QUESTION
If I am actively billing clients for a service "X" but someone else is squatting on the domain name URL "X.com" would I have claim to it?
Asked on Mar 27th, 2012 on Intellectual Property - New Jersey
More details to this question:
I have a small S corp to run a business on the side of my regular 9-5. We are actively selling a service using specific terminology related to the service and the geographic location of our business. This service/geo name combination was registered as a domain name but is not in use. Do I have a claim to the rights for this domain name?
2 ANSWERS
You do not provide sufficient information with which to answer this question. Have you registered and/or used the "service/geo name combination" as a trademark? Is there any reason to any reason to believe that the party that registered the domain name had knowledge of your business at the time that the service/geo name combination was registered as a domain name? If you cannot answer "yes" to both of these questions, then it is unlikely that you could succeed in obtaining the rights for this domain name without purchasing the domain from its owner.
Answered on Apr 13th, 2012 at 3:08 PM
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1 Award
As a general matter, a plaintiff in a so-called "cybersquatting" case may have trademark rights in the domain name registered to the defendant. Usually these trademark rights must be more than mere rights that arise from use, but rather must be reflected in a state or federal trademark registration that antedates the defendant's registration.
Answered on Apr 03rd, 2012 at 8:48 PM