Owning Another Business's Non-Trademark Name

[moniker]

Let's say a domainer owns bobjoneslandscaping.com Bob Jones Landscaping is a real small business in Smalltown USA. The name is not trademarked as Bob is a successful landscaper locally and sees no need for a federal trademark. Let's say that the domainer has parked the page and is monetizing via landscaping-related PPC ads.

Question: can Bob take away the domainer's name even though it's not trademarked?

 

[INFORG]

Just because it isn't registered, doesn't mean a trademark doesn't exist anyway. You can have a common law trademark that is established by using a term, especially in a geographically specific area.

The answer to your question is "yes", although it is improbable. If there are "Bob Jones" Landscaping companies in numerous states, cities, it makes it more difficult for Bob Jones, but if your name is not "Bob Jones", still a good chance the panel would look unfavorably upon you and you still might lose.

Stick with generics. [keyword]landscaping.com like "quality", "ace", "perfect" , etc. I like to pick up business names too, but I shy away from [personal name]business.com's just cause I think it is a little sleazy. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Biggie]

maybe if you put a similar disclaimer on the name, like you've done in you sig:

that you are not the bobjoneslandscaping in smalltown, but bobjoneslandscaping in a biggertown, then....




you could check web.archive to see if there was a website in the past and if by concidence, represented the same "bobjones" landscaping that you are inquiring about.



but i'd say it's a low risk name and if you did get a c&d letter, then just hand it over, if you don't plan on developing it yourself