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diablo · 24-07-2010, 08:07:28 AM

The nominative fair use of a trademark in a domain name must have much wider consequences for domaining as a whole.

A really interesting find namealot.

“Toyota argues it is entitled to exclusive use of the string “lexus” in domain names because it spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year making sure everyone recognizes and understands the word “Lexus.” But “[a] large expenditure of money does not in itself create legally protectable rights.”

“Indeed, it is precisely because of Toyota’s investment in the Lexus mark that “[m]uch useful social and commercial discourse would be all but impossible if speakers were under threat of an infringement lawsuit every time they made reference to [Lexus] by using its trademark.”

“”It is the wholesale prohibition of nominative use in domain names that would be unfair.”"

“”It would be unfair to merchants seeking to communicate the nature of the service or product offered at their sites. And it would be unfair to consumers, who would be deprived of an increasingly important means of receiving such information. As noted, this would have serious First Amendment implications. The only winners would be companies like Toyota, which would acquire greater control over the markets for goods and services related to their trademarked brands, to the detriment of competition and consumers. The nominative fair use doctrine is designed to prevent this type of abuse of the rights granted by the Lanham Act.”

24-07-2010, 08:07:28 AM	#3 (permalink)
diablo Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bonnie Scotland Posts: 738 No Classified Ratings Domain Trader Rating: (100% / 37)	The nominative fair use of a trademark in a domain name must have much wider consequences for domaining as a whole. A really interesting find namealot. “Toyota argues it is entitled to exclusive use of the string “lexus” in domain names because it spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year making sure everyone recognizes and understands the word “Lexus.” But “[a] large expenditure of money does not in itself create legally protectable rights.” “Indeed, it is precisely because of Toyota’s investment in the Lexus mark that “[m]uch useful social and commercial discourse would be all but impossible if speakers were under threat of an infringement lawsuit every time they made reference to [Lexus] by using its trademark.” “”It is the wholesale prohibition of nominative use in domain names that would be unfair.”" “”It would be unfair to merchants seeking to communicate the nature of the service or product offered at their sites. And it would be unfair to consumers, who would be deprived of an increasingly important means of receiving such information. As noted, this would have serious First Amendment implications. The only winners would be companies like Toyota, which would acquire greater control over the markets for goods and services related to their trademarked brands, to the detriment of competition and consumers. The nominative fair use doctrine is designed to prevent this type of abuse of the rights granted by the Lanham Act.” __________________ Get Out While You Can - Escape The Rat Race now available in paperback and on Kindle More from me over at Entrepreneur and on Twitter. Last edited by diablo; 24-07-2010 at 08:10:36 AM.