Will it be legal to use a small part of an existing big trademark-name for a domain-name?
Example: ‘niversi’ is a small portion of four registered trademark-names for different universities. Would it be legal to have a domain-name ‘niversi.org’? Is there a simple guide to such issues?
Tags: domainname, existing, legal, Part, small, trademarkname Posted in
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:52 pm
I need more info to answer this question. IF you are only taking NIVERSI from the word UNIVERSITY, well then you are OK because no one owns the word UNIVERSITY in any field. If trademarked as part of an educational service name, then you will find the USPTO will require you to disclaim UNIVERSITY. Your use of NIVERSI is actually very distinctive! Now, you need a comprehensive search to see if there are other conflicts or similarities that really affect you. See trademarkexpress.com.
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:42 pm
As soulman said, more info’s needed. It’s not a simple yes or no question, it’s going to depend on any and all facts gathered during the course of things.
If you have applepcrepairDOTcom, you can be in trouble. If you have nikereallydoesbadDOTcom, you can also be in trouble.
It all boils down to why you want to register the name.
Dave Zan
http://www.DaveZan.com