- Impact
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This is not a question about legality, but, rather, about "fairness" as you see it.
Should a business that depends upon traditional methods of income have more rights to the use of a name then an internet dependent business?
On one side are the traditional businesses, that have invested/are investing resources and hard work to develop their businesses and recognition of their brand names.
On the other side are the e-businesses that have invested/are investing resources and hard work into the development of ways to better transact business from a computer and w/o whom there would not be no e-business and no internet providing an internet business platform.
One side has developed a name and uses the internet to optimize their income from it.
The other side has created a platform (the net), but doesn't have "name rights" that are equal to the "internet rights" that the other side enjoys. Who is benefitting the most from the others work?
What I am getting at, and what initiated this line of thinking, is how extremely territorial businesses are w/ their trademarks. Understandable to a degree, but when a developer wants to use a dictionary word on the *internet* w/ content and focus in an area totally unrelated to "Mr Big's" business, and he gets jumped on by "Mr Big's" legal staff w/ a threatening C&D, (after they have already made an immediate application for a new TM class that they will never use, but will effectively shut out "Mr Little"), it would seem that "Mr Big" is biting the hand that brought him to the party. We are talking about a *tld*, that was born of, and lives on the internet, not someones logo, packaging or product.
The 2 models (Traditional and E-business) are best distinguished by their relative dependence upon the net for survival. And remember, Mr Big came to the party after it had already begun to roll.
Of course this is a simplistic analysis. E business and traditional goods and services business have become so intertwined that it is difficult to break them apart. One major area where the two sides become distinct, however, is over the issue of name rights. Do you think one side is getting an unfair advantage in name rights and usage on the internet?
Should a business that depends upon traditional methods of income have more rights to the use of a name then an internet dependent business?
On one side are the traditional businesses, that have invested/are investing resources and hard work to develop their businesses and recognition of their brand names.
On the other side are the e-businesses that have invested/are investing resources and hard work into the development of ways to better transact business from a computer and w/o whom there would not be no e-business and no internet providing an internet business platform.
One side has developed a name and uses the internet to optimize their income from it.
The other side has created a platform (the net), but doesn't have "name rights" that are equal to the "internet rights" that the other side enjoys. Who is benefitting the most from the others work?
What I am getting at, and what initiated this line of thinking, is how extremely territorial businesses are w/ their trademarks. Understandable to a degree, but when a developer wants to use a dictionary word on the *internet* w/ content and focus in an area totally unrelated to "Mr Big's" business, and he gets jumped on by "Mr Big's" legal staff w/ a threatening C&D, (after they have already made an immediate application for a new TM class that they will never use, but will effectively shut out "Mr Little"), it would seem that "Mr Big" is biting the hand that brought him to the party. We are talking about a *tld*, that was born of, and lives on the internet, not someones logo, packaging or product.
The 2 models (Traditional and E-business) are best distinguished by their relative dependence upon the net for survival. And remember, Mr Big came to the party after it had already begun to roll.
Of course this is a simplistic analysis. E business and traditional goods and services business have become so intertwined that it is difficult to break them apart. One major area where the two sides become distinct, however, is over the issue of name rights. Do you think one side is getting an unfair advantage in name rights and usage on the internet?