Archive for the ‘trademarks’ Category
A good way to waste $325.
The guy who just recently wasted his money filing a trademark application for .music is at it again.
Joseph Walker DBA ExtraWeb Ent just filed trademark applications for .nyc and .shop.
New York City has already announced plans for the .nyc domain name and has selected a registry partner to bring it to market.
Numerous companies want to bring .shop to market as well.
Both of these applications will be summarily rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
But I’ll give some clever points to Mr. Walker for filing this as if the marks are in use in commerce already. He attached a screenshot of supposed web sites at register.shop and search.nyc to his applications.
Strange. I can’t get either of those sites to load.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Related posts:
- Another Day, Another New TLD Trademark Application: .Store
- Up Next, Trademark Applications for .Auto, .Tax, and .Food
- Another .music trademark application and an interesting one for .pay
There’s money in brand protection.
9,000 people are expected to attend the International Trademark Association (INTA) annual meeting in Washington, DC May 5-9. Some of the topics on the agenda for next week include domain names and how companies can protected their brands in an expanding top level name space.
There will be a lot of domain name companies in attendance. Here are some that are exhibiting:
101domain.com
DomainTools
GoDaddy
ICM Registry (.xxx registry)
Key-Systems
Marksmen Inc.
Melbourne IT DBS
Safenames LTD
You may be surprised to see ICM Registry on the list, but it makes perfect sense. Many of its customers are trademarks holders who want to protect their brands. I suspect ICM will also start talking up its plans to help trademark holders by applying for several other adult top level domains, such as .sex.
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Related posts:
- Domain Companies Head to Austin for SXSW
- Domain Companies Head to Austin for HostingCon
- ICM Registry applies for .Sex, .Porn and .Adult
Mystery company files trademarks for .wedding, .club, and .discount.
California’s What Box? Holdings, LLC has applied for three more top level domain name trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The three applications are:
.Wedding – filed September 27
.Club – filed October 3
.Discount – filed October 3
Little is know about the company other than its lawyer being Thomas A. Brackey, II. The company was formed September 1.
My guess is this is not an actual applicant for new top level domains, so don’t read too much into the applications. Given that this entity has already filed a trademark application for .hawaii — a top level domain that would require the blessing of Hawaii’s government — I don’t think there’s a rhyme or reason to the filings.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Related posts:
- dotSPORT Continues its Trademark Frontrunning
- Up Next, Trademark Applications for .Auto, .Tax, and .Food
- Trademark Application Filed for .Bank Top Level Domain Name
Think your site doesn’t show ads related to a trademark? Think again.
Have you ever noticed a Google Adsense ad that seems to have nothing to do with the context of the page you’re viewing? These are retargeted ads based on your previous web browsing.
These ads may prove to be a new way for trademark owners to claim that your web site was designed to infringe on their marks.
For years, trademark owners have manipulated the results on parked domain names to show ads related to the trademark holder’s field of use. But re-targeted ads might take this tactic up a notch.
Consider this scenario: you operate a web site that includes a generic term in the domain name. The generic term is also a trademark in a limited field of use. But the trademark holder visits your page after visiting web sites in the field of use of the trademark and sees ads related to the field. Thus, the mark holder claims that your domain was created to infringe on its mark.
Sound far fetched? Hardly. In a recent UDRP decision (now the subject of a lawsuit), complainant Vanguard Trademark Holdings USA LLC (which owns the Alamo car rental brand) made this exact argument:
Respondent admits that he is using Google’s AdChoices program in an attempt to generate money from the disputed domain name “alamoclub.com”. Notwithstanding Respondent’s assertion that his website cannot provide links to car rental services, the copy of Respondent’s web page and Google’s own explanation of Google’s AdChoices program shows that it can and will. In this regard, Complainant relies upon the Google website as to what Google envisages about its AdChoices program (See Exhibit 4):
What are AdChoices?
The AdChoices icon appears on sites that use Google’s AdSense program to show ads. While Google often shows you ads based on the content of the page you are viewing, we also show some ads based on the types of websites you visit, view, or where you interact with an ad or other Google product supported by Google’s advertising services. In doing this, Google doesn’t know your name or any other personal information about you. Google simply recognizes the number stored in your browser on the DoubleClick cookie, and shows ads related to the interest and inferred demographic categories associated with that cookie. It’s our goal to make these ads as relevant and useful as possible for you. Google doesn’t create categories, or show ads, based on sensitive topics such as race, religion, sexual orientation, or health.
The ads shown on Respondent’s web page can and will include links to vehicle rental sites that participate in Google’s AdChoices program, particularly if the Internet user has been searching for vehicle rentals.
At least Vanguard admits that this is how the ads showed up on the page.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Related posts:
- Trademark Holders Shouldn’t Rush to Get New TLDs
- Nationnal.com and Natiional.com – One is a Trademark Typo, the Other Isn’t
- For National Car Rental, Green Means Stop Using Your Domain Name
Don’t mess around with the Got Milk slogan.
Got Milk?
This slogan has become such a cultural mainstay that we see variations of it all the time.
But what many people don’t realize is that it’s trademarked. California Milk Processor Board has multiple trademarks to the slogan and related slogans.
That’s a lesson that one punk rock band learned the hard way. The band called “GotMilk” needs to find a new name.
