advice I bought a domain that is trademarked. Now what?

[F21VM]

If someone makes a mistake of buying a domain from someone else that is a trademark of a 3rd company. What are her options? Is she simply out of the $$$ spent on that domain?

 

[hollywood]

It depends. You might consider contacting the TM owner in this case.

 

[Ostrados]

When a domain is offered in Aftermarket at bargain price then always check TM before buying.

 

[gilescoley]

Yeah, take it as a lesson and move on.

 

[CraigD]

Accidents happen.
You could cover your loses by putting it back on the market for your costs, and notify TM holder that it is available.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

This is not a legal opinion, but sometimes TM are not entirely clear. For example, if it is a generic dictionary word, even if TM, as I understand it that TM will only apply in the categories awarded, so other use of the domain name is possible. If it is a unique made up word, then of course it is different.

I presume there is no way to reverse the sale? (check terms from where you bought it if very recent).

I would be cautious contacting TM owner, even if intended n good faith, as doing so is considered one way to show bad faith.

If a use unrelated to the TM is possible, then as I understand it (remember not legal opinion) you would be allowed to develop the name for that use as long as no possible infringement on the TM holder or their competitors. e.g. if the TM is in technology, but the name makes sense for a shoe store, that would, it seems, be allowed.

Whatever you do do NOT place paid advertising links that you have no control over.

You might want to ask the question in the legal section of NamePros, as more likely someone with real legal experience will respond.

Bob

 

[Jimmysun]

I did that mistake too.

I have acquired a .com name this week, I checked the uspto.org and trademark247.com and found there is no TM issue about my acquisition.

Is there other websites I should be noted beside that two website?

 

[tonyk2000]

If you see it was a mistake - delete the domain and move on It will potentially save yourself some time (processing C&D letters, UDRPs etc).

Domain deletion option is built-in by some registrars (GoDaddy, DynaDot), or you can always contact support with such a request. Some registrars (Uniregistry, NameSilo/?/) by default would just remove the domain from your account and delete it only after its natural expiration, which is not what you really want in this case. So make it clear that you are requesting immediate domain deletion (RedemptionPeriod).

 

[lock]

Drop it and move on no room for making money here so the more time you spend on it the worse off you are.

 

[D Haynes]

I think it depends on how tight the TM is. Just about every word or acronym is going to be a TM but that doesn't mean you made a mistake.

If it's a name that is an obvious infringement then yeah drop it and move on but if it's generic then don't worry about it and go about selling it.

 

[Seventy]

Drop it and move on no room for making money here so the more time you spend on it the worse off you are.

All depends what you do with the domain, how tight the TM is. (As mentioned by several people and explained much better then I am.

Such a stressful & scared REPLY.

Depends on location as well, could have a shell corp in Nevis which requires a min of at least 25k to even get a lawsuit going, let alone lawyers.

So MANY factors come in place here.

I have a couple of domains with over 70 to 100 TMs, each TM is absolute different. Same name and some are just for some mechanical part of engineering, another TM could even just be for a special ice cream cone. (Research first before running scared)

Just avoid those.

Another thing that matters a lot is pricing, if it's a premium 20K+ and domains that are just a few hundred or less, but even 20k+ names I would even keep and just make sure you are not abusing their TM or get a case of domain hijacking but for a few hundred spend on a name I would pitch the living hell out of the name to that brand.

A lawsuit, filing, time VS just coughing up a few hundred for a purchase from the TM owner is a much easier process.

Disclaimer: not a lawyer.

 

[Jason Baudendistel]

Its TP as mentioned above, try to get Registrar to issue deletion.

 

[lock]

All depends what you do with the domain, how tight the TM is. (As mentioned by several people and explained much better then I am.

Such a stressful & scared REPLY.

Depends on location as well, could have a shell corp in Nevis which requires a min of at least 25k to even get a lawsuit going, let alone lawyers.

So MANY factors come in place here.

I have a couple of domains with over 70 to 100 TMs, each TM is absolute different. Same name and some are just for some mechanical part of engineering, another TM could even just be for a special ice cream cone. (Research first before running scared)

Just avoid those.

Another thing that matters a lot is pricing, if it's a premium 20K+ and domains that are just a few hundred or less, but even 20k+ names I would even keep and just make sure you are not abusing their TM or get a case of domain hijacking but for a few hundred spend on a name I would pitch the living hell out of the name to that brand.


A lawsuit, filing, time VS just coughing up a few hundred for a purchase from the TM owner is a much easier process.

Disclaimer: not a lawyer.

