Hi folks
Hope you are having a good holiday.
I am trying to get my head around the trade mark issue. I have some cases here for advice. These are all dot coms with two generic word.
keyparts.com - lots of companies are called key parts. they all sell parts.
qualityparts.com - many companies include both words but no one goes with the name "Quality Parts". I suppose because it is too generic as both words are used descriptively.
Am I likely to get sued for owning either, or both, of the above dot coms? For sure there are lots of companies who own the .net, .org etc.
At what point, if any, would I get into trouble? a) I have a blank page for the site b) I have banner ads c) I set up a parts business.
Just trying to understand more of the TM issue in relation to two word generic names. There are so many on sale at SEDO, etc. etc. I want to look before leaping.
Of course, what I would like to do is to sell them to one of the many companies using these names for business. Ideally I would build up traffic first, but perhaps that would get me into trouble. I could always take out a TM but that seems like a headache, and I would like to avoid if possible.
---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:27 PM ----------
I have been reading articles I googled up. I think I get it; if you spot an attractive generic domain name, and then look to see if other companies are using the generic words in their company names (so guessing they may have a trade mark), and buy the domain with the intent of selling it on you are buying in bad faith. Is that correct?
Is it legitimate to buy an attractive domain for future development? I don't mean if you are just faking an interest in future development. But if you have a genuine interest how do you protect yourself?
How do you protect yourself in the case where you want to start Sunny Motors in Belgium, somehow buy the dot com, and then find there is a company of the same name in Texas?
Hope you are having a good holiday.
I am trying to get my head around the trade mark issue. I have some cases here for advice. These are all dot coms with two generic word.
keyparts.com - lots of companies are called key parts. they all sell parts.
qualityparts.com - many companies include both words but no one goes with the name "Quality Parts". I suppose because it is too generic as both words are used descriptively.
Am I likely to get sued for owning either, or both, of the above dot coms? For sure there are lots of companies who own the .net, .org etc.
At what point, if any, would I get into trouble? a) I have a blank page for the site b) I have banner ads c) I set up a parts business.
Just trying to understand more of the TM issue in relation to two word generic names. There are so many on sale at SEDO, etc. etc. I want to look before leaping.
Of course, what I would like to do is to sell them to one of the many companies using these names for business. Ideally I would build up traffic first, but perhaps that would get me into trouble. I could always take out a TM but that seems like a headache, and I would like to avoid if possible.
---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:27 PM ----------
I have been reading articles I googled up. I think I get it; if you spot an attractive generic domain name, and then look to see if other companies are using the generic words in their company names (so guessing they may have a trade mark), and buy the domain with the intent of selling it on you are buying in bad faith. Is that correct?
Is it legitimate to buy an attractive domain for future development? I don't mean if you are just faking an interest in future development. But if you have a genuine interest how do you protect yourself?
How do you protect yourself in the case where you want to start Sunny Motors in Belgium, somehow buy the dot com, and then find there is a company of the same name in Texas?
