SonyStyle TM

[techie474]

I know Sony is a trademark. Is it safe to register a typo of SonyStyle? I don't think SonyStyle is a TM?

What are the Legal issues when someone registers a TM typo but doesn't live in USA/UK/Canada? I hope there will be no problems!

 

[Ronald Regging]

Registering typos are TM infringement unless it's a TM of a generic term, like apple.com Even then you may have some problems, might not lead anywhere, but an angry company with enough money can cause problems for anyone.

But anyway, SonyStyle is a TM, so you'd be essentially typo-squatting.

And it doesn't matter where you live, UDRP proceedings are international. Not only that, but under the Madrid Protocol, you still stand a good chance of facing legal problems aside from recovery of the domain.

 

[Fka200]

Considering the Sony stores in the Malls etc. are called Sony Style, i highly doubt that it is trademarked.


*** Sarcasm. ---> Sony Style SHOULD be trademarked. It is the name of their stores.

 

[techie474]

I searched in Google and I don't think SonyStyle is TM. Sony is a TM, does this fact automatically makes SonyStyle a TM?

Anyhow, the domain got 9 views and 1 click in 48 hours.

 

[Fka200]

sonystyle.com

I'm pretty confident SonyStyle is TM'd.

Goodluck!

 

[aliengg]

Oh well, a lot of people out there use TM names w/o consent. Those big guys either didn't know about it, or they didn't think it would worth to go after them.

Considering the Sony stores in the Malls etc. are called Sony Style, i highly doubt that it is trademarked.


*** Sarcasm. ---> Sony Style SHOULD be trademarked. It is the name of their stores.

 

[rrsae]

obviously sonystyle.com has a TM issue, and sonycars has, and sonyblankets and every sony"otherwords"

 

[Dave_Z]

I searched in Google and I don't think SonyStyle is TM. Sony is a TM, does this fact automatically makes SonyStyle a TM?

Perhaps not. But given there are various decisions (both Court and UDRP) that
involved domain names bearing a trademarked term where many complainants
won for whatever reason, should yours be potentially any different?

Should I wonder why you registered that domain name in the first place?

 

[Erdy]

If it had been something like AppleStyle.com then you would stand a chance because apple is a generic term. This would of course require that you don't put any content related or smillar to apple products. On the other hand with the domain you have I have no doubt they will decide you have registered in bad faith which means you were thinking about the brand sony as you registered. So yes you will lose the domain and you might get into further trouble.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

obviously sonystyle.com has a TM issue, and sonycars has, and sonyblankets and every sony"otherwords"

No, (well maybe still yes...) because Sony doesn't do business as "Sony Blankets" or "Sony Fine China Vases" or anything. They DO business as "Sony Style".
http://www.google.com/search?q=sony...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
http://www.google.com/search?num=50...en-US:official&hs=jtV&q=sonystyle&btnG=Search


And where do you all get off claiming that "Sony Style" isn't TM'd anyway?
There are 4 entries, 2 live.

Word Mark SONY STYLE
Goods and Services IC 016. US 038. G & S: magazines featuring electronic products and audio/video entertainment. FIRST USE: 19930515. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19930515
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Design Search Code
Serial Number 74404748
Filing Date June 23, 1993
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition February 15, 1994
Registration Number 1835430
Registration Date May 10, 1994
Owner (REGISTRANT) Sony Corporation CORPORATION JAPAN 6-7-35 kitashinagawa Shinagawa-Ku Tokyo JAPAN 141
Attorney of Record Robert B.G. Horowitz
Prior Registrations 1432053;1622127;1682342;AND OTHERS
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR). SECTION 8(10-YR) 20040511.
Renewal 1ST RENEWAL 20040511
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

And lastly, just to go ahead and put this one to bed,
109040 sonystyl.com Sony Kabushiki Kaisha a/t/a Sony Corporation v John Zuccarini d/b/a Rave Club Berlin UDRP 4/8/2002 Transferred
That's right, there are dozens of Sony cases at WIPO and NAF, ALL that I could find involved Sony winning. (And I have to love the poetry here of an EXACT example of what it is the OP is talking about, and others have defended, being so blatantly obvious that even the smallest amount of due-diligence would have exposed it! </frustration>)

Be honest with yourself: You registered this domain to profit off the intellectual property of Sony, yes? So why try to find some small technicality to try to gain the legal high ground? (Which, btw, that technicality doesn't even begin to exist here.)

-Allan :gl:

(wishes he could legitimately sticky this dammed thread)

(And I'm giving myself rep for this one )
(No, I can't really do that)

 

[techie474]

I registered SonyStyle typo only to get revenue with parking, just like others have registered wwwsonystyle.com (Parked at Skenzo) and rbcroaylbank.com (Parked at DS). Sony is not going after the owner of typo, nor is rbc bank.

IAmAllanShore from where did you copied this info. What's the best place to search for TMs before registering any name?

I know I have no legal high ground, I am interested in Parking revenue and when Sony will tell me to give the domain to them I will.

I was looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typosquatting and found that still a common typo (maybe the most common one) goggle.com is not redirecting to Google

 

[enlytend]

I registered SonyStyle typo only to get revenue with parking, just like others have registered wwwsonystyle.com (Parked at Skenzo) and rbcroaylbank.com (Parked at DS). Sony is not going after the owner of typo, nor is rbc bank.

You mean, they haven't gone after the owner ... YET. Just because someone else does it doesn't make it right ... or a good idea!

Look up trademarks at http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm - choose "search" from the links at the right, go to the basic search page and type in your phrase.

 

[DNQuest.com]

I registered SonyStyle typo only to get revenue with parking, just like others have registered wwwsonystyle.com (Parked at Skenzo) and rbcroaylbank.com (Parked at DS). Sony is not going after the owner of typo, nor is rbc bank.

I know I have no legal high ground, I am interested in Parking revenue and when Sony will tell me to give the domain to them I will.

And people wonder why domainers get a bad rap.... because of cybersquatters who think what they are doing is ok and no big deal.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I know I have no legal high ground, I am interested in Parking revenue and when Sony will tell me to give the domain to them I will.

I'm done on this one, but I will leave one more comment.

Search this forum for the thread titled something like "What's the worst that can happen?" , and then decide if that scenario makes it a little less worth your while to tread so heavily on other folks' IP.

-Allan

 

[techie474]

Started registering typos last week, but now I have decided to cancel all the typos of myspace, youtube and flickr I registered in last 4 days. Not because there was no traffic, but because of the responses. Unfortunately cannot cancel sonystyle typo, it was registered 4 days ago.

Now there are only 2 TM typos in my portfolio. I found about problems because of tm-infringement only yesterday, never bothered to read "Legal Issues & Disputes" forum.

Regards,