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Should I trademark my website name?

If I trademark a name in my own country and put up a website for it, will it infringe on a trademark on a domain/website in a different country?

  • Answer:

    It could, but it's impossible to predict on the tiny amount of information provided here. Without knowing what the trademark and domain are, and what each brand's distribution is, it's impossible to say. The US has a "first use" trademark system, where the first to use the mark in the marketplace has common law rights even if someone else might file to register the same mark first. If you are in the US and the foreign brand is already distributing its product in the US, the foreign brand has the right to file an opposition to  your mark at the USPTO and potentially restrict your registration or possibly even block it. Domains are not usually an issue because it is impossible for two entities to have the exact same domain (the domain extensions will be different). Unless you are dealing with a "famous" brand, the foreign brand will most likely not have the right to force you to give up your domain.

Stephanie Vardavas at Quora Visit the source

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A couple of points: Trademarks are national, and will fall under the laws of each country. If you want to know about US laws, you might want to have a poke around Ivan Hoffman's web site (http://www.ivanhoffman.com/). No connection other than that I have used his services. American trademarks are interesting in that you cannot "squat" on a trademark. You must show proof of use in interstate commerce withing 18 months of filing. If they think that your application is not genuine, they can negate it. Domains, on the other hand, are managed worldwide by the same entity, Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (https://www.icann.org/). They have a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy, which you can read about here: https://www.icann.org/. Ivan's site also has lots of detail on UDRP. The key thing to note is that domains are different because (a) they are trans-national, and (b) you can legally squat on them. Hope this helps.

Scott Welch

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