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Any legal eagles out there care to give advice?

by Tim45
21 replies
I have a .org domain that leads to a "free picture hosting" website and recently I got an email from a person that own's the .com version of that domain and they claim I'm infringing on their property rights because they owned the .com version before me. My thought is that they may have a case but not sure. Do they own all the rights to all the tld versions of that domain name? I could see it if it was google or yahoo but this is a generic keyword phrase. What are your thoughts?
#advice #care #eagles #give #legal
  • Profile picture of the author Morten V
    Originally Posted by Tim45 View Post

    I have a .org domain that leads to a "free picture hosting" website and recently I got an email from a person that own's the .com version of that domain and they claim I'm infringing on their property rights because they owned the .com version before me. My thought is that they may have a case but not sure. Do they own all the rights to all the tld versions of that domain name? I could see it if it was google or yahoo but this is a generic keyword phrase. What are your thoughts?
    Do the owners of the .com domain run a similar/the same service like your own?
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    Ask them if the domain name is a registered trademark.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
      Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

      Ask them if the domain name is a registered trademark.
      I gree with the general idea here, but would take it a step further. Don't just ask them "if" they have the name trademarked, but ask for proof of the trademark.

      It's hard to give a good answer without knowing the actual word in the domain.


      Also, it's best to talk to an attorney if you want to be sure.

      All the best,
      Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author Adie
    Originally Posted by Tim45 View Post

    I have a .org domain that leads to a "free picture
    If you are so sure that its a generic name and not copyrighted/trademarked, tell him to contact ICANN and have all unregistered domains given to him so that other people can avoid wasting time and money by registering non-available domains... Let us know his reaction..

    My guess is that, he might have been interested in registering all other extensions but he don't have money to do it at the moment that's why he is waiting for someone to register it for him...
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  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    I would do a trademark search first and see whether it returns anything

    Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)

    You should bear in mind that problems may arise even if a trademark appears as part of domain e.g. getmicrosofthelptoday.com
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  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    I've thanked those who are setting you on the right track.

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  • Profile picture of the author Ken Leatherman
    I know legal advice is expensive, but that is the 1st thing you should do before you do anything else. Especially if you have money tied up in and or making money on your .org domain.

    Even though we have several legal eagles here in the forum they will be the first ones that will tell you to seek a legal attorney.

    Ken

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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Tim45 View Post

    I have a .org domain that leads to a "free picture hosting" website and recently I got an email from a person that own's the .com version of that domain and they claim I'm infringing on their property rights because they owned the .com version before me. My thought is that they may have a case but not sure. Do they own all the rights to all the tld versions of that domain name? I could see it if it was google or yahoo but this is a generic keyword phrase. What are your thoughts?
    No. Did they trademark it? If they didn't trademark it, and even if they did, they do not automatically own all rights. There are uses that would not infringe if they did trademark it, and if they didn't, they could pursue it in court under First Use in Commerce, but unless they're a real company, they most likely uninformed about trademarks and trademark law.
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  • Profile picture of the author GobBluthJD
    I'm a lawyer.

    My advice: Go and talk to a trademark/copyright lawyer.

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  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    What do you mean "leads to" - as in an automatic domain redirect, a link on the home page, something else?

    How similar is the content on 'free picture hosting' site to the .com ?

    .
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim45
    Thanks guys. They are both an image hosting site and both host free images. They registered the .com in 94 and I registered the .org a little over a year ago. I don't have much invested except the price of the domain and my time so i'm not sure it's worth the hassle. I'll be more careful when registering a domain name from now on that's for sure.

    Tim
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  • Profile picture of the author FirstSocialApps
    Ever think of doing just a little research?

    U.S. Copyright Office - What Does Copyright Protect? (FAQ)

    Paragraph 3:
    copyright law does not protect domain names.
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  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    The issue is trademark. Not copyright.

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    • Profile picture of the author bengirwb
      Quote:

      "Ask them if the domain name is a registered trademark."

      Before I did that, I would register the name myself. Then ask the other party for their trademark.

      But this is onlly if you are serious about developing your site.

      There is a reason that .com, .net, .tv, and other names exist. That is so that if .com is taken, you can register your site as .net

      Duplicate names are fairly common. That's why big companies register all the possibilities.
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  • Profile picture of the author FirstSocialApps
    This one took me about 5 min more of searching:

    "For instance, while domain names that use common or descriptive terms, such as healthanswers.com or stampfinders.com, may work very well to bring users to a website, they usually do not qualify for much trademark protection. This means that owners of such domain names generally won't have much luck stopping the use of these words and phrases in other domain names. In other words, by using common terms that are the generic name for the service (for example, "dictionary.com") or by using words that merely describe the service or some aspect of it (for example, "returnbuy.com"), the owner of the name will have less trademark rights against the users of similar domain names than she would if her domain name was distinctive."

    The OP doesnt give a link to his site does he?
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  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    Please make an effort to understand trademark law. The bengirwb post is dangerous.

    You do not need to "register" to have a trademark. They have been using their domain since 1994. If, today, you go and "register" that as a trademark you know what rights you get to use the domain name for the same service? Zip.

    Of course, this assumes there is a trademark. But the point is "first to register" does not trump someone who has used a trademark for almost 20 years.

    .
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
      Brian,
      But the point is "first to register" does not trump someone who has used a trademark for almost 20 years.
      "Prior use in commerce," yes?

      All sorts of tricky in these issues.

      AFAIK, the act of registering a .COM name is not, by itself, any sort of claim on the same name in the other TLDs. For instance, I own weirder.com (nothing there at the moment). That would not give me any claim to weirder.info, as the term "weirder" is too generic to claim a trademark on.


      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author DirkJon
    I've had the same issue recently with a large confectioner who sent me the same email. My argument was that it was their fault for not registering the domain themselves.....I tried my luck and asked them to purchase it from me thinking I'd get thousands - and they ended up paying me $200 for it lol! At the end of the day it was $200 that I never originally had
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  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    jozvaldo, you're lucky. Some companies would have simply popped a cybersquatting suit on you since demanding money is a big no-no in the law.

    Your "argument" has no legal merit and the strategy could cost someone thousands of dollars.

    .
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  • Profile picture of the author DirkJon
    I understand that kindsvarter but I gauged after a couple of email exchanges that they were willing to consider otherwise I would have backed off and given them what they wanted :-)
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