GMail.ccTLD domain name - any possible moves?

[ilya_leo]

I need an advise. My company owns the GMail domain name in one of big countries ccTLD. I bought it a time ago at a domain auction and now I don't know what to do with this name. I neither want to do any copyright infringement nor get any lawsuit from Google. What can I do? Any suggestions?

[katherine]

You probably have a hot potato in your hands. It's difficult to claim you couldn't be aware of the brand name and Google is used to domain arbitration procedures.

Unless you have particular circumstances, that domain is probably neutered, that is, if they don't come after you.
For instance Google couldn't get gmail.de because it was registered a long time ago.
http://www.dmueller.com/2007/07/08/d...de-in-germany/

But I doubt you're in a similar scenario.

[ilya_leo]

Thanks katherine. The point is that I don't want them to come after me. I'd like to manage the problem earlier, in a some kind of a "good faith" but I don't have any idea how to do that.

[Gerry]

I'd like to manage the problem earlier, in a some kind of a "good faith" but I don't have any idea how to do that.

No way can you establish "good faith" let alone "confusingly similar".

[Acro]

Is it the .ru? If not, that's a great example of (ab)use

[Gerry]

Is it the .ru? If not, that's a great example of (ab)use

Da, Comrade Acrokovsky

[Acro]

Seller is playing Russian roulette with this domain

[Gerry]

Seller is playing Russian roulette with this domain

TM 0
Bullet 1

[Maxwell]

Thanks katherine. The point is that I don't want them to come after me. I'd like to manage the problem earlier, in a some kind of a "good faith" but I don't have any idea how to do that.

Buy a goldfish. Call it "Goldie". "Goldiemail.com" is already taken (just checked, and it is, indeed taken). So you decided to go with a shortened version since "goldie" was easy to misspell anyway (people might type "goldy" instead and go to the wrong site! ).

For some very strange reason that you can't seem to comprehend, gmail.com is taken, and so is gmail.net and every other TLD. So, you find the wonderful opportunity to get your hands on gmail.(cctld). You now write a blog about Goldie. How he reacts to his new food. How shiny his castle is. And how much of a handsome devil his owner is.

Why "mail" in the domain? You want people to be able to send messages to your goldfish. He's awfully lonely in that fishbowl with no other fish. He could use some correspondence.

Some clowns who say they have rights to the term "gmail" come to you and tell you that that's their trademark.

However, they are sorely mistaken! (and this is not legal advice - merely my perspective - my qualifications consist of reading WIPO cases for fun and about 8 weeks of the 11th grade)

Their trademark is for email services. Your use of the gmail term is for your goldfish. Two different business models.

Perfect example... two businesses, one in job searching, and one in energy drinks, both have the name "Monster". The job searching outfit owns monster.com. Can the energy drink company complain about this? No. Because they're not interfering with one another. You have not interfered with any email business in this case, so what rights can they claim?

Again, this is not legal advice. But it is to the effect of what I would do given such an opportunity.

[Acro]

Can Gmail still sue you and come on you like a ton of iron bricks? Of course, and Gmail is part of Google with several billion dollars in liquidity.

[ilya_leo]

Is it the .ru? If not, that's a great example of (ab)use

It's even bigger then .ru!

Seriously, I've already got an advise to change the domain contact data to Google's and forward it to gmail.com. I suppose it would be the best.

---------- Post added at 09:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 AM ----------

Seller is playing Russian roulette with this domain

Acro, actually I'm not even a seller, just unfortunate owner

[Acro]

I can only see .cn being bigger

[ilya_leo]

Buy a goldfish. Call it "Goldie". "Goldiemail.com" is already taken (just checked, and it is, indeed taken). So you decided to go with a shortened version since "goldie" was easy to misspell anyway (people might type "goldy" instead and go to the wrong site! ).

Funny recipe, thank you
But no hope to win this with Google. It would be only possible if my "goldie" was born and the site was made prior to 2004 when the GMail trademark registered.

---------- Post added at 09:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 AM ----------

I can only see .cn being bigger

I mean a country is bigger. May be not a ccTLD itself.

[jaydub]

My crystal ball sees THE 2000 pound gorilla in your future if you to use it.
Email them and say it was part of a package of domains you bought and if they would like it to tell you which account to push it to for them.

This is just asking for probs for no gain really..

[DaddyHalbucks]

Have fun fighting Goliath.