City Names and Acronyms

[painperdu]

One of the more popular sites here in New Orleans is "nola.com" which is a locally understood acronym for "New Orleans, Louisiana".

What would be the legal implications for using such names that contain this same acronym. For instance, nolacars.com or nolaweb.com or nolawhatever.com?

TIA,

painperdu

[draqon]

it depends on how you used the domain. If you put up a website about New Orleans, you mentioned the fact that Nola is a popular abbreviation for New Orleans, you would be quite safe. The overwhelming number of recent WIPO decisions support such usage as not being bad faith.

[DeCal]

My opinion is that it wont make a difference because i wouldn't imagine nola to be trade marked.
Might be worth checking it out or contacting the nola site and explaining the situation and see if they have a problem with it. You never know they may put you a link on.

[pljones]

I'd compare Nola to other geographic short-cuts or nicknames, like SoCal for Southern California, SoMa for South of Market, SoHo, NYC, TriBeCa, Philly, Beantown, etc. I don't think you would have much to worry about- who is going to bring a case against this type of domain? If you're using the domain to refer to the geographic region and it isn't a protectable mark to begin with, then you are fine.

Even if you aren't using the domain, there probably isn't much of an issue here (unless of course, there is a legitimate business out there using the name before you, but that's another topic).

[William9]

I am not an attorney, however, I note US trademarks related to: Nola, Nolas, Nola bites, Nola live, Geralrdo Di Nola, Gerardo Di Nola Maccheroni Napoletani, Mia Nola, Grr-Nola Bear, Fruit-Nola, Fruti Nola, Bran’Nola, Nolatex, Mia Nola, Nola’s Nook, De Nola, Di Nola, and Geralrdo Di Nola S.P.A.

I am not saying that using the terms above in a domain is a problem, but that more research should be considered if it was the exact domain you were thinking about. There are other issues, but one problem at a time.

Using a left anchor of Nola, my search determined 1275 domain name strings that nola appears in (domains names that START with nola). E.g. 1. Nolaautos.com, nolaautos.net, nolaautos.org, and nolaautos.info; 2.nolabel is taken in all extensions, 3. nolafc in com, net, and org; 4. nolajort in com, net, and org. Others that may be of interest are nolapay, nolaproperties, nolawave, and my absolute favorite --- --- --- > NOLAwyers.

Good luck.

[painperdu]

Thanks everyone for your responses; I see things a bit clearer now.

[Mizzoula]

I agree, I don't think there's much to worry about unless the name you choose is an actual trademark. I'm from New Orleans, and I know the acronym very well, so I'm sure you wouldn't have a problem finding some high profile defense if you ever had a problem by receiving a C&D letter. You should be just fine if it's pretty generic and "nola" is referenced to that city of Louisiana.

Geaux Saints! err...next year