Domain Name Legal Issues

[schueymcfee]

Sorry, posted this in the Business forum but then realised I meant to post it in this forum! :paperbag:

If a company owns a .com domain selling a certain product, but another company owns the .co.uk domain for the same name and is selling almost the same product but with a different name, does the owner of the .com domain (and the company name) legally have the rights to own the .co.uk domain?

A big :confused:

Could I hypothetically own a domain like www.apple.co.uk and sell MP3 players on there. (This is just an example by the way).

The company has no trademarks in place, although they've now applied for them.

[voyds9]

Don't see why not.
Dot.com says to that it is an american company
Dot.co.uk says a UK company. Surely you would expect two companies perhaps thousands of miles apart to similar/same names and could be selling the same products.

If not then an awful lot of other businesses will be affected. How many Red Lion pubs, Sweeney Todd barbers do you know.

[_dobbo_]

There is an established procedure in place to deal with this. If a rival company selling similar products has registered a domain with your company name, then you have a case - i think the legal terminology is "passing off" - ie they are trying to pass their company off as yours.

If they have registered a domain that's a product name - eg has no actual link to your company - then it's down to who has the most money to pay for lawyers to fight it.

[docevi1]

voyds9 said:

Don't see why not. Dot.com says to that it is an american company Dot.co.uk says a UK company.

Arg! .usa says it an American company, .com is international.

The USA actually had a big hoo-har a while back declaring that since they had "invented" the Internet and .usa had little revelance/value, anyone using a .com outside of USA soil should be paying them a tax.

[voyds9]

docevi1 said:

voyds9 said: Don't see why not. Dot.com says to that it is an american company Dot.co.uk says a UK company. Arg! .usa says it an American company, .com is international. The USA actually had a big hoo-har a while back declaring that since they had "invented" the Internet and .usa had little revelance/value, anyone using a .com outside of USA soil should be paying them a tax.

Only fair if they pay a tax on Tarmac

[JonRB]

_dobbo_ said:

i think the legal terminology is "passing off" - ie they are trying to pass their company off as yours.

My understanding (as a layman) is that "passing off" only applies to company names / trading names. Domain names are nowhere near so cut-and-dried and are often handled by arbitration with the domain register (eg. Nominet for UK domains) rather than in the courts.

[_dobbo_]

JonRB said:

_dobbo_ said: i think the legal terminology is "passing off" - ie they are trying to pass their company off as yours. My understanding (as a layman) is that "passing off" only applies to company names / trading names. Domain names are nowhere near so cut-and-dried and are often handled by arbitration with the domain register (eg. Nominet for UK domains) rather than in the courts.

That was what I was trying to remember - the arbitration bit. The principle is the same I believe, and nominet are pretty good by all accounts if it's a blatant rip-off of another company's name.