Domain copyright

I own a portfolio for my photography ______.ca website that someone else has in the exact name but in a _____.com,
Got an e-mail citing copyright and court.

What rights do I have?

Ask yourself this....

How many instances do you see of disparate entities having the same domain name other than the suffix. Then ask yourself why they seem to be able to manage this without getting sued.

Are you in the same business? Are you in the same vicinity? Who acquired the name first?

Personally, I would write a letter to him suggesting that he “Go ahead and make my day”.

Having said that, you would be best advised to consult a lawyer and have him draft the necessary letter.

DunnoWhen wrote in post #13823189
Ask yourself this....

How many instances do you see of disparate entities having the same domain name other than the suffix. Then ask yourself why they seem to be able to manage this without getting sued.

Are you in the same business? Are you in the same vicinity? Who acquired the name first?

Personally, I would write a letter to him suggesting that he “Go ahead and make my day”.

Having said that, you would be best advised to consult a lawyer and have him draft the necessary letter.

Yes same business, Same vicinity, and I think they acquired it first.

First, I would never respond with a "make my day" attitude. It may create a climate that ends up costing you lots of money.

Second, because disparate entities now exist on .com and .net domains means nothing. Case in point: I would assume google.net is taken. Were it not, and you purchased it and set up a search engine on it, I can guarantee you would have a team of google.com lawyers down your throat in less that three nanoseconds. And you would lose.

My guess is that when you went to purchase your domain, you saw the .com was already taken and purchased the .net. Correct? If so, this means you became aware another entity, doing the same thing, and in your area existed. Correct?

Be polite and business-like in all your dealings.

I would seek legal council before responding or contacting the person.

It may simply boil down to who has the most expendable money to throw away into the legal process. You'll have to decide if you want to spend the money. It may come down to that - fighting or changing your domain name.

Domains are not protected under copyright law, they have to be trrademarked

here is some good reading
http://www.bitlaw.com/​internet/domain.html

Can I copyright my domain name?
Copyright law does not protect domain names. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit organization that has assumed the responsibility for domain name system management, administers the assignation of domain names through accredited registers.

Sounds more like a trademark issue than a copyright issue. Does the owner of the .com own the trademark? In the USA at least, there is no guarantee that you'll have a unique name for your business. There are trademarks at the federal and state level. As a practical matter, it's reasonable to assume that your customers or those of the other business might be confused, so it makes sense to investigate the existence of other businesses with same or similar names before deciding on one.

i would suggest that you try to sell them the domain. If they are established in the area you're constantly going to be explaining no that's not me that's the other guy with the same business name. I'd just dump it and choose something else if you're not 100% attached to it. The domain name is really only a small part of overall marketing of the business. your domain could be "crappyweddingphotos.c​om" and you'd still be able to get clients if you're doing everything else right.

He has no copyright claim to the .ca but is it worth that much to you when you can sell it to him for a few $K.

Without being a large multi national brand with the trademark to the name in multiple countries-including the US were Network Solutions-the official domain name admin is located, I think you will find it incredibly expensive to try to legally force a domain transfer.

A real Canadian IP expert will be the only one to give you an authoritative answer.

How long have you been useing the domain commercially? And, Is the name really that good that you have to fight for it? I will bet it is not. Rebranding when still new is pretty fast and cheap. Law suits can be drawn out and expensive.... Take your choice....

paintballkidz wrote in post #13823175
I own a portfolio for my photography ______.ca website that someone else has in the exact name but in a _____.com,
Got an e-mail citing copyright and court.

What rights do I have?

1. As mentioned above domain names are not protected by Copyright; but that doesn't mean you are in the clear.
2. If the domain name matches an existing trademark (registered or unregistered) then there may well be a problem.
3. If your company name (or the name you "trade as", if not a registered company) is the same as an existing trademark in the same business and same area then there may well be a problem as they can claim you are infringing their trademark.
4. However, if the company name is purely descriptive (and the domain name the same) - such as "Abbotsford Wedding Photography" then it would be hard for either party to claim it as a trademark, so there would be much less of a problem.

Basically we don't have enough info to give you meaningful advise. You need to speak to an trademark lawyer. What you shouldn't do is respond with a "make my day...." letter. That is never a good idea in cases like this.

As easy as you guys make it sound to just go and talk to a lawyer, I don't have the luxury to do so.
My domain is 604photography.ca and the existing domain is 604photography.com
I have no used mines commercially and it isn't a huge detriment to me to scrap it, I could easily switch to another domain name that I've purchased.
I want to avoid court/legal battles at all costs, its not worth my time and money over a legal battle nor do I have the resources to do so.
I'd be willing to sell the domain to recoup my costs. The e-mail was sent from an anonymous source stating as a friendly reminder, not directly from the other site.

You have answered your own question. Avoiding legal problems (and the associated costs) is what is important to you, so pick a new domain name and check carefully that the name you want isn't already in use.

paintballkidz wrote in post #13828167
The e-mail was sent from an anonymous source stating as a friendly reminder, not directly from the other site.

Thats a little strange, I wonder why the owner(s) of the site in question didn't contact you directly if they are worried about your site/name.


Personally I don't think you legally have to do anything.

I agree with Jim. For all you know the owner of the .com may not care at all. It was sent annonymously, therefore it could be just another person sticking his/her nose where it doesn't belong. On the other hand you can't ignore the issue.

Personally speaking, I'd find out Whois the .com owner and see if he has issues with it. You might even be able to capitalize on it and see if he is interested in buying it from you in my opinion your .ca makes more sense than .com since 604 is an area code in Canada.

Given that it's not your own name in question, if I were you I'd select a business name--and with it a corresponding domain name that still had a .com available and get the .ca to go with it. Why struggle over something that's not particularly personal anyway?