Here is something you do NOT want to do if you happen to own a trademarked term domain and you do not own the mark. I can understand this probally happens more often then one would think, as I really do not check most of the domain I go for either. To be safe, it’s best to always check the term using the free USPTO government database. It’s free and only takes a couple seconds.
Ok, onto the things you should NOT do.
If you happen to own a trademarked term domain and you get an email from the trademark owner, you should always reply. Now if you do not have anything on the domain, that will help you. It will also help if you have a website on the domain, but it has nothing to do with what the trademark is for. Just because somebody has a trademark, doesn’t always give the TM holder the right to the domain.
If you DO have the domain name parked, but sure to put in the Keywords you want displayed on the page and make sure it has Nothing to do with a Live Trademark. Do not take the lazy route and just add the domain to your account and that’s it!
I had wrote a week or so ago that a close friend had a domain expire that had whois privacy on it via NameCheap and he never got a renewal notice. The domain was in full use and IS trademarked. The first day he had any notice the domain expired, was the day it was purchased by somebody else and move to their account.
I had sent an email and offered to purchase (pay) for the domain back, but never got a reply. So I checked the domain daily and waited for the current owner to make the mistake so my friend would have further proof of the bad faith. For about the first week, the owner left the domain on standard eNom servers, but on the 4th changed it to a parking service.
The current owner either has no clue the domain is a TM or just simply left the "keyword" section at the parking service blank. All the Ads that show up on the site are "Mob" ads and 3 of them just happen to have "Mob Games". Hmmm The trademark is for a "Game" and the word mark Tru Mobsters.
This screen shot is just about the only thing needed in a WIPO or UDRP case to show bad faith on the TM. Not replying to the email was another. Be sure to protect yourself if you own any questionable domain names so you do not find a lawyers letter in your mailbox.
One thing I am excited about, is to see the "name of the entity" behind the whois privacy…
