Good or bad idea?

[Sarcle]

I am wanting to find out if I should register this domain.

It's a generic foriegn word. There are copyrights to this name in several countries. There really is only one application to this domain. The problem that I see is that while many countries use this domain in thier url. one version is already being used in it's repective country. It isn't a mistype they just don't use it the same way.

It would be like.

generic.tdl-"being used"
thegeneric.tdl-"available"

The copyrights are like
"The Generic of so and so"
"The generic of it and it"
"The generic of here and here"

thedomain is used more in other countires tdls.

Do you think I will get hammered if I register this domain? Is it worth it?
Or is this a legal question?

 

[hugegrowth]

Hard to say without knowing the domain, but I can see why
you don't want to post it. If it's generic it should be ok, maybe
post in the legal forum here and get some lawyer advice.

A question to ask is are you registering it in 'bad faith'.

Are the copyrights held by different people/companies or
by only one? If different bodies are using this name in different
domains already, then why not you too?

Also if you look in the legal forum you should find some threads on
generic domain legal issues, good luck!

 

[DNjet]

Hard to say without knowing the domain, but I can see why
you don't want to post it. If it's generic it should be ok, maybe
post in the legal forum here and get some lawyer advice.

A question to ask is are you registering it in 'bad faith'.

Are the copyrights held by different people/companies or
by only one? If different bodies are using this name in different
domains already, then why not you too?

Also if you look in the legal forum you should find some threads on
generic domain legal issues, good luck!

he don't want to post it because its still available , it wouldnt be available for long if he posted it.

 

[Sarcle]

A question to ask is are you registering it in 'bad faith'.

That's the thing. Is competition bad faith?

Are the copyrights held by different people/companies or
by only one? If different bodies are using this name in different
domains already, then why not you too?

It's by several different companies.

Also if you look in the legal forum you should find some threads on
generic domain legal issues, good luck!

Thanks I will. It's a bangin name. I would really like this domain.

 

[hugegrowth]

bad faith would be more like are you hoping to cash
in on people mistaking your site for the companies site,
more along those lines.

for example, if I started manufacturing computers and
music handhelds, and called myself "Apple Inc.", that might
be confusing when I start to advertise my company and products.
If I start a travel agency and call myself
"Apple Tours", then that would most likely be ok, because
the businesses are so different, and it's a generic word.

but if many companies have some copyrights to this term,
and its generic, then no one has sole ownership anyway.
they would all have to sue each other to protect their name.

if you are planning to use the domain in the same industry
as the company in that country with the copyright, then you
might be in some grey area there, and legal advice is best.

 

[radioz]

While I don't believe in buying non-generic trademarks such as, say, 'PepsiInc.com' or something like that, the worst that would likely happen is that the TM holders lawyer will send you a less than nice letter but likely offer about $100 for your expenses if you transfer it to them promptly. If it is generic, you can fight it. I fought and won a WIPO complaint recently for the generic name, 'Ambience.BIZ'. You will generally find that someone owns the TM for a generic name for a narrow field of endeavor. In my case it was lighting and some furniture but the name was a very broad in that it encompassed sound, atmosphere, and other things. There was no way to validly show that I was hurting them or that I had registered it in bad faith which I hadn't having never heard of the company before. They offered me the $100 which I passed on. They paid $4,000 for the WIPO trial plus God knows what to the attorney! I would have sold them the name for about $500 but attorneys and Corporations will and must be attorneys and Corporations! I still own the name and another one that I fought on the .BIZ negotiation board level.

Again though, you shouldn't register something like PEPSIBIZ.COM or WAL-MART.BIZ. Registering those names would almost certainly would be considered to be in bad faith.

 

[hugegrowth]

Well done radioz, I agree with your argument
about generic names as trademarks, how they
should only be applied to a narrow field.

Also, I don't know why they spend $1,000's on
lawyers and a trial to try to get a domain name
when they could spend less on buying the name.
Just shows the mentality of some big corporations.