guide Question about Acronym and Trademark

[Robin]

Hello all,


Well, I have a small query. Everyone knows about bmw.com. Suppose someone owns bmwp or bmwy, etc then will it lead to trademark violation or something? This is just one example but there are many like audi, etc. It's a common case in acronyms.


thanks

 

[Dave_Z]

Not necessarily. Just like other domain-trademark dispute cases, though, this issue essentially depends if the domain name is being used to "exploit" its trademark namesake.

Problems might occur if you use an acronym-type domain name (e.g. AOL) to make money off of the trademark. However, numerous cases show non-commercial use (e.g. commentary, criticism, parody) is fine.

 

[ulterios]

As long as the domain isn't being used to profit or benefit from BMW's Trademark in any way then you shouldn't have any issues.

If you had bmwp.com for example and used it for a WordPress site or Windows Phone site or something else then there shouldn't be any issues. Just don't go selling car part or something like that in which the "bmw" part of the domain can be looked at like it's being used to profit from the BMW Trademark.

Stay away from using the domain to profit in any way from the BMW Trademark and then there wouldn't be any perceivable issues.