Legal question???

[gwdguy]

I am not sure if this is the right place for these but here goes.


My business was Incorporated as an "s corp" in Nov 2003. My business name is (fictitious name) Joe blows inc. Now I want to buy the name joeblows.com but it is already taken. I look at the whois and it was registered in Dec 2003.. Do I have any legal right to this name?

I have not contacted the owner yet but I want to be able to know if I have a right to request it since I was incorporated before they registered it.


thanks


Robert

[hamerz]

~~~~~~~~~~

That's me with a wavering answer.............. You and others can be incorporated in a number of states with the same "Joe Blowes Inc." business name. So rights to the domain rarely lies with an incorporated "entity".

Where the power comes in is with "registered" trademark. Do you have one?

If yes, then you can ask for it back and if needed file a Domain Dispute with ICANN. All .com fall under this policy.

http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm

If you don't have a registered trademark, you may still own the trademark to your business name through its official use but this is more difficult to enforce and can be costly.

Other questions:
Is the domain being used for personal or business use?
How established is the website?
Are they running a profitable business from it? (Good luck)

I am not a lawyer and my experince lets me know that many lawyers know only a little in this area. I have worked through these types of issues with clients in the past.

~H

[gwdguy]

in-line

Originally Posted by hamerz

~~~~~~~~~~

That's me with a wavering answer.............. You and others can be incorporated in a number of states with the same "Joe Blowes Inc." business name. So rights to the domain rarely lies with an incorporated "entity".

>> I did not think of that.. thanks..

Where the power comes in is with "registered" trademark. Do you have one?

>> No, not really not like an intel or M$.

If yes, then you can ask for it back and if needed file a Domain Dispute with ICANN. All .com fall under this policy.

>> understood

http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm

If you don't have a registered trademark, you may still own the trademark to your business name through its official use but this is more difficult to enforce and can be costly.

Other questions:
Is the domain being used for personal or business use?

>> business use.

How established is the website?
>> it mostly is a splash page that redirects them to a main page under the same type business as I have but their business name is not the same.

Are they running a profitable business from it? (Good luck)

> I assume their business is successful but not because of the name I doubt.

I am not a lawyer and my experience lets me know that many lawyers know only a little in this area. I have worked through these types of issues with clients in the past.

>> thanks..
~H

Well the name is not really that great but I want it and I am going to make a decent offer to buy but I know from past experiences that all of a sudden a $500 domain will be worth $50k to the seller. I thought if i had some legal backing he would take the $$ and run..

thanks for the input.

[POLiSH]

Moved to Legal Issues.

[jberryhill]

I want to be able to know if I have a right to request it since I was incorporated before they registered it.

Without more, no. Whether there are more facts here that would change the answer is an open question.

Mere incorporation under a trade name does not confer trade or service mark rights. If you had been using the term in commerce as a trade or service mark in association with particular goods or services, and particularly if there is reason to believe that the domain name registrant was motivated by knowledge of those trade or service mark rights, then the question bears further investigation.