Typosquatting versus purposely-misspelled name?

[pranker]

how is it determined if something is typosquatting vs a purposely misspelled name?

Hypotheticaly, lets say a parked site called farmer.com existed before farmr.com. and lets say farmr, as a newcomer purposely misspelled their name because at the time that was hip or because the misspelled word has dual meaning...was there anything stopping farmer.com from saying farmr was typosquatting? or is typosquatting generally something exclusively used by corporations with established brand names, and not used by domainers who are parking generic terms like farmer.com?

Im interested in registering a certain domain name which is a "purposely misspelled" domain name because the misspelling gives the word dual meaning.... but the correctly spelled counterpart is a parked domain name and even has the generic term on on the top left with a tm next to it ....

So to recap the 2 scenarios:
typo scenario:
-Farmer.com exists as parked page with word Farmer in top left corner with the letter TM next to it.
-can I register farMR.com without worrying about typosquatting? I mainly wanted the typo because FarMR.com has dual meaning in which MR means "insert farming subject here".
-is farmr.com ok typo-squatting wise?

trademark scenario:
-Farmer.com exists as parked page with word Farmer in top left corner with the letter TM next to it.
-can I register farmr.com without worrying about trademark? is it possible to add TM to the word farmer even though its not registered in the USPTO system as a live or dead trademark, and the website is just a parked webpage and not an actual product or business? theres not even a logo its just the word farmer typed with the letters TM typed.
-is farmr.com ok trademark wise?

 

[pranker]

I couldnt edit, I meant "Im interested in registering a certain domain name which is a "purposely misspelled" generic term, such as (wanting farmr.com) and farmer.com exists. Can a commonly used generic term be protected by a TM next to it and does a misspelling of such a term bypass trademark (farmer to farmr)?


Im guessing since it is spelled differently, that it doesnt violate trademark. the second argument is that farmer cant be "TMd" in the first place because its a generic commonly used term in english lexicon, and also because its not in the USPTO system as a live or dead trademark... and also because farmer is just a parked page with no product, no business, nothing. its the word farmer with the letters tm next to it.

 

[enlytend]

Im guessing since it is spelled differently, that it doesnt violate trademark

Not true. You can infringe if a term is "confusingly similar" to someone else's mark.

A trademark is something that distinctly and legally identifies the source of certain goods and services. If someone might be confused and if it could divert business to you which was intended for them, you may be infringing.

the second argument is that farmer cant be "TMd" in the first place because its a generic commonly used term in english lexicon,

Partially true.

Trademarks are always tied to one or more classes of goods and services. "Generic" in trademark talk means using a dictionary word or phrase for the same thing that the word or phrase means. You can't tm "Farm" for your farm. You can't tm "Computers" and sell computers. Y

You COULD however tm "Computers" for a brand of shoes. When used that way, it is NOT generic, because "computers" are not (normally!) something you buy in a shoe store. Apple is a good real-life example.

And, Computers (tm) brand shoes could co-exist with Computers (tm) brand dinnerware. It's about usage and potential confusion.

and also because its not in the USPTO system as a live or dead trademark...

Although registering a trademark gives the owner the most protection, someone could have "Common law" trademark rights just by establishing first use in commerce.

and also because farmer is just a parked page with no product, no business, nothing. its the word farmer with the letters tm next to it.

They could still have been using the term as a tm for a business for who-knows how long. Website could be under construction, or maybe they don't have one.

 

[SearchEngineZ]

Appl.com and sell computers NO
Appel and sell clothes YES

Flittr.com about flittering away money YES
Flickrr.com DEFINITE NO

Ultimately it comes down to whether the business of the correctly spelled .com could be affected by your mispelled site/domain/brand

Don't park it.
Build a site.