.mobi Your .Mobi's .COM Counterpart

[CharlieA]

Some things have been bugging me about .mobi . I thought the whole point of .mobi was to have a mobile compliant version of your website. Say I own genericterm.com and someone registers genericterm.mobi . How can I get a .mobi extension to make a mobile compliant version of my site if someone has already jumped on it? Am I out of luck because I didn't even know .mobi existed? Do I have to buy the .mobi extension of my domain name from the person who took it? What if they don't want to sell and develop a site on it? Am I stuck developing my mobile version on mobile.genericterm.com? What if .mobi becomes the default extension that all mobile devices go to, what then of my .com? Do I lose all my traffic to whomever regged the .mobi extension of my site?

 

[mejcdj]

Please understand CharlieA,

Every single day we are forced to defend .mobi and our reasons for believing in it. NOt just here, but everywhere. This forum seems to be our haven. We have been bashed, cussed at, accused of several bad things, told we were idiots, cybersquatters, followers and so many other things I cant recall them all.

We are just a little touchy when we feel we are being cornered and it DID appear that you were a .com holder who was about to get fired up because one of us had your .mobi version

So.. welcome and lets start fresh lol

If they dont have a TM, they dont get the name. Like dentalpro said, its just another extension like .net and so on. If it was so important to the .com owner , he should have been here with us reg'ing night and day trying for good .mobi names. Its too late now for them.

 

[scandiman]

They can't do a C&D without a TM on the name. The scenario you describe is precisely one of the many ways that domain investors make money selling domains. It's no different than owning the same name in other extensions.

There is nothing preventing anyone from hiring a lawyer to mail a cease and desist letter. The question is if it is a waste of money to do that.

There is some confusion lurking regarding TM's. We commonly think a TM is the same as a Registered TM (circle R) but they are different. Anyone can claim a TM by adding it to the end of a business name. Registering the name with a Govt agency gives you stronger enforcement rights and possibly punitive damages.

If the domain.com in question was displayed with a "TM" then the owner may have a case of TM infringement but I suspect only if the domain.mobi is being used in a competing manner and market. If you are both selling furniture but you are in the US and he is in China then you probably have no claim.

You may try and trick the .mobi guy by adding the TM now but if they know about archive.org and their wayback machine then a simple check of your domain.com to before they regged the domain.mobi will reveal your scheme.

My suggestion is to simply negotiate with the current registrant to buy the domain.mobi. If they are willing to sell, then you'll likely pay less than the lawyers fees if you really went after them in court.

Not to sound crass but... you snooze, you loose. And unfortunately I've done my share of snoozin'.

 

[nrmillions]

There is nothing preventing anyone from hiring a lawyer to mail a cease and desist letter. The question is if it is a waste of money to do that.

There is some confusion lurking regarding TM's. We commonly think a TM is the same as a Registered TM (circle R) but they are different. Anyone can claim a TM by adding it to the end of a business name. Registering the name with a Govt agency gives you stronger enforcement rights and possibly punitive damages.

If the domain.com in question was displayed with a "TM" then the owner may have a case of TM infringement but I suspect only if the domain.mobi is being used in a competing manner and market. If you are both selling furniture but you are in the US and he is in China then you probably have no claim.

You may try and trick the .mobi guy by adding the TM now but if they know about archive.org and their wayback machine then a simple check of your domain.com to before they regged the domain.mobi will reveal your scheme.

My suggestion is to simply negotiate with the current registrant to buy the domain.mobi. If they are willing to sell, then you'll likely pay less than the lawyers fees if you really went after them in court.

Not to sound crass but... you snooze, you loose. And unfortunately I've done my share of snoozin'.

just adding the letters TM to the end of your name doesnt give you rights to that name. If you own loan.com and write TM at the end of it you have no rights to the exclusive use of the word loan. So someone different could still own loan.net or loan.mobi. You could only TM the entire thing WITH the extension like loan.com but not the keyword loan.

 

[scandiman]

just adding the letters TM to the end of your name doesnt give you rights to that name. If you own loan.com and write TM at the end of it you have no rights to the exclusive use of the word loan. So someone different could still own loan.net or loan.mobi. You could only TM the entire thing WITH the extension like loan.com but not the keyword loan.

In the case of your example of loan.com you are exactly correct because it is a common term. But if you started a loan business called "Loans For The Living" and operated that business at loansfortheliving.com and displayed a TM after your business name then there is a case for TM infringement if a competitor later started a loan business at loansfortheliving.biz. None of this is a slam dunk nor do I know if ICANN will accept your claim without having registered the TM. Without the registration the claim is very gray hence my recommendation to simply buy the domain.mobi from the current owner.

 

[Razeeman]

Maybe someday the genericterm.mobi owners will be buying out the samename.coms. This works both ways.

 

[scandiman]

Maybe someday the genericterm.mobi owners will be buying out the samename.coms. This works both ways.

Already did one.

 

[mejcdj]

I have 3 sets.
After I am done playing with names, I plan to settle with a nice quiet online business. Complete with .com and .mobi so that I can make money anywhere.

Mejcdj

 

[CharlieA]

Please understand CharlieA,

Every single day we are forced to defend .mobi and our reasons for believing in it. NOt just here, but everywhere. This forum seems to be our haven. We have been bashed, cussed at, accused of several bad things, told we were idiots, cybersquatters, followers and so many other things I cant recall them all.

We are just a little touchy when we feel we are being cornered and it DID appear that you were a .com holder who was about to get fired up because one of us had your .mobi version

Didn't mean to cause a stir. I'm new to all this and had some questions before buying more .mobi domains.

 

[RegisterRants]

My domain name's .com is listed for sale at $4,950 (lawl.com). However, I believe that the .mobi has more potential than the .com

 

[mejcdj]

Didn't mean to cause a stir. I'm new to all this and had some questions before buying more .mobi domains.

No stir. Its all fine. I just wanted to give you a head's up.. and if you are newer to .mobi, this might be something you could experience OUTside this forum.

GL with your .mobis