.NET vs. .COM

[gorilla_bob]

I have a .NET domain. I'm going to develop the hell out of it and poor lots of money into it cause it's a great domain. The problem I have is the .com version to the name is not developed at all..


Should I be scared that when I poor all this money into the .NET that the .COM will come in and duplicate my same idea and steal all my thunder?

How can a .NET website protect itself from the .COM counterpart?

- Bob

 

[labrocca]

The first real question is how does the usage compare to the domain name? If your domain name is descriptive to the site usage...then you can't protect from the .com at all.

Let's use freehosting.net as an example. If I ran freehosting.net as a Free Hosting website...and the .com later comes along and does the same thing..nothin you can do.

Now lets use fugie.net and you make a social bookmarking site...well if the .com later decides to do the same thing...you can go after them for the domain and TM infringment. People assume that you must have dotcom to have tm rights and that's just not true. What you need is first usage in a given field to establish your rights.

Goodluck and hope this helped.

 

[jackdomain]

this helped me too, thanks

 

[DNQuest.com]

Generally, TLDs are usually disregarded when deciding TMs or not. Labrocca pretty much nailed it.

 

[Acroplex]

The difference lies in claiming a TM and enforcing it. The former is not good without the latter. "Stealing thunder" is an emotional statement, not a legal stance.

 

[NameCharger]

Idea, probably not the greatest, but anyways:

<yourdomainname>net.com