Hello
I recently registered nytimes.info and  received email from «The New
York Times».They say that my registration is violation of their
trademark rights and want that domain name. Uspto.gov doesn't have
nytimes as trademark, and nytimes with net biz and us extensions are
not registered by «The New York Times».Please let me know you opinion
and where can I get legal advice on the web.
Regards
Nik

Hello and thank you for your question.

Unfortunately, the law is such that the New York Times can prevent you
from using the name -- and if you do use it, they can take it away
from you.  They will do this by bringing an action against you via the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and
Mediation Center.

For the New York Times to take away the name that you registered, they
would have to prove each of the following:
(i) The domain name in issue is identical or confusingly similar to
The New York Times' trademark in issue here, and;
(ii) You have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name, and;
(iii) The domain name has been registered and is being used by you in bad faith.

Given the recognisability of the New York Times name, not to mention
the deep pockets that they have to pursue an action against you, this
is a test that you will probably fail.

The test was applied (and the New York Times was successful in its
proof) in the case of
The New York Times Company v. New York Internet Services
WIPO Case No. D2000-1072
http://www.worldlii.org/int/cases/GENDND/2000/1660.html

In that case, New York Internet Services registered the domain name
newyorktimes.com and set up webpage where people were invited to post
comments about the New York Times and other matters of interest.

Despite it being styled as a "non-commercial" site, the New York Times
was successful in its case and was able to have ownership of the name
transferred to it (you can read the full case and decision at the cite
given above).

If you would like to learn more about the law that applies in this
area, there is an interesting article on this subject,
Internet Domain Dispute Resolution
http://www.auda.org.au/policy/audrp/lindsay.pdf

Search terms used:
"new york times" url cybersquatter

Thanks again for bringing us your question.

Sincerely,
Google Answers Researcher
Richard-ga

nikenn-ga,

This reminds me of the early days of the web, when supposedly people
were registering domain names of major corporations before the
corporations did (e.g., Joe Blow registers drpepper.com), and then
getting big bucks from the companies who wanted the namsake domains
for their own.

This is not legal advice, but it would seem to me that a domain is a
unique web address and not covered by copyright law, much the same way
you wouldn't be responsible if your phone number happened to spell out
some well known company's name.

You may want to reply to the NY Times by asking if they would like to
purchase the domain name from you. They probably fear people putting
up spoof sites that lambast the Times, or even worse, sites that
imitate the Times site and try to collect people's credit card info
for subscriptions.

The WWW Consortium is the official body governing Web standards.
Here's a link to their home page:

http://www.w3.org/

If I were you I'd start by contacting them via e-mail and explain your
situation and see what they say.

Good luck!

Hope this helps,

omniscientbeing-ga

If they dispute your right to own it via official channels, the
argument will come down to thing - your intended use.

If you don't use it, or use it in a way that is related to them (ie
placing affiliate ads on the site that point to the New York Times),
then you will lose it.

However, if you use it for say a weblog about your time in New York,
or a site that has a ticking clock showing the current time in New
York, they can't do anything. Except perhaps make you a reasonable
offer for the name.

Of course the correct answer is that they should have bought nytimes
with the new extensions...