Question for the Attys or anyone who has been in this boat

[deepstar]

If a company has a trademark on xxxxxx.com which is their company name does this mean that they also have the rights to xxxxxx.net and xxxxxx.org.

Sorry if this is a lame question, I was just wondering as I am currently seeking a .net and .org which is for sale.

Thanks,
Eric

[CoolDot]

Can I add a question to this one please ? (I don't want to hijack the thread, so appologies to deepstar).

If a company owns a trademark "The growling bear" or "The flying pirate" does it also own the rights to the domain growlingbear.com or flyingpirate.com (without the The) or just to thegrowlingbear.com and theflyingpirate.com ?

Thanks for the answers on this one too!
CoolDot

[jberryhill]

It's not a lame question. It is, however, a question that does not have a single answer, because (a) not all trademarks are treated the same way, and (b) not all domain registrants are alike either.

For example, the term "Xerox" is a trademark. It has no meaning other than as a reference to a particular company.

The term "Tide" is a trademark. It is also a word. As applied to laundry detergent, it does not carry the meaning of that word along. The exclusive right to use it in connection with laundry detergent does not preclude use of the English word "tide" in contexts having nothing to do with laundry detergent.

So, answer the question yourself under these two situations: (1) someone registeres tide.tld and publishes tables of information about the movement of seawater, and (2) someone registers tide.tld and uses it to sell their own formula of laundry detergent. Do you come up with the same answer for (1) and (2)? You shouldn't.

[deepstar]

Thank you very much for your input. Okay, let say the term is generic but Trademarked like detergent.com and I use detergent.net or detergent.org to sell detergent? Assume that detergent.net or detergent.org is not a domain or a term that would normally drive 5,000 visitors a day but since detergent.com has popularized the term the .net and .org do receive these levels of traffic.

I guess what it really boils down to is how generic the term is. Of course, the only reason I want the domain is because it has been popularized by the trademark holder. The term is generic however without the efforts of the trademark holder I would not want the .net or .org simply because I guarantee it would not receive the level of traffic that it receives.

Thanks again,
Eric

[jberryhill]

"I guess what it really boils down to is how generic the term is."

Bingo. Of course, an ambitious trademark attorney somewhere has, by now, made a record of the whois data for deepstar.com, in order to save your statement "the only reason I want the domain is because it has been popularized by the trademark holder" for a rainy day. So, yes, this would be fine for anyone but you at this point - see point (b) above.

Amazon is a river in Brazil, or a term of reference for certain characteristics among women, such as at amazon.org. Selling books, even if they were about the river, might be dicey.