Trademark?

Brassedoff

Percy1983 wrote: »

I think as long as you can show legitimate use for a domain there isn't much they can do.

with the aa.com example, 2 companies have got just as much right to be there so its first come first served.

On the flipside it it was just a domain squatter sitting on aa.com asking £1m for it then the aa would have a good case to fight.

Hi Percy, I am afraid that is not quite right. The whole issue that company's have to watch in the modern day of the web is effectively as "passing off". He has to be careful enough when trading.

Brassedoff

heidip48741 wrote: »

I would have thought that if the web address is the name of your business then it is effectively your trademark too, even though you may not have officially registered it. I am assuming this is a .co.uk domain because if it was a US domain then the US company surely would have already registered it. If you are using your business name dot co dot uk then you would not be breaching trademark rules as I can see.

The problem is with people deliberately buying tradenames and trademarked domains that they think they will later be able to sell to their respective owners at inflated prices. For example, if I were to buy iphone7 [dot] com and then wait for apple to release an iPhone 7 so that I could demand a huge amount of money, that is the situation where you will most likely just have the domain name taken off you.

If the domain you are thinking of has not been registered yet and is in fact related to your business then there is no issue whatsoever.

Buying a domain name is nothing to compare with a "Trademark", you are confusing it with establishing a reputation, which if done over time would allow you to defend any application in the UK with the same name.

You are correct with respect to "cyber squatting", WIPO generally will always give the IP to the firm with the best prior reputation.