Domain Names And Trademark Disputes How these two relate

[Shooting Star Haven 0]

Domain names are by the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN: https://www.icann.org/) and the names can be registered through ICANN approved registrars. Once you register a domain, your name, home address and telephone number can be accessed by anyone on the web, unless you protect it through a proxy, showing the proxyhost's information. Most people use this to protect their personal information, but those with bad intentions do so to spam.

But my discussion point is, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO: https://www.uspto.gov/) registers trademarks (TM meaning unregistered trademark or [_R_] representing registered trademark ~ it is illegal to use [_R_] if you haven't registered it). You can register a trademark by hiring a lawyer to do so (price may vary, costs around 1000 US dollars) or you can make a website do it (cheaper, around $500). Because there are few domain names that are good (since registrants register them all the time), people on the web known as Cybersquatters see a good domain name that's already a registered trademark, purchase it, and hope to make a lot of money selling that domain name. If that is blatantly the case, then the registrant may be sued for the domain name. Your domain name might infringe upon trademark laws if:

- The registered trademark is really popular.
- Intentions to grab the name for profits are clear (ex. coca-cola [dot] com). This doesn't apply to more general things like (ex. dictionary_DOT_com).
- Other things I can't bother to remember.

It is very hard to find a case in suing the registrar. Even if you can, you have to file paperwork, hire a lawyer, bring the dude to a court, and fight and stuff all for a name (something of little value). A more effective approach would be to email the guy and say, "I really don't want to be bothered by the law so I'll stake a purchase for your domain. How about $250? That good enough to bribe you?" Or you can just sell your trademark to the kid.

My opinion on this is that everything's just silly. Why bother with trademarks? If someone steals it, then they steal some of your profits. (A Microsoft-labeled computer is worth more than a "Great Quality (GQ)" one.) Why not use Micorsoft? It's all a name, you can't own a name. People nowadays go so far for money, it isn't even funny (hey, rhymes).

I'd like to know what you think.

[szupie 0]

Well, this is just another way for people to gain money. There's a recent news that might relates to this: Google's patent infringement with Google Talk. According to this blog, the company that's suing Google is a company "has no products", and "exist to collect revenue from other companies" (Actually, the quotes were from this blog, one of the links from the first blog). But I'm not sure if these blogs are correct. Anyway, there are many ways to making profits similar to these ways. In my opinion, although they aren't illegal, they are very unethical.

BTW, I didn't know using the ÂŽ sign is illegal without registration... Scary...

[JUDGE_RELIC 0]

Using it the ® sign probably isn't illegal and it may prevent others from stealing your ideas, but it's always a good idea to get registered if you find yourself making a lot of money.