Ask HN: Domain/trademark issues

Posted by anony3141592653 on Friday October 30, 2015 @09:56AM
from the ask-hn dept.

I know this is one of those "hire a lawyer" sort of questions, but lacking a budget for that, could anybody discuss their general knowledge and relevant experience in the area of domain names and potential conflicts with other companies with the same or similar names, which may or may not be trademarked in the US?

For example, if haggler.com (a contrived example) is taken, and haggler.io isn't and I build a product around that, should I worry?

- If it's trademarked or not, does one or the other matter?

- If multiple software companies have successfully trademarked the exact same single word, does that matter or not? (They're all sharing it already.)

- Does a different category or sector matter, if both or all are software products?

I would guess that all of these matter by degree, and potential trouble only depends on an adversary's willingness to litigate, but am hoping for some help or guidance in what is a complicated (and frustrating) aspect of our business.

Is it such a minefield that it isn't even worth bothering?

Thanks.

( 6 comments | 9 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Domain/trademark issues by debacle on Friday October 30, 2015 @11:39AM (#10478458)

If you do your best effort to determine whether a trademark exists, you will limit your liability but if you do find something and use the trademark anyway you will increase your liability if that's discovered.

If multiple companies are sharing the trademark and any of them have semi sentient legal teams, they likely have some sort of agreement in place (but you have no way of knowing). Failure to do so would greatly weaken the trademark claim.

> ...potential trouble only depends on an adversary's willingness to litigate,

In order to protect your trademark, you have to be willing to litigate.

> Is it such a minefield that it isn't even worth bothering?

Is the name so critical to your idea that it is worth bothering?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Domain/trademark issues by davismwfl on Friday October 30, 2015 @04:43PM (#10480422)

The last thing you want to be doing is saying, no no, not .com .io. People will just get confused. Also, because of how most of the search engines work, you may wind up pushed down the results unless someone adds 2-3 extra terms to find your specific brand. For example, an overly dramatic example, but pick Microsoft, with all their history and branding out there regardless of if you could use their name in a brand, would you really want to compete against it?

So even though you might be able to trademark it and get a domain, it doesn't make it worth it. Pick something totally unique that you can stand alone as a brand on. Otherwise you will spend a lot of money setting up marketing differentiators.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Domain/trademark issues by chrisBob on Friday October 30, 2015 @12:52PM (#10478944)

Trademarks are domain specific. If your business is significantly different that an average person would not be confused then you should be ok.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Domain/trademark issues by insoluble on Friday October 30, 2015 @08:03PM (#10481264)

Although your point is correct, I think you could have elaborated better for those unfamiliar with this territory. The basic legal premise is that a trademark is being infringed only if its use of similar terms causes confusion for potential customers or clients, which by its nature requires that the offerings under the mark be conceivably similar in nature or industry. Other important factors are any logos, graphics, or colours being used in the marketing material. A further consideration is how naturally unique the trademark is, such as whether it would be reasonable to assume that the same mark could have been conceived independently for another industry. In this latter sense, trademarks are similar to patents.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Domain/trademark issues by paul66 on Monday November 02, 2015 @01:54PM (#10494103)

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Re:Ask HN: Domain/trademark issues by subliminalzen on Saturday October 31, 2015 @03:30AM (#10482106)

If multiple software companies have successfully trademarked the exact same single word, does that matter or not? (They're all sharing it already.)

Yes. As someone who owns a trademark, I can tell you it does matter. Pick a new name.

Trademark owners must defend their trademarks against infringement. Expect litigation, every time.

[ Parent | on HN ]