Howdy mnathan-ga,
First, a reminder of the "Important Disclaimer: Answers and comments provided
on Google Answers are general information, and are not intended to substitute
for informed professional medical, psychiatric, psychological, tax, legal,
investment, accounting, or other professional advice."
Some might call it unethical, but others (just being honest) would just call
it being smart. They did what you should have done, which is to tie up domain
names that could be used "against" you.
As a former Internet Service Provider (ISP) owner/operator. I have run into
exactly this same kind of conflict before. Many times I had to give my clients
the same bad news as I am giving you now.
If you were in the same states, you might have some recourse if you had the
name registered as a DBA (doing business as) with that state. But, this is
not the case. If you had the trademark of "coolights" you might have some
kind of recourse (but I doubt it...) as well, but again, not the case. In
other words, not much that you can do about it.
I have always advised people to come up with a company name wherein they could
not only get the domain name, but to also make sure the company name makes for
a strong trademark as well.
You are actually lucky to (still) have the domain name of coolights.com as the
words "coolites" (and "coolite") have been trademarked, and the owners of the
"coolites" trademark might have a claim on your current domain name.
Google Answers Researchers can't and don't speak for Google, but sure, you can
report the site to Google, but I don't think anything would come of it.
My best advice would be for you to consider changing your primary web site to
something like "NathanAutosport.com" as that is the name of your company. The
domain name of nathanautosport.com is currently available. You should get
nathanautosports.com, and maybe variants such as nathansautosport.com, etc.
Domain names are cheap, and this way you can avoid future hassles, legal and
otherwise.
You should get a trademark for "Nathan Autosport" as part of this process.
More information on getting a trademark can be found on the United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) web site. The process can take some time,
but is straight forward.
http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm
You can then keep the coolights.com domain name, depending on the good graces
of the current trademark owner of the word coolights, and point it to the new
domain name of nathanautosport.com to continue getting that traffic. Who
knows how much traffic you lose to coolight.com, the makers of "CooLight
Electroluminescent Wire" to date as well.
Continue to grow the Nathan family name into the internet! Too many companies,
on creating a internet site, try to genericize their domain, and lose sight
of their corporate (and sometimes family) identity.
Strong corporate identities (think: McDonald's, Microsoft, etc.) are not of a
generic nature, but rather unique names that have become commonplace.
If you need any clarification, feel free to ask.
Search Strategy: Former ISP owner/operator with experience (too many
times!)with these types of situations.
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher |
