Potential trade mark issues from using a similar domain?

[r200mgr]

Hi guys, I'm after a bit of advice.

I currently sell a product on several platforms such as ebay, gumtree etc. I've built up a customer base and have thousands of email addresses from previous sales.

I'm now looking to create a website selling these products and have found a domain name which is relevant, the issue is a competitor has a very similar domain (it's the same two words but mine has a hyphen in the middle.)

It looks like this competitor has trademarked the two words in the relevant product classification, unfortunately I can't see the trademark as the gov website isn't responding. What I would like to know is whether I could potentially run into any trademark issues? My product can be unbranded, I only want to benefit from the domain name being relevant to the product and any seo it might create.

Anyway I hope that makes sense, thanks for much in advance.

[jonamv8]

So your saying your competitor has for example

Fast Cars

and you want

Fast-Cars

Technically it's different due to the hyphen....

[davepoth]

Have a read about "passing off". If you have a genuine concern about it then it's wise to tread carefully - unless your competitor's name is very generic.

[akirk]

r200mgr said:

Hi guys, I'm after a bit of advice.

I currently sell a product on several platforms such as ebay, gumtree etc. I've built up a customer base and have thousands of email addresses from previous sales.

I'm now looking to create a website selling these products and have found a domain name which is relevant, the issue is a competitor has a very similar domain (it's the same two words but mine has a hyphen in the middle.)

It looks like this competitor has trademarked the two words in the relevant product classification, unfortunately I can't see the trademark as the gov website isn't responding. What I would like to know is whether I could potentially run into any trademark issues? My product can be unbranded, I only want to benefit from the domain name being relevant to the product and any seo it might create.

Anyway I hope that makes sense, thanks for much in advance.

don't do it...
if they have a registered trademark they can pursue you
they can remove the domain from you
they can pursue you for all monies you have made from sales under their trademark
hyphen is irrelevant, it is punctuation - it is a breach of their trademark

I closed someone down using myxxxxx.com where we are xxxxx ltd and have xxxxx trademarked - so less similar, but similar enough to be a breach of our trademark... an expensive lesson for them as they had just had all their business materials printed and they had to be scrapped.

I assume that the product is not known as the domain name - otherwise you could challenge his trademark on the basis that it is either a general description for the product / that you have been trading since before he registered it... in which case you might be entitled to use the same trademark...

but if it is simply that they have trademarked a relevant, but not direct description, and you haven't been using the same mark of trade, then you are unlikely to be able to use it...

Edited by akirk on Wednesday 5th August 21:16

[maffski]

People have an impressive ability to forget hyphens when mentioning domain names or writing them down, so you'll be sending a portion of your potential market direct to your competitor.