Could a trademark owner come to take your domain name? 商標所有者可以來拿你的域名嗎？

Trademark and Domain Name

Trademark (word-based) and domain name are two different entities.  Some trademark owners may not fully understand their rights to their trademarks.  They tend to extend their right to covering a domain name with the same word(s).   Their misconception is that if they own a trademark, say WHATEVER, they would automatically have the right to owning and using the domain name WHATEVER.com and many other domain names.  That is simply untrue.

And many intellectual properties attorneys would play dumb to earn their money by encouraging them to sue the current owner of the domain name or filing a complaint to an authorized arbitration organization such as WIPO which is allowed under domain name dispute resolution policies set up ICANN – the organization that controls the domain name registration and application.

The truth is, the owner of a word trademark may or may not have any right to the domain name of the same word.  Here are a few things a trademark owner needs to understand:

1) What product or service is his trademark used for.  When a person registers a trademark, he needs to specify the category of his business and describe the products and services the trademark he wants to use for.  Because of this, other organizations may use the same mark for different products or services so long as their use will not interfere with the business of the existing trademark owners.  For that reason, an individual or organization can register the domain name with the same word(s) and use it as a trademark for a different business.

2) The geographic coverage of  a trademark is also important.  If a company used a trademark for commerce in the state of California, then others may use the same mark or similar mark (the domain name of the same word(s) in Texas.  This is particularly the case when the same mark is used for different businesses.   For this reason, a person in Texas can register the domain name for a different business.   Even if the domain name is registered in the same state, the trademark owner cannot file a complaint to get the domain name as long as the domain name is registered legitimately and used in a way that does not interfere with use of this trademark.  Such use does not infringe the right of the current trademark holder.

3)  Trademark popularity makes a difference.  If the trademark owner’s business is very small, and the mark does not achieve any regional or national significant because of the history and or the scale of the business, then the trademark right is very limited. Of course, a trademark like TOYOTA whose publicity has reached a global significance, any one who dares to register a domain name similar to TOYOTA may face a challenge from TOYOTA Motors Company.

4) When trademark owners use their marks, they need to keep a good record on how they use it.  Also they need to take efforts to protect their mark and their right to the mark.  For that reason, mark owners need actively monitor to see if anyone infringes their right. If some violation occurs, they need to take some legal action to enforce their right.  If a domain name has been registered for 20 years, and then out of sudden, some trademark owner comes out to claim that the domain registrant infringes his trademark right.  Such a claim is likely invalid and there is no case for him when the domain dispute goes to an arbitration.

Now what you as a domain name owner can do to protect their rights to your domain names.  In other words, how can you protect your domain names from being reverse hijacked by some trademark owners?

1) Check and see if the domain name you consider to register is in potential trademark conflict.  If there is a risk, and you still like the domain name, then register the name.  And claim it as a trademark for your business, If possible, register your mark with USPTO.gov.

2) Try to use the domain name in businesses that have no ass0cication nor conflict with any existing trademarks.  Use it for something else which has nothing to do with the business protected by the current similar trademarks.

3) Do not even try to sell your domain name to the owner(s) of an existing trademark.  There is a risk even for generic domain names.   This attempt will be a surefire for troubles.   The mark owner(s) and arbitrators or judges would consider that your domain name is registered in in bad faith which is one cause for you to lose your domain name.

4) If you consider buying a domain name, buy an old one, as old as possible.  Old domain names are likely non-challenge-able in court.  Let us say a domain name is 20 years old.  Someone today comes to challenge the domain owner saying that he has the right to the domain name.  The logic question is, if he has the right, then why does he have to wait for 20 years to complain?   Newly registered domain names carry higher risk of being challenged.

By pronamer.com

商標和域名

商標（基於文字）和域名是兩個不同的實體。一些商標所有者可能不完全了解他們對其商標的權利。他們傾向於將自己的權利擴展到使用相同單詞的域名。他們的誤解是，如果他們擁有一個商標，比如說 WHATEVER，他們將自動擁有和使用域名 WHATEVER.com 和許多其他域名的權利。這是不真實的。

許多知識產權律師會通過鼓勵他們起訴域名的當前所有者或向授權的仲裁組織（如 WIPO）提出投訴來賺錢，這在 ICANN 設立的域名爭議解決政策下是允許的 -控制域名註冊和申請的組織。

事實是，一個詞商標的所有者可能對同一個詞的域名擁有或沒有任何權利。以下是商標所有人需要了解的一些事項：

1) 他的商標用於什麼產品或服務。當一個人註冊商標時，他需要指定他的業務類別並描述他想要使用的商標的產品和服務。因此，其他組織可以將相同的商標用於不同的產品或服務，只要它們的使用不會干擾現有商標所有者的業務。因此，個人或組織可以使用相同的單詞註冊域名並將其用作不同業務的商標。

2) 商標的地理覆蓋範圍也很重要。如果一家公司在加利福尼亞州將商標用於商業，那麼其他人可能會使用相同的商標或類似的商標（德克薩斯州相同單詞的域名。當相同的商標用於不同的企業。因此，德克薩斯州的一個人可以為不同的企業註冊域名。即使域名在同一州註冊，商標所有者也無法通過投訴獲得域名，只要域名名稱已合法註冊並以不干擾該商標使用的方式使用。此類使用不侵犯當前商標持有人的權利。

3) 商標受歡迎程度有所不同。如果商標所有人的業務很小，並且由於歷史和/或業務規模的原因，商標沒有取得任何地區或國家的意義，那麼商標權是非常有限的。當然，像TOYOTA這樣一個宣傳已經達到全球意義的商標，任何一個敢於註冊類似TOYOTA的域名的人，都可能面臨來自TOYOTA Motors公司的挑戰。

4) 商標所有人在使用其商標時，需要做好使用記錄。他們還需要努力保護自己的商標和商標權。因此，商標所有人需要積極監控，看看是否有人侵犯了他們的權利。如果發生某些違規行為，他們需要採取一些法律行動來行使自己的權利。如果一個域名已經註冊了20年，然後突然有商標權人站出來聲稱域名註冊人侵犯了他的商標權。這樣的索賠很可能是無效的，當域名爭議進入仲裁時，他沒有理由。

現在，您作為域名所有者可以做些什麼來保護他們對您的域名的權利。換句話說，您如何保護您的域名不被某些商標所有者反向劫持？

1) 檢查您考慮註冊的域名是否存在潛在的商標衝突。如果存在風險，並且您仍然喜歡該域名，請註冊該名稱。並將其作為您企業的商標，如果可能，請在 USPTO.gov 上註冊您的商標。

2) 盡量在與現有商標不存在關聯或衝突的企業中使用該域名。將其用於與當前類似商標保護的業務無關的其他事情。

3) 甚至不要試圖將您的域名出售給現有商標的所有者。即使是通用域名也存在風險。這種嘗試肯定會帶來麻煩。商標所有人和仲裁員或法官會認為您的域名是惡意註冊的，這是您丟失域名的原因之一。

4）如果您考慮購買域名，請購買舊域名，盡可能舊。舊域名在法庭上可能無法抗辯。假設一個域名已有 20 年曆史。今天有人來挑戰域名所有者，說他擁有域名的權利。邏輯問題是，如果他有權利，那他為什麼要等20年才能抱怨？新註冊的域名面臨更高的挑戰風險。