A name of a bay or Lake or island - DNForum - Domain Sales, Domain Forum, Domain Appraisals, Domain Registrars

**elbst23** · 10-23-2007, 02:03 PM

Hello

Are there any trademark or other restrictions with owning the name of a US lake or bay.

just for example purposes, if I owned:

Chesapeake.com or Chesapeakebay.com and the advertisers were about the bay.

Or, if I owned AtkaIsland.com or atka.com - would there be any trademark or other issues with that if the ads were about atka island or traveling to Alaska (note, Atka is an island in Alaska)

thanh you, I appreciate your help....

**DNQuest.com** · 10-23-2007, 03:08 PM

Why do I have a feeling that "eBay" is involved in this one? If it is a Geo domain, it cannot be trademarked. But if it is a name of a company or product and they can prove bad faith, then they could have somewhat of a shot.

So if you had cheasepeakebay.com and it was an auction site, I oculd see you losing the domain. Whether it is right or not is a different story.

**elbst23** · 10-23-2007, 04:26 PM

Ebay has nothing to do with this

So again, I have owned a name of an island or bay, say I owned atka.com which is an island in Alaska, and say I had ads up there promoting Alaska travel - could there be any issues

**Raider** · 10-23-2007, 04:57 PM

Best if an attorney answers this but I very much doubt it.

I own LakeMohave,com, which has no TM..... I dont think its any different than owning domains of cities, states or countries.

**stock_post** · 10-23-2007, 04:57 PM

You can buy those names and there won't be any issue!
no one patented those names I guess.

**Doc Com** · 10-23-2007, 05:13 PM

If you are "thinking" along the lines of some of the new man-made islands, bays or lakes made exclusively for real estate ventures and mega-construction projects, there may be some issues.

As for the CheasepeakeBay.com point, that may be an earlier reference that I gave a while back to eBay sending me a C&D when I regged MaineBays.com for a Photo Journal site of a planned kayak trip we were taking in Maine and Nova Scotia. eBay thinks they own the alphabet and also have the belief that every combination of E B A Y is TM infringement.

If it's on the map, you may be okay.

But if it is one of the named man-made islands or body of water that if vaguely referred to earlier, the way I view it is if a private enterprise that is pumping billions of dollars into a project...if they are spending billions in building these places, then a few thousand to come after TM infringement won't matter to them.

This is just an example and some thoughts as I am keenly aware of these projects and a recent 60 Minutes episode shed light and I am sure opened many eyes to these ventures.

**DNQuest.com** · 10-24-2007, 11:02 AM

Geo domains are pretty safe, you cannot trademark a geo name. As far as man-made projects, as mentioned, that could be a different story because someone developed the area and named it for a commercial venture. But realize that geo names can have secondary meaning depending on usage....

Chicago
Boston
America
Asia
Europe

These are geo domains, use them as you wish, except in the music/entertainment industry where they hold TMs.

**dnforumdude** · 10-24-2007, 01:01 PM

Doc Com, I know exactly what you are talking about lol. I own quite of few of those domains mainly related to Dubai. I am not an expert regarding this and any further clarification would be welcomed, but I think there's a distinction to be made.

For example the PalmDubai. I do not think it should be problematic with TM issues because it is the name of the place.

For example the case of Las Vegas. You can register LasVegasProperty.com, you are allowed, or NYhotels.com

The same I would think applies to Dubai.

HERE'S THE DISTINCTION I THINK WHICH SHOULD BE MADE

If in the area of let's say Jumeirah (one of the districts in Dubai), there's a place called WATERPEAK, then I would think perhaps WATERPEAK would infringe on TM issues since it is a specific project within a geographical area.

In case of the man-made Islands, The area is not exactly the OCEAN and the projects as a specific location.

Could be wrong, but this make sense I would think

**Doc Com** · 10-24-2007, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnforumdude

Doc Com, I know exactly what you are talking about lol. I own quite of few of those domains mainly related to Dubai.

I see from your sig you do know what I am talking about.

Example: The Palms Dubai, The World Dubai did not exist until someone made them. Now ThePalms.com would be considered generic (but there is a Las Vegas Casino/hotel with that name) and TheWorld.com would be generic.

But if one was to add the word Dubai in there it may be TM infringement. Plus, I do not know how true this is, but I read somewhere that Dubai seizes domain names as their right as a sovereignty.

If the original OP is talking about a recent discovery, something on the map, a body of water that is literally "public domain" I don't think there would be an issue. Especially if it is on a map, a journal, a nautical chart etc as then, in essence, every time it is in print could be a possible TM violation. I have a few islands and numerous beaches myself so I don't think there is a TM issue.

But it is those man-made islands, lakes, and projects and monster building projects and towers that may run into some issues...and this is not only going on in Dubai. The entire UAE is awash is oil money.
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On another note, it is nice to see Arabic traffic, CTR, and PPC pick up on all my native Arabic words and subjects in general with the release of the new search engine Onkosh.com and Onkosh.mobi. This is a new search engine and a first search engine that will take both native Arabic script/characters and English words (roman alphabet) and give search results. Releasing it as a .com and a fully fuctional .mobi search engine may be a model for what is to come.

If search engines can do this, will IDN be that crucial in the future?