Howdy pcogswell-ga,
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Depending on when (and if) the company in question got their trademark, and
when you registered the domain name, the company that claims they hold the
trademark can indeed have the domain name transferred from you or prevent
you from using it. Under certain circumstances, trademark infringers can
be ordered to pay up to $100,000 damages.
Richard Keyt has a great web site (Keyt Law) that addresses the issues
involved in such cases.
http://www.keytlaw.com/urls/urllaw.htm
"Domain Name Law & Domain Name Disputes"
At the heart of such cases is the "Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution
Policy" or UDRP. When you obtained your domain name, there would have been
a reference to it in the registration agreement wherein you indicated you
were subject to the UDRP.
You can read about the UDRP in detail on this Keyt Law web page.
http://www.keytlaw.com/urls/udrp.htm
"The UDRP provides that before a domain name registrar will cancel,
suspend, or transfer a domain name that is the subject of a trademark-
based dispute, it must have an agreement signed by the parties, a court
order, or an arbitration award. The UDRP created a streamlined 'cyber
arbitration' procedure to quickly resolve domain name ownership disputes
that involve trademarks."
Further, if "bad faith" can be proved, then the trademark infringer could
be found guilty of the "Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act" or ACPA.
http://www.keytlaw.com/urls/acpa.htm
"This new domain name dispute law is intended to give trademark and
service mark owners legal remedies against defendants who obtain domain
names 'in bad faith' that are identical or confusingly similar to a
trademark or service mark.
...
The Act authorizes a court to order the forfeiture or cancellation of a
domain name or the transfer of the domain name to the owner of the mark.
In lieu of actual damages, the plaintiff may elect statutory damages and
the court has discretion to award damages of not less than $1,000 and not
more than $100,000 per domain name, as the court considers just."
I would suggest you read the above web site pages in detail.
Before you make any decisions to give up or fight the other trademark
claim, you should certainly research when the trademark was registered,
or claimed to be first used in commerce. The United States Trademark
and Patent Office (USPTO) web site is a good place to start.
http://www.uspto.gov/
Click on "Search" under the "Trademarks" menu on the left to begin your
search for the trademark in question.
Keep in mind that the trademark owner actually has a duty to pursue any
perceived trademark infringement, otherwise they could lose the use of
the trademark, so do not assume this is something personal. Rather, it
is a matter of business reality for the trademark owner.
However, keep in mind that if you can prove that you used the trademark
in question in business before the person claims it is theirs, then you
might some chance, however slim, of countering their claims.
For these latter situations, you should talk to an internet or trademark
attorney. You might not have much time though. From the Keyt Law web
page titled "For Trademark Owners: How to Recover a Domain Name from an
Infringing Cybersquatter."
http://www.keytlaw.com/urls/geturls.htm
"A UDRP arbitration can be filed, won and the infringing domain name(s)
transferred within 50 - 60 days, start to finish."
If you need any clarification, please feel free to ask.
Search strategy:
Google search on: "domain name" dispute trademark
://www.google.com/search?q=%22domain+name%22+dispute+trademark
Also, personal experience of having to get a trademark infringer to turn
over an infringing domain name.
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher |
