Trademark Registration & Corresponding Domain Names

If you own the trademark registration for a particular term or phrase, does that automatically give you the rights to the corresponding domain name?

Not necessarily. When you get a trademark registration, you are ordinarily given trademark rights within your industry. That is, if you are a software manufacturer with a trademark registration for the name PHILOSOPHY PROGRAMS, then you would have the exclusive right to use the name PHILOSOPHY PROGRAMS in connection with software and any kinds of related goods or services. Accordingly, if another company started using the name PHILOSOPHY PROGRAMS to market and sell their religious seminars, you probably would not be able to do anything about it since no one is likely to confuse religious seminars with computer software programs.

The same kind of logic applies to the ownership of domain names. If you have a trademark registration for PHILOSOPHY PROGRAMS for your software products, then you could potentially stop anyone from using PHILOSOPHYPROGRAMS.COM in connection with computer software goods or services. However, if someone owns PHILOSOPHYPROGRAMS.COM and is using it in connection with providing religious seminars, you'd likely be out of luck. The owner of the domain name would likely be able to keep the domain name, and they'd be able to continue using it to promote their religious seminars without any problems.

So in conclusion, if you own the trademark registration, you don't necessarily have any rights to the corresponding domain name. However, you could potentially assert rights to the domain name if, for example, someone else started using the domain name to promote similar kinds of goods/services to those that you're providing, provided that you attained trademark rights to the domain name before the other party's initial use.

These domain name issues can be complicated, and contacting a trademark attorney is usually best for specific legal advice about your case.

About the author:
Xavier Morales is the owner of the Law Office of Xavier Morales, http://www.SecureYourTrademark.com focusing on Trademark Registration and domain name disputes. He can be reached at 1-866-618-2517 or by email: xm@secureyourtrademark.com