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Creating A Website On A Patented Product
Posted by Anonymous . updated on 2/26/2009
I have created a forum / reviews website on a patented product.
The site specifically states in disclamier that we have no affiliate or are endorsed by the product.
Now the lawyers of the product have said that we are in trademark rights violation of the federal lanham act.
Now they want me to transfer the domain to the company.
I am not 100% sure that they are corrent but I think according to ICANN they can probably get the domain from me.
I appreciate any info you can provide.
Todd
Answers (3)
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Isaac
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I think the reason why no one is responding is because your post does not provide enough information to address the issue, and we are all loathe to encourage you to present more info in an online forum.
Is one of the issues alleged by the patent holder that your domain name is similar to or contains a part of their trademark? If so I think the next step would be to obtain an opinon of whether the allegation has merit.
If not, then your domain name may not be at risk, and the question is whether or not your use of their trademark is an infringing use.
There have been some cases where trademark holders have attempted to use trademark law to silence legitimate criticism. I have no way of telling whether that is the case here.
If you decide that your own position has merit. You'll also have to decide whether your domain name or your web page are worth fighting about.
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JimIvey
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I'll point out a couple of things.
First, the OP confuses (or at least mixes without distinction) patents and trademarks. The fact that the product is patented is immaterial. The salient fact is the trademark registration.
Second, the trademark registration appears to be pertinent here because of your particular domain name. Is it of the form www.<registered-trademark>.com? If so, you have a difficult road ahead.
I'm no expert in ICANN proceedings or in the anti-cybersquatting law here, but my understanding is that one factor is no reasonably legitimate use of the domain name. If you're using the domain to host a legitimate discussion/critique/reference for the product itself and not just to extract money from the trademark owner, you might have a shot at winning. However, you should budget for a significant fight over that.
If, on the other hand, your domain name is of the form, www.<registered-trademark>sucks.com (or ... rocks.com, or ... discussionforums.com), you have a much stronger case. Those have been upheld as legitimate. However, you should still budget for a significant fight over that.
I hope that helps.
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