Trademark(s) questions

[Bender]

Hi!
We have this scenario:
- A big company owns a two-word .com domain name(ie: DomainName.com) and use it just for PPC.
-there is no TM on "DomainName" .
-those two words are commonly used(nothing like Coca-Cola, etc)
-the .net is free to register.
A small company regs DomainName.net and develops it-possibly into a profitable site.
The question is: what the small-company can do to avoid the possible threats from the Big-Company?Should the small one apply for TM on "DomainName" or "DomainName.net"?How much will it cost ?
*******
What if there is a TM on "DomainName", but the owner is a third party, that uses for a totally different area?

Thank you very much for your answers.
Regards,
Daniel

 

[mkx]

www.uspto.gov to do a trademark search. Just call your website First Word Second Word Third Word with the domain url listed. It really depends on the domain. Please post the name or a simular name and someone can better help you

 

[Bender]

www.uspto.gov to do a trademark search. Just call your website First Word Second Word Third Word with the domain url listed. It really depends on the domain. Please post the name or a simular name and someone can better help you

thank you for your answer.
I did take a look un USPTO.No TM.
The domain is something like MyXXX.com (theirs), where XXX is a dictionary word, commonly used.I see TM's on similar combinations- MyCamera.com is a TM, even My.com is a TM(also for sale, if one of you wants it...:-D)
Basically, I could make the MyXXX.net a success, and I don't want to have any harassment from the BigCompany :undecided

 

[007]

Be careful. They most likely have intellectual trademark rights on the name. If they have been using it as their company name, they already have rights regardless whether or not they have officially registered it. You will waste your money trying to trademark it unless your product or service is completely different from theirs.

 

[mkx]

You might have problems with something like MyCamera. Your best be it to:

1) Contact mycamera.com and ask them if it's ok for you to register the .net. If yes, get something fined via Fax. If they say no and mycamera.com is really important to you, maybe offer them some money.

2) If they say no, name your company something like Johny's Camera Store and have a title on the header / logo of your website user "Johny's Camera Store (www.mycamera.net). I beleive this might look better if things went to court since you are just using a domain name and not a name, however, I am not a lawyer so cannot be 100%

 

[JEsports]

You might have problems with something like MyCamera. Your best be it to:

1) Contact mycamera.com and ask them if it's ok for you to register the .net. If yes, get something fined via Fax. If they say no and mycamera.com is really important to you, maybe offer them some money.

That's a disaster waiting to happen ... I dont recommend contacting them.

 

[DNWizardX9]

yea dont' contact them

 

[Bender]

thank you guys.
The MyCamera.con was an example.
Actually, the company I'm talking about is "ULTSearch- type": they own lots of domains and use them for PPC.
Are you telling me that I can't use the .net version of their domain name for something, just because they are using the .com for PPC?

 

[mkx]

Good question