Trademarks And Domain Names By: Tony Marriott

The whole subject is not only extremely complicated but as far as I am aware the only true resolution to dispute in this area is through the courts - and it seems they are not that good at getting a satisfactory resolution.

What are 'trade names and trademarks?

If you look at the USPTO website you will find the flowing quote

What is a trademark or service mark?
* A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.
* A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. Throughout this booklet, the terms "trademark" and "mark" refer to both trademarks and service marks.

And according to Wiki

A trade name, also known as a trading name or a business name, is the name which a business trades under for commercial purposes, although its registered, legal name, used for contracts and other formal situations, may be another.
Trade names are also used in retailing to make oddly named articles more appealing to customers, or to make it easier for customers to recognize a product with a technical or difficult to remember name. Trade names can be informal, public domain terms, unlike trademarks. Pharmaceuticals have trade names (e.g. "Aspirin") which are often dissimilar to their chemical names ("acetylsalicylic acid").
Trade names may sometimes be registered as trademarks and be regarded as brands. Conversely, trademarks and brand names can slip into the public domain and be used less restrictively as more general trade names.
So trade names can also be trademarks and trademarks need not be registered to be 'valid'
Charlotte Waelde gives the real underlying problems in this area and the results of actual legal claims in her article - Domain names and Trade marks:What's in a name? Charlotte Waelde is a Lecturer in Law at The University of Edinburgh - http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/it&law/ch4_main.htm

It seems that the courts have been no real help in setting precedence, the domain authorities are little help when you understand that InterNic (who is responsible for all IP addresses and domain names) registration policy states:

'Domain names are registered on a first come first served basis. No investigation is carried out to determine whether the applicant is entitled in any way to the name which he seeks to register.'

I have been made aware of hosting companies refusing certain domain names stating 'trademark infringement' . Not sure what criteria they use to decide that but you can be sure it's arbitrary. As there are no clear guidelines how can these companies know what's right. They will generally err on the side of caution and deploy their own rules to protect themselves.

Until a clear policy on the use of trademarks in domain names is set down in law and/or by the domain authorities (and I can't see that happening any time soon) then hosting companies and other will apply their own rules and website owners will be left to try and figure out what to do.

Whether you want to learn reiki healing or increase your vertical jump, you need to know the rules. Without an understanding of the rules how do you know when there is anarchy?

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