selling domain names vs. selling a "business"

[draqon]

I'm curious to hear what the lawyers think of this idea.

Lets say I have a domain for sale, that is composed of random letters such as JCS.com or BZA.com. Putting up a website that says "This domain is for sale" can be considered bad faith by some WIPO panelists. Is there any reason to think that I would be better off if I created an obviously fake 'online store' that sold pencils, and then put up text saying the pencil-selling business along with $5 worth of inventory of pencils, plus the domain name, were for sale? In short, would I be able to escape the bad-faith rulings by selling a non-existent company rather than just the domain?

 

[Steen]

I dont think you can get in trouble for advertising of selling acronyms but dont take my word.

I saw one case (Hal's) where wipo turned ruled against hal in the owning of AHBD.org or somethign random like that.

I m not a lawyer.

 

[Ari GoldbergerAri Goldberger is verified member.]

I think a phony front to avoid bad faith would be seen for what it is. To establish a legitimate interest, the business would have to be "bona fide." If the domain name is a common word or descriptive term and not one uniquely associated with a trademark you should not have to worry much about the bad faith issue. However, if the name is, or incorporates, a unique mark you will have difficulty protecting it except under certain limited circumstances.