Trouble Ahead

[Web2power]

Please remove thread ... thanks

 

[namanimal]

Wether you knew it or not your violated their rights to the name. If they bring up a UDRP case, you will lose. Unfortunately it doesnt matter wether they bought the correct/perfect name for the agency/department. The law will uphold their rights to it regardless. They will claim that you have used the name in "Bad Faith" and you will not have a foot left to stand on. Now , there is nothing wrong with calling their bluff, they might not go the UDRP route. If they do, you can surrender the name at any point during the pre-precedings and not have yourself labeled a cybersquater. So you could play it cool for now at minnimal risk. Depending on what the name is and what your site is could play a small part in the minor defence you may have. Just my opinion, taken in large part from my own experiences in this matter.

 

[Mark]

Moved to "Legal Issues & Disputes"

Why did you have nearly the same content / code ? If I may ask -

 

[labrocca]

What you did was illegal. Be happy they don't go after you for damages.

Learn the basics of copyright and trademark law. Do some googling.

 

[Ronald Regging]

Do government agencies have a claim to TM protection? I thought TM was established for the protection of intellectual property by private individuals and corporations... It seems to me that any branch of government would be a public entity...

I'm not saying it's right to copy code... but just registering a domain that has the same name as a government agency doesn't seem to be TM violation, but I'm not sure on that one. Though, I wouldn't be messing with the government myself