.co.uk version

[dosomething]

Hi,

I recently thought of an website primarily to be used in the uk. So I went out and bought some domain names related to the idea. Upon further research it was apparent that there is a .com equivalent and i bought the .co.uk by accident. The .com version is primarily for the american market. I realise that there would be problems with trade marks and copyright if i were to instigate a website similiar to the .com version.

My question is then do i contact the .com company to see if they would like to start a .co.uk company or approach them about licensing as the software they are using for the site is what i would need or say nothing and start my own with a different name that i purchased.

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[unet]

.com can trade in the uk and .co.uk can trade in the states ( .com = company ) - only really a trademark issue if the content/service/product is duplicated on both sites.

does the company not offer an affiliate system. I think you have to be careful when dealing with domains that are similar to your own - when contacting the company make sure you are being "breezy" and try not to come over weak as they may go for a dispute.


good lk with your venture

 

[dosomething]

Thanks for your reply,

I think i would have a problem with copyright issues as the content of the website would be very similar only difference is the information is from the uk as opposed to the states.

How would you approach the company? I don't really want to sell the domain as the name and idea could work well in the uk and by contacting them i have alerted them to the fact they could be missing out. Also read somewhere about owning different variations of their name could get you in to trouble and hand over the domain! is this true?

 

[dosomething]

I did a search and there are no trademarks on the name of the domain i purchased. However, the owner of the .com version has a number of sites affiliated under his main name (not the same as mine) and that has a trademark. Does this mean affiliated names are subject to the trademark? sorry if its a bit confusing, obviously new to this!!

 

[MrMichael]

You can run into potential disputes where you use an identical/similar name to an existing company where there is potential for confusion, taking advantage of an existing name or causing detriment to a name, or where there is evidence of diversion of business.

Reputation and goodwill are judged on a territorial basis so technically if the company is unheard of in the UK, there would be no issue provided they had no registered trade marks for a similar/identical name to your own (subject to non-usage restrictions depending on how long the mark had been registered).

If they have an element of goodwill in the UK, it is inadvisable to use an identical/similar name.

There are also domain name dispute procedures in terms of allowing a third party to seek control of domain names which are similar to their own existing name, but these generally only allow the third party to take action where there is a bad faith/fraud element to the usage.

I would certainly advise to create a distinct brand for your company if the only adverse consequence would be registering further domains. It's obviously not easy to create a distinct name admittedly!

 

[dosomething]

I bought other names at the same time, i think i will go down that route. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Dzhoj1984]

Áîìáåéñêè!