TM question - advice needed

[petrosc]

Hello,

I have a www typo of a very popular generic .de domain(wwwdomain.de). It is a generic word, but I am not sure if I am braking any law so I just wanted to ask here. I will give a similar example because for obvious reasons I do not want to expose the typo here. If I had the www typo of Times.com would i be braking any law? Is a generic word such as Times trademarked?

Also, times.com for example is a news site. If I redirect the traffic to my websites which have absolutely nothing to do with News, am I using the domain in "Bad faith"?

The point of this thread is that I want to know if I can redirect the traffic from that typo to a website that has nothing to do with the subject of the actual domain, and I would like to know if by doing this I am doing something illegal.

Thanks,
Petros

 

[DNQuest.com]

It would be the burden of the complaintant to show "bad faith". But similar and confusingly similar would come into play here. By adding the "www" in front of the domian, it could be shown you are looking to steal traffic from a typo. I am sure that will come up if you are challenged. Usage and intent also play a role.

Remember, many "generic" words are TMed. We all know the list.. Windows, Champion, Apple. Just because we think it is generic does not mean it is in the eyes of the law.