.com sells for mid $x,xxx .. TM'd??

[HomerJ]

i was curious about a name that i saw on last weeks list of top sales. so i checked the uspto database and sure enough the name has at least 6 different live trademarks on file. i checked the site and it is only a parking page. unsure if i should mention the actual name as i don't want to break any taboos. i personally don't much care because they made it a public sale which means obviously no one saw anything wrong with it.

but anyway, the trademarks on file are all for names of 'products' and not for company names. so i got to wondering about the term "source of goods sold". does a product name function as an indicator of source of goods sold, or only the company name? How does this work, is this site and its recent sale legit or did just none of these six companies happen to notice their trademarked productname.com was parked somewhere?

 

[jberryhill]

i got to wondering about the term "source of goods sold"

Without trotting out the full definition of a trade or service mark, the "source or origin of the goods" is worth a few words.

What it really means is that the goods so-marked either emanate from the same source, or their quality is controlled by a single source.

For example, you might like to drink Sprite. Every time you buy it, it comes in a green bottle with the word "Sprite" on it. Each time you go to the store, you know what you are going to get if you buy that bottle, because it comes from "whoever makes Sprite". The fact that it is made by Coca-Cola is not important. It is also not important that it is made by a local division or licensee of the mark. As long as the licensor exercises sufficient control over the quality (whether it is of good quality or bad quality doesn't matter), then the mark is acting as a signal that someone, somewhere is making sure that the stuff that goes into a green bottle marked "Sprite" is consistent with the quality of the product that you associate with that mark.

 

[HomerJ]

thanks John,

from what i gathered looking at the uspto, it seemed that all of the so marked products with this particular name were from different (non-competing) industries. I am still curious about the status of this domain name, and whether or not it was infringing, considering it was a relatively high profile sale. any take on this without knowing the name? shall i divulge, or is this not appropriate? the only reason i hesitate is that the buyer may not be aware that their newly aquired domain is TM'd, and i wouldn't want to release the hounds, if any snoops are reading this forum. On the other hand the name may well not be infringing. it is not in my opinion a generic term though. it could possibly have been a sale to one of the companies that holds one of the TMs for this word, though as it is still a parking page i would doubt it.

 

[DNQuest.com]

In regards to domains, it is up to the TM holder to take action if there is an infringing domain. There are many many sales where the domain name in TMed. If the TM holder does nothing about it, so be it.