

 

[Green Moon]

First of all, when you say there is no trademark, you mean there is no REGISTERED trademark. A business using the mark in connection with their products or services very likely has acquired some common law trademark rights. So be careful.

That being said, trademarks (whether common law trademarks or registered trademarks) do not give blanket rights to the trademark owner for all uses. It only restricts others from using the mark in a manner that creates a likelihood of confusion about the origination of the particular goods and services to which the trademark currently applies. That is why you can have the same mark on completely different products such as Apple Computers, Apple Music (the Beatles' label) and Apple Rent a Car.

It gets a little more complicated with the specific rules that apply to domains under UDRP, but if you are strictly speaking about trademarks, then as long as you don't use the domain in a manner that violates the trademark owner's rights, you do not have a trademark issue. In your case, it means a beverage competitor in that particular area could not use the domain for its beverage business, but a company in an unrelated business probably could buy the domain and create a brand around it.

The safest thing, of course, is to consult with a trademark attorney on the specific name and the particular facts.

 

[johname]

On the good side just because he mention involving his lawyer doesn't mean this is going to escalate into a trademark challenge. Don't ask more than the $1000 price he now has in his head. Let them do the talking (don't put your foot in your mouth) See if they spit out a purchase number. Then take it and move on. If it turns into a "I got a trademark hand the domain over to us" then reevaluate the domain. (Is it really worth fighting and holding out for more, would your domaining peers call it reg fee?)

 

[enterscope]

Yep, unless the Name in question specifically has to deal with the industry in which they are using the mark, then you really don't have much to worry about.