TM but also a Family name - How to handle it?

[Rob84]

Hello Pros,

I have recently acquired Meyers dot tv. Common family name, but as I can see, it is trademarked.

My question: how to deal with it?

Can I offer it for end users like other names (Meyers.TLDs, Meyers.ccTLDs, and for the other 7-8000 potential end users with "Meyers" in their domain name?) or just sit in silence and wait for an offer?

What about the UDRP?

Can you please clear this out?

Thanks in advance!

R

 

[slinky]

Good question. Very difficult for a company to claim that your sale is infringing on their TM alone since it has many other uses. As long as you don't make reference to the brand or its products in your description, I think it will be a difficult case for anyone to make in UDRP.

 

[Kate]

I don't think it's a good idea. Each of those potential end users could take offense.
Because your name obviously isn't Meyers. You do not trade as Meyers either.
Their conclusion: you have no legitimate interests in that particular domain, you are just squatting on their name.

The rule of thumb is that you never contact TM holders to sell their own name.

Since it's a .tv, it's going to be a tough sell anyway.

 

[slinky]

I don't think it's a good idea. Each of those potential end users could take offense.
Because your name obviously isn't Meyers. You do not trade as Meyers either.
Their conclusion: you have no legitimate interests in that particular domain, you are just squatting on their name.
The rule of thumb is that you never contact TM holders to sell their own name.
Since it's a .tv, it's going to be a tough sell anyway.

Taking offense, who cares. Doesn't matter if Jason Meyers gets pissed off at you. What does matter is if they decide to sue you. They may not have the merits to win but you will have to spend money defending yourself. You need to ask yourself whether it's worth the money to potentially fund a lawsuit.

 

[draco]

Hover has a lot of last names registered. They rent out email addresses to people. They claim to have the legal rights to do so. I wanted to buy a last name for a friend of mine as a present. That's how I found them. I don't recall, but either they wouldn't sell it or they wanted some insanely large amount of money.

At least my last name is registered to someone that actually has that last name.