TradeMark-Hypothetical Situation

[schmidte]

Let's say I bought a .US domain name and for hypothetical sakes we'll say it's chevytrucks.US. My intention is to resell it to a certified Chevy dealer in the area. Do you think there will be a trademark issue
for me the seller and the CERTIFIED Chevy Dealer who uses the name. There are lots of autodealer domain names that have the word Chevy or Ford in the name (ie. ChicagoLandFord.com)

Just checked, there are over 3,300 domain names with the word Chevy and
over 4,600 that just START with the word Ford (Most, but not all auto related)

My question is:

How do we know as domain purchasers which ones will be in violation of TradeMark laws? Is it just a risk we take? I can't imagine Chevy going after 3,300 domains.

 

[bidawinner]

Yes..IMO.. simply because you bought the TM name to sell to the TM holder (or athorized dealer of the TM)

 

[Anthony Ng]

Unless you are commissioned to do so by an authorized dealer, you are very likely to run into trouble.

Even for an authorized dealer, the manufacturer usually have VERY strict guideline for trademark-related domain names, i.e. dealers are not allowed to register domain names that include or even imply their brand without their written permission. But then the reality is that they very often just turn a blind eye to these names unless if it is a REALLY good name, e.g. the hypothetical chevy.us.

 

[jberryhill]

You hit on one of the interesting ripples that emanates from the bargainbeanies.com decision I cited in another thread.

Back when I used to deliver pizza for Domino's, we were opening a lot of stores in the area where I lived. One of the interesting things about that franchise was that, for every area where they expanded, they had specific contractors and vendors from whom the Domino's franchisee could buy things like signs, painting services, printing services, etc.

The bargainbeanies.com decision, by suggesting there could be any number of legitimate end users of a domain name incorporating a trademark, raises in my mind the question of how one allocates domain names among those multiple legitimate users. Well, duh, with every other resource than domain names, it seems that capitalist societies have resoundingly answered the question of how to allocate finite resources to their most economically valuable use.

Somehow, with domain names, we haven't figured that out. So the Chevy dealer in Podunk who gets Podunk-Chevy.com is not the best or most successful one, but the slob who managed to get it first.

 

[HOWARD]

It still all boils down to legitimate business use. If you are a licensed Chevy dealer and have a domain with Chevy in the name, General Motors would have a hard time getting that domain back from you. Unless, of course, your dealsers franchise or license specifically excludes domain names (which is highly unlikely).

 

[DomainPairs]

Originally posted by jberryhill

Somehow, with domain names, we haven't figured that out. So the Chevy dealer in Podunk who gets Podunk-Chevy.com is not the best or most successful one, but the slob who managed to get it first.

This happens with almost all unique resources like art or housing, etc.

If you buy a bit of land and build a house on it with stunning views over the lake. You're the first there, and as long as you pay the bills and the government don't want to build a road there, it's yours to keep. The only way you lose it, is if you sell it.

There are restrictions on the creation of these unique resources and we have to abide by the rules. Someday I expect someone will set out the rules, instead of requiring lawyers to argue over case histories.

 

[Silverwire]

Originally posted by DomainPairs


This happens with almost all unique resources like art or housing, etc.

If you buy a bit of land and build a house on it with stunning views over the lake. You're the first there, and as long as you pay the bills and the government don't want to build a road there, it's yours to keep. The only way you lose it, is if you sell it.

There are restrictions on the creation of these unique resources and we have to abide by the rules. Someday I expect someone will set out the rules, instead of requiring lawyers to argue over case histories.

But with real estate you have surveys and Platt books. Trademark boundaries are much trickier.

 

[DomainPairs]

Never had a survey done on a house yet and not had any problems. I don't know what a Platt book is.

Seems to me that the rules are changing with trademark stuff anyway. There will also be problems in the future as country TLDs grow in popularity. If America pushes too hard to dominate name control for some of these sites, they risk having the whole net taken away from them.