Worried about other people registering my .com domain name in other cctlds?

[burgerman]

Hi,

Let's say you register a great brandable domain that contains keywords in it. You have major plans for the site. You register the .com, .net, .org, your country's cctld if it has one, and, finally, the version with hyphens in it; you 'corner' the market for this domain name basically.

However, you haven't trademarked the domain. You also plan to incorporate eventually.

If your web site becomes profitable, some people will be tempted to register the domain in other cctlds. If you're located in the US, it's going to be difficult to register the domain for fr., .nl, .com.au, .no, .se, etc because you need a physical presence in those countries in order to register those domains.

Do you have to apply for a trademark in each of those countries in order to protect the domain? Or is it enough to trademark the domain in the US?

Also, should you get the domain trademarked in the US before you launch the .com web site?

[Sapphiro]

I think getting the US patent should be good enough. Either way, if it's not enough, it's going to be a lot of work applying for trademark in every/shortlisted country... (I don't think it's possible as well, and eventually, I think some countries like China doesnt care much about trademark laws so someone could still register the .cn making all your effort in applying the trademarks in different countries in vain)

[katherine]

EU-wide TM registration is possible: http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/index.en.do

Also, many ccTLD are now unrestricted. Most of them have dispute resolution policies in place.

[snicksnack]

A US trademark would not be sufficient. Some ccTLDs require local trademarks, some require local presence...

@Sapphiro: there is a trademark law in China and you could go to court and win the case.

[RTM.net]

and I think the reverse risk is far higher - if one only registers a ccTLD and NOT the .com gTLD (there are many cases of this)....

It happens quite often in countries where the ccTLD has a dominating (but not exclusive) mindshare of local residents. Once the site goes very big, the risk of losing traffic to the .com could become a significant issue.

Rob

[tekz999]

markmonitor.com

[Sapphiro]

A US trademark would not be sufficient. Some ccTLDs require local trademarks, some require local presence...

@Sapphiro: there is a trademark law in China and you could go to court and win the case.

I see.. thanks for correcting me!! Btw may I know if the trademark law in China applies to HK and Macau (and taiwan??) too? or just mainland China?

[snicksnack]

HK and Macau have both different TM laws from China, evenso they are part of China.

---------- Post added at 04:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:51 PM ----------

Taiwan is a different TM law as well.