The California Milk Processor Board just won the transfer of the group’s domain name GotMilkBand.com. Not only is the band called “GotMilk”, but it even used the stylized font commonly used with the milk slogan.
This isn’t the first time the California Milk Processor Board has gone after people who use domain names including its slogan. It recently won rights to momgotmilk.com and 1800gotmilk.net. It forced the owner of yougotmilkmoney.com to hand over its domain. It has even gone after variations such as GotHempMilk.com.
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Related posts:
- What are Milk Duds? Hershey’s Says It’s Chocolate.
Pair files three trademark applications for .store.
More people are trying to trademark potential top level domain names now that ICANN has approved the program.
The latest attempt is by Eric Doerr of Delaware and Greg Disler of Pennsylvania. The pair filed applications for three marks; two for .store and one for dotStore.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark office won’t issue trademarks for top level domain names, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying to slide them by. It has created some contentious debate in the ICANN community.
In this case the three applications cite different fields of use, not just for a top level domain name.
While ICANN doesn’t plan to consider a trademark when selecting an applicant, that doesn’t mean someone won’t try to use a trademark to halt others’ new TLD plans.
.Store seems fairly similar to an initiative for .shop. Frankly, I like .store better.
© DomainNameWire.com 2011.
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Related posts:
- Trademark Application Filed for .Bank Top Level Domain Name
- Popular .Music Initiative Files US Trademark Application
- .Gay Trademark Application Filed
Trademark office questions use in commerce of .music logo.
Constantine Roussos has made it clear that he plans to use international trademarks to help him win the .music top level domain name during the application process.
But the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office isn’t playing a long.
On December 31 Roussos filed a trademark application for a .music logo. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office wrote back saying there were two problems:
1. The mark hasn’t been used in commerce “in connection with the identified services as of the filing date of the application.” In other words, Roussos has used the logo but not for the goods and services identified since no one can actually register .music domain names right now.
2. The application must disclaim the descriptive wording “.MUSIC”. Filing a design trademark that includes .music may be a clever way to claim rights to .music, but the USPTO isn’t hearing it.
Roussos isn’t the only one filing trademarks on top level domain names before the application window even opens. I think this will be one of the messy areas during the application process.
Roussos’ .music campaign has its first announced competitor. I expect there to be more.
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Related posts:
- Popular .Music Initiative Files US Trademark Application
- Company Wants Trademark for .Secure
- .Music Initiative Says It Will Use Trademarks to Block Competitors
Company files two trademark applications.
It looks like VeriSign might be working on a new slogan for its business.
The company just filed two “intent to use” trademark applications for its domain name business:
Connecting the World Between the Dots and The World Is Connecting Between the Dots.
They’re both clever slogans and I’m guessing they haven’t chosen which one to go with.
Of course as a domain person I wonder which dots are being connected. When I think of a domain name I think of one dot. So between the dots? Still, I guess I “get” it with regards to the DNS.
The applications were filed May 13.
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Related posts:
- VeriSign Files Trademark Applications for New “V” Logo
- VeriSign Registry Changes Logo and Web Address
Municipality wants .athens, but may run into challenges with trademark application.
Add Athens to the list of municipalities that want to register their own top level domain names.
I haven’t seen anything on the web about the city’s plans, but it filed two trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “.Athens” and “dot .athens” back in February. I hadn’t seen these yet because the original applications didn’t list domain names as part of the goods and services for the marks.
When originally filed, the trademarks alluded generally to “telecommunications”, “education”, and “scientific and technological services”.
The trademark examiners suggested changes to the classes and the marks were amended last week.
In a letter to the trademark office, an attorney for Athens wrote:
Please note that these two trademarks are very important for the Municipality of Athens, Greece as they will be used for a new Internet Registry in the future. We both understand that it is natural the Municipality of Athens to have rights in the name of Athens, but I have to protect the new Registry from bad faith behaviors. The trademarks have been fully accepted in a National and E.U. Community Level and I didn’t have problems with WIPO. I understand that your Trademark Law is different and we have to send you more details.
I was surprised the initial action from the USPTO didn’t address that top level domain names can’t be trademarked in the U.S., but perhaps that’s because the original goods and services classes didn’t say that the marks would be used as a TLD.
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Related posts:
- New Top Level Domain Trademark Frontrunning Battle Heats Up
- dotSPORT Continues its Trademark Frontrunning
- Companies File Trademarks for New Top Level Domain Names
.Co trademark program concludes.
.Co announced today that 100% of the world’s top 100 brands have secured their .co domain name through the registry’s Specially Protected Marks Program, or “SPM.”
SPM provided a way for companies on the Deloitte Brand List to get their .co domains without the traditional expense and time required. Among the companies securing their .co domain through SPM are Facebook, Ferrari, Blackberry, Siemens, Sanyo, Amazon, Honda, GAP and Barbie.
The program is somewhat similar to the idea of having a “globally protected marks list” when new top level domain names launch. There is still a lot of debate around the idea, with much of the debate concerning which brands would actually make the list. You can imagine that brands listed 101-200 would push for an extended list.
What .co did was a win-win. It protected the rights of mark holders and won their praise. But .co can also now say that the world’s top 100 brands have secured their .co domain. That’s good publicity.
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