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BRISK · 03-10-2005, 02:28 AM

So I see this week the domain Meridia.com sold for $18,000

So I'm thinking WTF is "meridia"?

So I learn that Meridia is a trademark used for the drug sibutramine.

So I was wondering why the company (Abbott Laboratories) that owns the trademark to "Meridia" wouldn't just sue the owners of meridia.com to get their trademarked name back to its rightful owners. Why did this domain sell in the open market?

Then I checked and noticed that meridia.com was registered on Jan 26, 1996, but the company that owns the trademark didn't register the trademark until October 21, 1997

So this person actually owned the domain name before Abbott Laboratories got the trademark for it.

Abbot Laboratories has revenues of about $19 Billion a year and the company is worth about $71.5 Billion

Questions:

1. Did Abbott Laboratories buy the domain this week, and if so, what the hell took them so long to acquire this domain?

2. Why would anyone register a trademark without first owning the domains associated with the trademark? I know it was back in '97 and the internet wasn't as big of a thing back then, but trademark lawyers should have known better.

3. Does this mean that if you register a domain, and then later some other company gets the trademark for that word, they can't successfully sue you to get control of the domain because you owned the domain before they registered the trademark?

03-10-2005, 02:28 AM
BRISK Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 12,240	Domain / Trademark ? So I see this week the domain Meridia.com sold for $18,000 So I'm thinking WTF is "meridia"? So I learn that Meridia is a trademark used for the drug sibutramine. So I was wondering why the company (Abbott Laboratories) that owns the trademark to "Meridia" wouldn't just sue the owners of meridia.com to get their trademarked name back to its rightful owners. Why did this domain sell in the open market? Then I checked and noticed that meridia.com was registered on Jan 26, 1996, but the company that owns the trademark didn't register the trademark until October 21, 1997 So this person actually owned the domain name before Abbott Laboratories got the trademark for it. Abbot Laboratories has revenues of about $19 Billion a year and the company is worth about $71.5 Billion Questions: 1. Did Abbott Laboratories buy the domain this week, and if so, what the hell took them so long to acquire this domain? 2. Why would anyone register a trademark without first owning the domains associated with the trademark? I know it was back in '97 and the internet wasn't as big of a thing back then, but trademark lawyers should have known better. 3. Does this mean that if you register a domain, and then later some other company gets the trademark for that word, they can't successfully sue you to get control of the domain because you owned the domain before they registered the trademark? __________________ I post on GFY so that when people ask me what I do, I can tell them that I work with the mentally retarded.