You think .com is a must?!

[Netty]

Lets say I start up a nice .org or .info domain.
And let's say later some1 registers same domain name but .com and decides to trademark it, or may be they already have done it before me.
Do I lose my domain name?

Does a trademark owner have a right to take it away?!!!

 

[accent]

If you can prove you had the name first then no, they cannot take it away.

 

[Netty]

If you can prove you had the name first then no, they cannot take it away.

What are the ways to prove it?!!!

 

[Skinny]

Well if you owned the name before the other person using whois records and could prove you used it commercially before they did then they can't really come after you.

Though I would get the .com if I could just to ensure that I had it.

Skinny

 

[Netty]

Well if you owned the name before the other person using whois records and could prove you used it commercially before they did then they can't really come after you.

Though I would get the .com if I could just to ensure that I had it.

Skinny

1st of all thank you!
What does Commercial use mean in this case? And if I do not use it this way than they could would take it?!
What's the best way to get a whois record, so it does look like I made it on my pc?
:hehe:

 

[weblord]

domain whois date is one of the proof that you can give.

What are the ways to prove it?!!!

 

[krx]

If you can prove you had the name first then no, they cannot take it away.

Is this true? I thought that this issue (prior commercial use) was only relevant in challenging the approval of a trademark application - during the application period. But that once established, the rights of the TM owner were not limited by other parties claims of prior commercial use. At that point, I think it becomes more a question of whether the other party's use infringes on proprietary interests explicitly protected by the TM.

But I may be wrong.

 

[domainer50]

Well if you owned the name before the other person using whois records and could prove you used it commercially before they did then they can't really come after you.

Though I would get the .com if I could just to ensure that I had it.

Skinny

What he said ^

 

[Peter]

Is this true? I thought that this issue (prior commercial use) was only relevant in challenging the approval of a trademark application - during the application period. But that once established, the rights of the TM owner were not limited by other parties claims of prior commercial use. At that point, I think it becomes more a question of whether the other party's use infringes on proprietary interests explicitly protected by the TM.

But I may be wrong.

Registering a trademark is not a compulsory act. Effectively you have a trademark through usage so even if someone registers the exact same trademark it would not hold up if they tried to enforce anything using it as long as the original user could prove they had been using it.

Another way to prove trademarks with web sites etc is to utilise the Wayback Machine at archive.org. This (unless you tell it otherwise) usually gathers copies of your set on a semi regular basis and stores and shows when sites changed. WIPO cases have been disputed successfully using such methods.

 

[krx]

Registering a trademark is not a compulsory act. Effectively you have a trademark through usage so even if someone registers the exact same trademark it would not hold up if they tried to enforce anything using it as long as the original user could prove they had been using it.

Another way to prove trademarks with web sites etc is to utilise the Wayback Machine at archive.org. This (unless you tell it otherwise) usually gathers copies of your set on a semi regular basis and stores and shows when sites changed. WIPO cases have been disputed successfully using such methods.

That's good to know. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Netty]

domain whois date is one of the proof that you can give.

What is the other type of proofs, do you know?

 

[Slick Domains]

If you owned the domain and established an online identity first, you're safe, as long as you don't place advertisements on your website for the dot com website. Meaning if you have Google AdSense on the site and they have an ad campaign going on, you need to censor them from showing up on your website (which is really easy to do).

MySpace.co.uk was recently given to MySpace even though they had owned it first because MySpace.co.uk had advertisements for MySpace dot com on the website.

In other words, you should be fine, but get the dot com if you can. :D