Interesting Question (To Me At Least)

Kenzilla · Nov 17, 2011

Hi all,

This has happened to me more than once and at the time I wondered so I thought I'd throw it out. I don't think use, i.e. resell, develop etc. is relevant here but I could be wrong

Let's say I search a certain domain to see what TLDs are available. In today's case, the .com was registered but all other TLDs were available. When I see this I call up the .com to see if it has been developed or if it's parked or whatever.

Here's where the question comes in, when I called up the .com it immediately redirected to a different domain. This, not like when a .net is set up to redirect to the same name as a .com. Totally different name comes up when the redirect occurs.

What rights regarding use do the owners of the .com have when there is no site of any kind, only a redirect? If I register the .net and develop it, do they have any "rights" regarding the fact they registered the .com before I regged the .net?

Thank ahead of time!

Ken

stock_post · Nov 17, 2011

If there is a TM avoid it, if there are no TM's I think it is OK to develop your own site.
A

silentg · Nov 17, 2011

Is it a keyword domain? any known TM on it by the owner of .com?

Kenzilla · Nov 17, 2011

So the use i.e. redirect makes no difference? So I would search for a trademark on xxx.com?

silentg · Nov 17, 2011

Search for trademark on the name and the domain > http://trademarkia.com or http://tess2.uspto.gov

Kenzilla · Nov 17, 2011

Not a keyword domain, it's something like say pwood.com with the intention of implying plywood.com

rngrdanny22 · Nov 17, 2011

if they have a trademark on that term and use it for a specific purpose, you could run into issues. But if it's something as generic as pwood meaning plywood, I think you might be okay as long as you dont use it to refer to plywood.

Either way, they could probably still attempt legal action.

Kenzilla · Nov 17, 2011

No returns on (example) pwood or pwood.com

I'd still be interested in knowing how using a .com domain to redirect to a totally different domain affects the owner's rights, is it considered use? I would think a parked domain's owner is using the domain more than the owner of a domain that does nothing but redirect to a different domain. In the case of "pwood.net" I'd think there would be more to fear from the owner of plywood.com than the owner of pwood.com, I could be wrong.