how times have changed

[findtim]

just doing some research for various hand reg doms, and found on "who is" that a VERYYYYYYYYY close domain name to one of mine that makes me money has been registered by someone that knows what i do ( non dnt member) and potential just wants to compete against me. which is called "passing off"

it is soooooo close that i did a similar thing in my early days and go sued !!!

i won by stepping down and rebranding which cost me heap$$$$, but it was hell at the time.

but today there is no way i would even go down that path as i know i would lose given the amount of diversity in domains eg:

dubbodentist
dubbodentists
dentistdubbo
dentistsdubbo
dentistindubbo

and i won't bore you anymore with the list, but many years ago it was a fight but now it seems to be "ohh well, bugger" end of story

tim

 

[snoopy]

What a load of nonsense the above is.

You talk about passing off then you go to say you wouldn't win. How about just saying there is no passing off and they are doing nothing wrong? If you choose a descriptive term like that you can't expect to have rights in it.

 

[findtim]

If you choose a descriptive term like that you can't expect to have rights in it.

once again you never get my point.

i'm talking from experience, a long time ago to an example yesterday, both being "descriptive terms"

i agree with the quote above, i was merely stating that it wasn't always the case for "small fish" like me.

if i owned carsale dot comau and tried to do exactly the same i know i'd get a letter very quickly.

ohh, and next time don't hold back on the first sentence to your replies

tim

 

[snoopy]

once again you never get my point.

i'm talking from experience, a long time ago to an example yesterday, both being "descriptive terms"

i agree with the quote above, i was merely stating that it wasn't always the case for "small fish" like me.

if i owned carsale dot comau and tried to do exactly the same i know i'd get a letter very quickly.

ohh, and next time don't hold back on the first sentence to your replies

tim

You called it "passing off", it isn't because you have no trademark rights, it just someone else with a similar generic name.

"Carsales" isn't a generic term, there is registered trademarks, it might be on the weaker end of the spectrum in term of trademark protection because it is not particularly fanciful but it is nothing like what you are talking about.

"Hi I'm looking to buy a carsales"
"Tell me where the carsales is?"