Trademarks and Domain Names Composed of Common Terms
By Gerald M. Levine
The lexical material from which trademarks are formed is drawn from the same social and cultural resources available to everyone else, which includes domain name registrants. Since trademarks are essentially a form of communication, it is unsurprising that a good number of them are composed of common terms (dictionary words, descriptive phrases, and shared expressions) that others may lawfully use for their own purposes. And equally unsurprising, domain names can be identical or confusingly similar to these common-term trademarks. But, whether domain name registrants infringe owners' rights to exclusive use of their terms on the Internet, depends on when the domain names were registered (and if they postdated the trademark, why?) and how the domain names are being used (important only if they postdate the trademark).
One of the differences between applications for trademarks and registrations for domain names is that applied-for marks are examined by a gatekeeper and domain names are not. In the trademark world, rights to particular terms are circumscribed by statutory rules that prevent owners acquiring a monopoly over ...
Read more > CircleID
By Gerald M. Levine
The lexical material from which trademarks are formed is drawn from the same social and cultural resources available to everyone else, which includes domain name registrants. Since trademarks are essentially a form of communication, it is unsurprising that a good number of them are composed of common terms (dictionary words, descriptive phrases, and shared expressions) that others may lawfully use for their own purposes. And equally unsurprising, domain names can be identical or confusingly similar to these common-term trademarks. But, whether domain name registrants infringe owners' rights to exclusive use of their terms on the Internet, depends on when the domain names were registered (and if they postdated the trademark, why?) and how the domain names are being used (important only if they postdate the trademark).
One of the differences between applications for trademarks and registrations for domain names is that applied-for marks are examined by a gatekeeper and domain names are not. In the trademark world, rights to particular terms are circumscribed by statutory rules that prevent owners acquiring a monopoly over ...
Read more > CircleID
