I own the domain - but who owns the name? (blog question) - Page 2

 


Owning a domain name offers no protection at all. The only
"protection" would come from actually having USED it for business
purposes. Then it would be a trademark and you'd have protection.
Sounds like you had an idea, spent too much money buying the domain,
then did nothing at all with it. Why would you expect "protection"?
Also sounds like it isn't exactly a long seek. Meaning that
"doladining" would be an obvious name for anyone wanting to create a
food/restaurant site in the town of "dola". Suck it up and move on.

 

Ohioguy wrote:

Don't search and not register. Your search suggestions then become
available for others. Not a lot of great easy names left.


  I had to pay hundreds to get it, but decided that it would

No, practically none at all. It's the business that has the protection,
and it's trademarks. Owning the domain name only entitles you to
protection from businesses that don't have a clear widespread claim on
the name, hence claim also to the domain name. Owning a domain name can
be more tenuous than you think!

   Jeff

 



    ...but, by your own admission, you did not _use_ it, a critical
consideration.

    Could be; you did it to yourself. LOL: Does, "Use it or lose it"
ring a bell? How about, "Due diligence"? Man, you sure do get into some
weird situations; is there not a library in your town? I think you're
being hustled by someone who wants to coerce you into selling him the
domain and who knows that by proceeding to use variations of it he's
tilting the deck in his favor. At this point, your best course of action
might be to sell it to him for the most money that you can extort. Bear
in mind, though, that you must keep your price below the opposing
party's anticipated legal fees if he decides to sue. Otherwise, based on
your non-performance, there is a good chance that in a civil proceeding
a judge would transfer ownership to the petitioner and all you'd get
from the deal is lawyer's bills.
    The purpose of domain registration is to preserve uniqueness among
domains in order to prevent addressing conflicts; it in no way confers
any legal ownership or exclusivity of use of the name for any other
purpose. The privileged of exclusivity or "ownership" is obtained by
registering the name as a trade or service mark with the U.S. Patent
Office. In order to discourage unscrupulous operators from doing with
trade and service marks as you have done with the domain name, that is,
simply sitting on them, applications must be accompanied by actual
samples of current usage—such as product labels, advertising, actual
products—or, at the very least, artwork depicting anticipated
applications.  I do not mean to imply that _your_ intent was nefarious
but without the requirement, it would be easier for hustlers to register
trademarks arbitrarily solely for the purpose of extorting cash from
legitimate operators who later want to use one of them, in much the same
manner as the wild-west (lawyers' dream) extortion market that now
exists with domain names.
    If you intend to conduct business using a name other than  your own
for the purposes of advertising, solicitation, bank accounts,
revenue-generation, collections, etc. you most likely would need to
register the name as a so-called "fictitious" name in your local
jurisdiction but that's a separate issue relating to double-dealing and
fraud.

 


Oh good doG. I was traveling and relegated to Googlegroups. If I had
realized that the OP was that moronic breeder tax-avoider from some
mid-western fly over state I would never have bothered to reply. What
a complete loser.