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If the difference between the trademarked word "meetup" and the non-trademarked term "meet up" is a single space, somebody could register a domain like "meetupw
by Meetup 8y ago
If the difference between the trademarked word "meetup" and the non-trademarked term "meet up" is a single space, somebody could register a domain like "meetupwithfriends.com", call their company "Meet Up With Friends" and not face litigation from Meetup.com?
- keiferski 8y agoIANAL, however typically this depends on the likelihood of your business being confused with the original trademark holder. In theory, if your company is in an entirely different industry and sells unrelated products, you’ll be fine. However in real life, corporations have near-unlimited budgets and will sue you anyway. See the Nissan.com saga for an example. http://www.nissan.com/Lawsuit/The_Story.php http://www.nissan.com/Lawsuit/The_Story.php
- chung-leong 8y agoThe company that chooses to call itself "Meet Up With Friends" had it coming. The English language has a gazillion 4-word permutations. Why choose one that overlaps a well-known mark? In a civilized society people stay out of each other's way. If I've taken this spot then you go take some other spot.
- dronescanfly 8y agoThat's what this whole argument is about. Why on earth is it OK that this spot could have been taken at all?
- chung-leong 8y agoIt's an argument about nothing. A trademark is a repository for a company's reputation. A new company has none. If it's unable to use its preferred mark, no harm is done. That is, of course, unless its intention all along is to steal the limelight of another.