Well he is asking for advice

 

[Seventy]

Well he is asking for advice

No offense meant, just wanted to point out not to just throw away the name depending on what you paid for it.

Especially with so many different factors in place.

From my understanding.

"If a party loses a UDRP proceeding, in many jurisdictions it may still bring a lawsuit against the domain name registrant under local law"

Worst that can happen if the OP did not profit or confuse their brand the domain could just be taken away, but honestly OP did not provide enough information to provide the right information and again I AM NO lawyer just wouldn't throw a domain away like that.

And pitching the domain to the brand for the price you paid for it, is in my opinion the first go to choice VS having it deleted, and the worst case would be that the board of directors can take away your name and provide it to the original owner.

But then at least you tried + who knows the brand is aware they are able to claim it or want to deal with the entire process.

Anyone excuses if I sounded harsh, please see it just as my opinion. OP shouldn't be so worried about this just leave the domain clean, and you are never going to face a lawsuit.

 

[Digital Kush]

This is not a legal opinion, but sometimes TM are not entirely clear. For example, if it is a generic dictionary word, even if TM, as I understand it that TM will only apply in the categories awarded, so other use of the domain name is possible. If it is a unique made up word, then of course it is different.

I presume there is no way to reverse the sale? (check terms from where you bought it if very recent).

I would be cautious contacting TM owner, even if intended n good faith, as doing so is considered one way to show bad faith.

If a use unrelated to the TM is possible, then as I understand it (remember not legal opinion) you would be allowed to develop the name for that use as long as no possible infringement on the TM holder or their competitors. e.g. if the TM is in technology, but the name makes sense for a shoe store, that would, it seems, be allowed.

Whatever you do do NOT place paid advertising links that you have no control over.

You might want to ask the question in the legal section of NamePros, as more likely someone with real legal experience will respond.

Bob

Hello about TM I have little confusion if we buy a two word domain whose one word is already registered asTM and if we add another keyword with it then it becomes a Trademark of that company... Eg FB + any keyword...

 

[lock]

No offense meant, just wanted to point out not to just throw away the name depending on what you paid for it.

Especially with so many different factors in place.

From my understanding.

"If a party loses a UDRP proceeding, in many jurisdictions it may still bring a lawsuit against the domain name registrant under local law"

Worst that can happen if the OP did not profit or confuse their brand the domain could just be taken away, but honestly OP did not provide enough information to provide the right information and again I AM NO lawyer just wouldn't throw a domain away like that.

And pitching the domain to the brand for the price you paid for it, is in my opinion the first go to choice VS having it deleted, and the worst case would be that the board of directors can take away your name and provide it to the original owner.

But then at least you tried + who knows the brand is aware they are able to claim it or want to deal with the entire process.

Anyone excuses if I sounded harsh, please see it just as my opinion. OP shouldn't be so worried about this just leave the domain clean, and you are never going to face a lawsuit.

Worst that can happen is way worse than your imagining.

 

[branding]

And pitching the domain to the brand for the price you paid for it, is in my opinion the first go to choice

Actually, from a legal point of view one of the worst things you can do.

 

[Seventy]

Actually, from a legal point of view one of the worst things you can do.

Guess it depends how you pitch it, but you are correct it's proof of bad intend.

But again the domain might be a few bucks and in my opinion still the worst that can happen is you hand over the name or have it deleted. Well the real worst would be a proper lawsuit but don't see that happening unless you do register a couple hundred Facebook like domains such as, Facebook-hack, Facebookaccounts, Facebook_login.co and so forth.

This actually did result in a lawsuit as you can find on Google but with plenty of opportunities given before court action was taken, meaning the company in question that in fact this did just had to make it up and take the correct action by removing the domains, but they did not

Thus just tried making a point to not panic or think about the worst right away but went about it the wrong way I guess. USA loves lawsuits for the smallest mistakes and again I don't even know where OP lives, what name etc which brand what TM

Again, no lawyer and I am also based in Asia, different corps. Did not follow my own standard which would be leave legal issues with the experts so any mod is welcome to remove all my posts in this topic as I don't want to represent information that op or other readers can get in hot waters with.

Should not of even commented my bad.

 

[branding]

Thus just tried making a point to not panic or think about the worst right away but went about it the wrong way I guess. USA loves lawsuits for the smallest mistakes and again I don't even know where OP lives, what name etc which brand what TM

You're right about that, panicking is never a good thing I have no doubt you had nothing but good intentions, trying to help.

 

[F21VM]

Thank you all for the feedback

 

[Jason Baudendistel]

You might be able to use it as a affiliate site, depending on what the trademarked brand is but that is probably the only profitable possibility.