Trade Names within a domain name

chazlo · Oct 21, 2004

I am curious about something and thought this would be a good place to start.

Let's say for example a company has a software called "widgets". It appears that widgets is a registered trademark. The parent company has widgets.com and widgets.company-name.com as domains.

I have recently become a VAR and Partner for this company to sell and implement the widgets software.

I registered the domains of widgetsVAR.com and widgetsPartner.com. Should I expect any problems with this?? And if I do, do I have a leg to stand on?

Thanks for any insight anyone can give.

Dave Zan · Oct 21, 2004

Hi Chazlo!

The answer to your question depends on what arrangements you made with
the company that sells the widgets software. This should be threshed out at
the start to prevent trouble from brewing in the future.

But since you already registered the domain names and are a partner with the
company, I think it's only prudent you should ask them that to confirm, just
so there is no misunderstanding. Be sure to emphasize, though, that you got
those domain names without the intention to exploit the company itself.

chazlo · Oct 21, 2004

Thanks, I have a generic VAR agreement with them, as there are many VAR's across the country, less than 50.

I better go back and read the agreement again. I don't recall it detailing this point.