80 Domain Name Registered Before Trademark New
Although the case was undefended it came out in the wash that the domain name was registered some 6 years before the complainant s trademark had been acquired.
Domain name registered before trademark. Interestingly you do not need a federally registered trademark to prevent a competing business from using your business name in its website address. Privacy administrator anonymize inc. If another business attempts to register a domain name that is a web address or url that is the same as your business name you can seek relief in court to stop them.
Hi i own a domain and i ve recently received a notice from a company saying that they own the trademark that is the domain name. Even before you register your domain name it is a good idea to do a trademark search on the website of us patents and trademarks office. There are a couple different procedures to accomplish this but in general a trademark owner must show that the domain name was registered in bad faith and with the intent to profit from the trademark at issue and that the domain name is confusingly similar to the trademark at issue.
All domain name registration companies are mandated to follow the uniform domain name dispute resolution policy udrp which states that most types of trademark disputes have to be resolved or determined by a court arbitration before any action can be taken. Why register your trademark. Michele dinoia macrosten ltd case no.
A lawsuit involving trademark infringement could cost you 100 000 or more. Infringement if you register a domain name without checking if there is a similar name already registered you could infringe upon another company s trademarked domain name. One situation where you would obtain a domain name trademark registration is where you purchase a domain name and want to use the domain name as your trademark such as.
Once you know that the domain name you want to register does not conflict with an already registered trademark you can search for the availability of the domain name and register it for your business. The united state patent and trademark office uspto allows individuals to register domain names as trademarks under certain circumstances. Here are a few specific instances in which it would be advisable to look at acquiring a federal trademark over your domain name.
This can be valuable for online entities because while domain names are protected against theft and cybersquatting a domain name that is a registered trademark would also receive powerful federal trademark protection. As has already been noted on many occasions in the domain times it is almost impossible to prove bad faith registration when a domain name was registered before the complainant. I ve confirmed with uspto that they do own the trademark however they filed the application several years after the domain was first registered.