Copyrighted Names & Domains
 

I recieved this email this morning...
I own Kxx-Wxxx-Dxxxx.com and because he said so, he wants me to drop the domain. Can he really take legal action? I have galleries hosted on this domain, quite a damn lot!

spam! :Buck: :Buck: :Buck:

lol..he's regging a name AFTER you..and telling YOU to screw off. no, you dont have to do shit.

not even if the name is copyrighted thought?

I know with thehun.com ... if anyone registers huns-yellow-pages.com or whatever there can be legal issues.

The Trademark and copyright laws as applied to domain names are not simple. Best advice is talk to an Intellectual Property Lawyer before you make any move. Doing the wrong thing can be very expensive.

If you want advice, you need to post the domain.

"I am purchasing KxxWxxxDxxxx.com and you are therefore violating my copyright on the name." This is simply false. Copyright wouldn't apply to a domain name, and if he meant trademark, trademark rights aren't asserted by the act of a domain registration. However, there's a chance that he meant something different, but his language skills are lacking. Who registered their domain first, you or him? Is the term "kxx wxxx dxxxx" trademarked as far as you can tell, the name of a celebrity, or something?

That's got to be a joke.

Domains and copyright rarely have anything to do with eachother. He doesn't know what a trademark is?

You can register a ® on any URL / Domain for about $600 it takes at least 6 months and up to a year or more but it will safeguard your property against bogus claims and people starting up sites just to capitalize on your name and traffic.

If he is accusing you, the onus of proof is on him, he will have to provide "PRIOR ART" in other words paperwork which gives dates and times on which the name was first used or registered. A written receipt from the company that supplied you with your domain is a good start. This sounds to me like hot air and i would rest easy until you get something in writing. In the mean time start collecting paperwork to prove when you first used the name and good luck .

The domain I own is key-west-dudes.com the domain he claims to have bought is KeyWestDudes.com

KeyWestDudes.com is an undeveloped Gay paysite, which was around before I bought Key-West-Dudes.com

Infact I bought Key-West-Dudes.com to promote CandidCash's site KeyWestDudes.com but at the last minute for some reason, the site was never launched. In no way am I associating my site with his.

Well it is possible he may own a trademark on "Key west dudes", although I doubt it, as my search on that phrase turned up nothing. Without a trademark, he has a very weak, if any legal claim at all. Ignore him or fight him in court, but dont give him the domain.

b. Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(iii), the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith:

(i) circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or

(ii) you have registered the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you have engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or

(iii) you have registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or

(iv) by using the domain name, you have intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your web site or location or of a product or service on your web site or location.

You can be sued by anyone, at any time, for any thing.

Whether you will win or lose is a completely different story.

My advice.. ask an attorney.

Although, Key West Dudes has been around for an extremely long time and they are very prevallent in the gay market.

It is also worth noting that many of the larger, more well known gay studios and producers have started to enforce their intellectul property rights EXTREMELY vigoriously in the last 12-24 months.

Let us know how it goes in court :thumbsup

Regards,

Lee

The dispute procedures (Sec. 8 and 9) give preference to owners of national or federal (Principal Register only) trademarks over anyone who holds a domain with an identical name unless the domain was obtained before the effective date of the trademark registration.

http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp-policy-24oct99.htm
http://mama-tech.com/mba9906.html

A couple references I was reading over.

Wait till you receive something on paper (registered or certified). That email is a half assed way for him to be claiming anything.

I agree, just ignore it or tell him to fuck off. I own 1300 domains and if I have a buck for every dickhead who thought they'd get a domain simply by sending a half-baked email then I'd be KRL.

LiveDose's advice is best for now IMHO. Basic rule of thumb for bad faith registration is would you have registered the domain had the other domain/firm/trademark not existed.... If the he didn't have a similar domain or an established brand then no.