question Violation of trademark rights

[newbie2011]

Hi volks !
Just got email from cscglobal.com
Notification of violation of trademark rights: atlego.com
But this name i bought for brandname or just simple website
like Altego Artego and so on, is nice pronuncable word for me, not more.
Now Lego group request from me to transfer this name to their account. My question is, have i some chance to be owner of this name? If not, can i delete this name from my account? Is simplest for me.
Thank You.

 

[alien51]

can i delete this name from my account?

Yes, you can. Or you can contact your registrar's tech support and have them delete it for you. You might not get a refund, however. Ask them if you can get a refund.

 

[equity78]

There are tm owners who don't defend their mark strongly, there are those that do, LEGO certainly has a history of defending their mark strongly, the name is a handreg, you don't need the aggravation.

 

[TheFifty9Sound]

I'm not suggesting you fight for the name (who needs the stress for a handreg?) but this seems a bit rough. Atlego can definitely be a word on it's own with no relation to Lego itself. Unlucky.

 

[N-A]

Personally, I believe Lego searched the zone files for any string with LEGO in it.

I would defend this name as I have friends who have pride living in/coming from ATL (Atlanta). I would call that having an enlarged ATL Ego.

It would be a good hobbyist site in my opinion.

There's always end users as well, such as http://yp.com/atlanta-ga/mip/ego-extensions-indian-hair-and-lace-wigs-22651005

For the price of 1 or 2 services they provide; supposing that satisfies you, it could be a $$$ end user sale.

Search Google for "Atlanta Ego" and there are a few others.

Don't cave in this soon and hand it over or delete it if you have that many potential end users for a quick hand registered domain flip.

Though, don't park it (rather a "coming soon" page) as you're bound to get LEGO related ads, which is harmful.

I'd personally offer you your registration fee to assume risk for the potential reward I would get.

 

[WritersWrite]

While you're deciding what to do, put up a landing page that says:

AtlEgo.com
Atlanta Ego
All the best that Atlanta has to offer
Coming soon​

 

[iowadawg]

Come on, most people would see that domain at AT LEGO.
Drop it quick!
Not worth the cost of a fight with lego.
Unless one of those telling you to keep it will cover all costs (doubt it).

 

[FPForum]

I think one of the biggest questions here is, what state was the domain in when you received the notice? Was it parked? Were there "lego" ads on it anywhere? Anything referencing to the lego company or corporation? If so, at the amount you paid for it, you might be best deleting. However, if it was a blank page and your 100% confident there was no reference/ads/ANYTHING related to the Lego's they have a copyright on, you might be good.

 

[iowadawg]

So what you are saying, get a trademark domain and keep it blank?
And thus, no trademark infringement?
That boat won't float!

 

[mad409]

I recently received a couple attorney letters stating I had stepped on their TM with one of my gTLD regs.. Never received a cease and disist but rather harassing letters and emails.

I hired a two attorney team to review their complaint and have just received their finding. In short their finding was:

"In light of our review and analysis of the XXXXXXX marks, we believe that your plans for using XXXXXXX domain name do not infringe any of the existing registrations." (Reffering to TM registrations.)

However I personally feel this does not mean they still won't try and take action since it's a large corp. but I did do my homework before hanging on to the domain.

It really depends on how much you want to fight for your reg. but I suggest if they continue seek legal advice.

 

[equity78]

Another point to consider is potential litigation you may face selling a name where you knew there was a potential liability. So if you do sell the proper thing to do is let someone know that their is a tm claim because that can comeback to haunt you as well.

The other point Lego does not have to use the UDRP system which I am not sure why you would spend that much to defend a name that has little to no value. They could go straight to court, you fight for a mango.com, a Vanity.com, Atlego.com ? Not in my opinion.

Lego is pretty prolific at filing UDRP

Anyone who follows UDRP files will tell you that the toy maker Lego is one of the most prolific filers of UDRP’s

I count over 500 UDRP’s on domain names filed containing the term “lego” and many cases contain more than one domain.

However despite all the filings and wins by the toy maker the it has finally won a UDRP on the bang on matching domain of its trademark Lego.net.

The domain name has an original filing date of 1997.

The WIPO case is number D2012-2133 and has a decision date of December 12, 2012.

The decision is not yet published, however why this was not one of the 1st UDRP Lego filed instead of the 500+ case seems a mystery to me.

However this is not the only trademark holder to recently file a bang on TM domain after many years of being held by other parties.

http://www.thedomains.com/2013/01/0...5-years-lego-finally-wins-rights-to-lego-net/

 

[gilescoley]

Firstly, get rid of any Lego ads on there, thats just giving them ammo

I can see one that says "Save on Lego toys in Aus‎"

 

[N-A]

Firstly, get rid of any Lego ads on there, thats just giving them ammo

I can see one that says "Save on Lego toys in Aus‎"

It may be that I'm in Japan and they don't serve ads overseas, but I see the default "Learn how you can get this domain »"† page which is blank and shows it's newly registered and the owner hasn't changed the name servers.

I see nothing wrong with this domain. There are more than 10 potential end users, that is good enough for me to consider keeping it over. I think they would issue a C&D before taking you straight to court.

This is not AtLegoland.com and easily disputable to be A.T.L. (a common and well known abbreviation for Atlanta) Ego (many names match exact "ATL EGO" or "EGO" in Atlanta).

Furthermore, this could be used for travel agencies specializing in all ATL-All Airports to EGO/Russia (seems like a long flight that I wouldn't want to take, but who knows, they do have the flights so people do take them).

I believe a 3-panelist board would see it from these two perspectives (and more), if Lego didn't come at you full on as mentioned, 1 judge may agree as well if you can get it in the hands of the end user overnight.

Mention to them that Lego did threaten to take the name, but they will be using it in good faith as their business name is literally ATL EGO and has been for X years. They just finally acquired the .com to have a web presence other than social media. Accept funds, immediately forward to their YP page (or social media site) and push to a new account. All is said and done.

After they put up their GoDaddy WordPress Hosting, Lego has no Legto (go there and tell me that's not a $100,000 fine) stand on. All they have is a domain speculator; and we're all cyber squatters-which they will prove you are beyond a shadow of doubt, in the way right now.

In the meantime, don't sit around and twiddle your thumbs. Forward it to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alter_ego or the sample landing page provided by @WritersWrite .

† Trust and believe, they know how to get that domain if they want it bad enough.

 

[gilescoley]

I can still see this on ATLEGO.com

LEGO Technic new for 2014
Australia's largest LEGO online store

 

[GravityEleven]

I am seeing a blank page now, seems the owner did the only wise thing to take it out of the crossfire for now.. better go for a quiet exit, Lego (from Denmark) is known here in Europe to be quite strict when it comes to trademarks or any infringements on products (chinese copies etc.).. definitely the wrong guys to pick a fight with..

 

[alien51]

Well, it does not cost money to defend against a UDRP. You can hang on, just to see if any of these defense arguments will pan out among the wipo judges just for the sake of trivia and education.

An authentic and legit end-user with an existing verifiable business, can probably put up a decent legal fight. But right now, the OP is a Domainer. And a domainer is known everywhere as a speculator who sits on names just looking to resell it to someone else. It somewhat lessens the "good faith" defense perception.

 

[Name Trader]

@equity78 - Perhaps they were refining their UDRP process before going after the biggest gorilla in the room?