Trademark issues?

[bigslim]

I found this domain that i wanted to buy it was registered back in 1998 and lets say its spicy.com but a major corporation like turner broadcasting owns a site called thespicy.com and owns the trademark of spicy. thespicy.com was registered in 2007 and the trademark was started in 2007. Is it risky for me to buy the name??? any info would be helpful thanks you

 

[theinvestor]

Of course it is risky. Don't bother buying TM names if you can't afford to lose them.

 

[bigslim]

the domain was on moniker traffic auction i wonder if i can back out of it..... i hope i can as i didnt know the name was trademarked until after

 

[EnricoSchaefer]

Spicy is a dictionary word. So it is safe to purchase it as long as you do not use it to infringing way (ie parking page which drives keywords which will compete with the trademark holder). You should contact an attorney and find out what other marks might be out there so you can determine an appropriate low risk use.

http://tcattorney.typepad.com/anticybersquatting_consum/2008/01/serious-domaine.html

 

[brindle123]

sounds like trouble if you know about the trademark

 

[marcorandazza]

Not really. <sarcasm> He can just lie in the UDRP proceeding and claim that he had never heard of the trademark. </sarcasm>

But seriously... I concur with Schaefer.

 

[fab]

I would just add, that a dictionary term like spicy, can only be trademarked for use of something not directly relating to that term, like Apple can be tradememarked as a use for personal computers, but not for apples.