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Gerald M. Levine
Levine Samuel, LLP
130 West 42nd Street,
12th Floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 596-0851Trademark Databases
- USPTO (TESS)
- E-Justice, Europe
- EU Trademark Database (Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market [OHIM]
- UK Intellectual Property Office
- International Trademarks (National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland)
- WIPO Gold (“The Global IP Reference Resource”)
- WIPO Global Brand Database
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- Intellectual Property Digital Library (WIPO)
- Legal Corner for Authors
Trademark and Domain Name News
Tag Archives: Taking advantage of trademark
Parties in Same Business and Operating in the Same Geographical Area
Distance is not only geographical and temporal but also measured by product or service offerings. The principle underlying temporal distance is that the respondent could not have registered the domain name in bad faith if the trademark had not then come into existence. Subsequent bad faith use (except in the view of panelists who argue for “retrospective” bad faith) is not grounds for forfeiture of the domain name under UDRP. The greater the distance of all three combined the less likely that the complainant can prevail on the bad faith element, which is the ultimate test.
Geographical distance by itself does not favor the respondent’s good faith claim, but temporal distance (acquiring the domain name prior to existence of the … Read the rest
Posted in Denial of knowledge, Geographic distance, Para. 4(a)(ii) of the Policy, Para. 4(a)(iii) of the Policy, Para. 4(c)(i) of the Policy, Prima facie case, Totality of facts, Website content
Tagged different market, Geographical distance, Same industry, Taking advantage of trademark, Temporal distance
1 Comment
Giving Parties Benefit of the Doubt: Sufficiency of Evidence
Giving a party the benefit of the doubt is really shorthand for insufficiency of the other’s evidence. In the first instance, complainant has the burden for establishing its case for all three elements, but as it proceeds from element to element its burden grows heavier. Proof that the domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark in which it has a right is a low bar. Uncertainty whether a domain name is confusingly similar or similar but not confusing generally favors the complainant, particularly if the record favors the respondent. Element two, that respondent lacks rights or legitimate interests is heavier but complainant only has to establish a prima facie case, which is essentially a showing that there … Read the rest
Posted in Benefit of the doubt, Confusing similarity, Defenses, Insufficiency of evidence, Para. 4(a)(ii) of the Policy, Para. 4(a)(iii) of the Policy, Similar - Not confusing
Tagged Active/passive use of domain name, Confusingly similar to trademark, Evidence, Future dispute, Identical to trademark, Taking advantage of trademark
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