phone numbers

[netau]

Hi
Can I register a phone number .com without someone, somewhere complaing that it is their phone number?
Like 55526212.com
I had heard that one should not register someone else's phone number for the purpose of selling it to them.
Is that correct?
But what if you register random digits .com and it just happens to be a corporate call centre's phone number in another country?
Regards
Joe

[Cyberights]

Here is an excellent link that discusses your question at length:
http://www.ivanhoffman.com/1800.html

One would have to do a trademark search on the specific number you selected to advise on whether you may possibly be infringing on someone's mark.

[Domainaholic]

avoide the country code and 800 or other prefixes, and the rest is no one's biz.

>>Like 55526212.com

55202288 is my current numbers, anyone can have it if they like - not worth reg IMHO or I'd reg it myself.

[netau]

Originally posted by Domainaholic
avoide the country code and 800 or other prefixes, and the rest is no one's biz.

>>Like 55526212.com

55202288 is my current numbers, anyone can have it if they like - not worth reg IMHO or I'd reg it myself.

Oh Ok Thank you Dom,
I didn't want prefixes anyway
Yes Your current numbers .com are probably worthless.
But what if i reg'd a national call centre phone number for the biggest corp that deals with customers over the phone

I don't know what your sytem of numbering is in your country but in some countries corporations pay to have simple brief phone nos and then publicize them heavily.
Some companies are better known by their catchy phone number than their name.
If Phone calls can be made from a browser, what better URL could that catchy phone number have rather than the phone no .com

For example say the nationwide phone number for News Ltd in India is 11221122

You reckon that they wouldn't mind if I reg'd 11221122.com and sat on it for a few years until phone calls via browsers are common.

[jberryhill]

If by "telephone number", you mean the string of digits, then it is generally not considered a trademark, despite some dicta in a single court decision which has been rejected by every other court to consider the issue. The one UDRP decision involving a number per se is a masterwork of screwy citation, since the case relied upon in that decision elsewhere was specific to the idea of obtaining a trademark interest in a string of digits.

In fact, one of the reasons why Intel introduced the "Pentium" after having produced the 286, 386, and 486 processors, was because it is generally considered next to impossible to obtain a trademark interest in a bare number.

[netau]

Thank you John
Regards
Joe

[Banned: timechange.com]

You definitely can't trademark "pi" because the digits are infinite

[Tippy]

I'd reckon that they would mind.

You know its a phone number of a large company and thats why you want to reg it, to sell it back one day, bad faith.

I dont see why they wouldnt be able to stop you. Its their biz phone number, what would be your reasoning of owning it, none.

Mike

[netau]

Originally posted by Tippy
I'd reckon that they would mind.

You know its a phone number of a large company and thats why you want to reg it, to sell it back one day, bad faith.

I dont see why they wouldnt be able to stop you. Its their biz phone number, what would be your reasoning of owning it, none.

Mike

Thanks Mike. That is exactly what I was thinking.
Except would not that only apply if the registerer lived in the same country as where the phone number is well known?

[spietreser]

bad faith applies regardless of the country your in.