Can see an opportunity - unsure as to how to move on it.

connundrum

Two threads in 24 hrs - a record for me!

I'll try to keep it bullet pointed.

I know of a product which is sold worldwide, and who's brand is already very powerful in Ireland. For the purpose of explaining, I'll call the product 'Organic Carrots'.

From my investigations, Organic Carrots are sold in selected Organic Food shops around Ireland, and there is one main wholesaler/distributor located in Dublin. For all intents and purposes, the wholesaler/distributor appears to be the brand ambassador for Ireland too and is involved with marketing the product etc.

The opportunity I can see involves:

• Registering a business name 'Organic Carrots Ireland' (currently no similar business name exists).
  
• Setting up the website www.organiccarrots.ie (currently available). There already exists a .com, .co.uk, .org, .es website which brings you back to the manufacturer's main site.
  
• Linking the .ie site to an existing Organic Food Shop's Webshop, and working out a deal for passing on hits/sales etc.
  
• Setting myself up as a small event based retailer i.e. at Organic Food Markets, Sports Events etc.

The idea would be to test it for a year and see if it works, and whether it'd push me to set up a web and/or B&M shop of my own.

Problems:

Would the manufacturer have an issue with
a) me registering a business name using their name
b) me taking the .ie domain
c) me using their brand to sell (their) products

Would the Irish wholesaler/distributor have an issue with me appearing on the scene and basically taking points a & b? I would rather not discuss my plans with the wholesaler/distributor prior to registering a & b, for the obvious fear that he would do the same.

I guess I'm looking for pointers here - guidance as to how to move without pissing off folk I might rely on for products and marketing material.

Apologies for using Organic Carrots, it was the first thing that came to my head

Chet Zar

connundrum wrote: »

Two threads in 24 hrs - a record for me!

I'll try to keep it bullet pointed.

I know of a product which is sold worldwide, and who's brand is already very powerful in Ireland. For the purpose of explaining, I'll call the product 'Organic Carrots'.

From my investigations, Organic Carrots are sold in selected Organic Food shops around Ireland, and there is one main wholesaler/distributor located in Dublin. For all intents and purposes, the wholesaler/distributor appears to be the brand ambassador for Ireland too and is involved with marketing the product etc.

The opportunity I can see involves:

• Registering a business name 'Organic Carrots Ireland' (currently no similar business name exists).
  
• Setting up the website www.organiccarrots.ie (currently available). There already exists a .com, .co.uk, .org, .es website which brings you back to the manufacturer's main site.
  
• Linking the .ie site to an existing Organic Food Shop's Webshop, and working out a deal for passing on hits/sales etc.
  
• Setting myself up as a small event based retailer i.e. at Organic Food Markets, Sports Events etc.

The idea would be to test it for a year and see if it works, and whether it'd push me to set up a web and/or B&M shop of my own.

Problems:

Would the manufacturer have an issue with
a) me registering a business name using their name
b) me taking the .ie domain
c) me using their brand to sell (their) products

Would the Irish wholesaler/distributor have an issue with me appearing on the scene and basically taking points a & b? I would rather not discuss my plans with the wholesaler/distributor prior to registering a & b, for the obvious fear that he would do the same.

I guess I'm looking for pointers here - guidance as to how to move without pissing off folk I might rely on for products and marketing material.

Apologies for using Organic Carrots, it was the first thing that came to my head

Are you essentially asking if this company would be cool with you copying their product and profiting off of their brand name - without their permission/agreement?!

Plus I'm sure if they are the Irish distributor then they have exclusive rights..

sandin

connundrum wrote: »

Problems:

Would the manufacturer have an issue with
a) me registering a business name using their name
b) me taking the .ie domain
c) me using their brand to sell (their) products

a - yes they will
b- as you don't have connection to the brand and it is likely to be a trademark, you won't be able to register the .ie domain
c - no, their band is their brand. You could use "Carrotts" - retailers of "OrganicCarrotts", but you cannot use the trademarked brand within your title name.

connundrum

Chet Zar wrote: »

Are you essentially asking if this company would be cool with you copying their product and profiting off of their brand name - without their permission/agreement?!

Plus I'm sure if they are the Irish distributor then they have exclusive rights..

Sorry, I'm not looking to copy their product, I'm looking to sell their product.

Thinking about it, 'Twix Bars' would be a better example.

I'm looking to register the business name - Twix Bars Ireland, set up the domain www.twixbars.ie and sell Twix Bars from a small stand at events.

I hope that better portrays what I'm at.

Again, I'm not looking to be the wholesaler/distributor, I'll be looking to sell what he supplies me with. I'm basically asking if its cool to take a giant leap by registering the business name and domain.

If I'm stepping over a line, no prob.

Edit: I'm looking at other sites like www.nike.ie - how did they get a hold of that domain?

Chet Zar

connundrum wrote: »

Sorry, I'm not looking to copy their product, I'm looking to sell their product.

Thinking about it, 'Twix Bars' would be a better example.

I'm looking to register the business name - Twix Bars Ireland, set up the domain www.twixbars.ie and sell Twix Bars from a small stand at events.

I hope that better portrays what I'm at.

Again, I'm not looking to be the wholesaler/distributor, I'll be looking to sell what he supplies me with. I'm basically asking if its cool to take a giant leap by registering the business name and domain.

If I'm stepping over a line, no prob.

Edit: I'm looking at other sites like www.nike.ie - how did they get a hold of that domain?

I know what you mean, you want to just sell their product in return for a commission, etc. Really what you're talking about here is an affiliate arrangement, right?

I'm sure you might be able to work out something with them in that sense, if that's the kind of thing they are open to. But you definitely can't go registering their brand's domain name, no...

Nike would have gotten the .ie through claiming rightful ownership - they are Nike, they want to do business in Ireland - they get the domain.

The Apprentice

Well i dont think he would buy it any other way bar an affliate option and he could pull that service at any moment.

he doesnt know why kind of business experience you have and you might do irrepairable damage to his brand

A bit sad really but thats what i can see

DubTony

First of all, according to a Whois search, Nike.ie is registered to a NIall KEaveney. Clever chap.

The distributor of the product here would probably have a problem with the domain registration, although, they should have it registered already.
Having said that, if you can register a business name using the name you'll be ok to get the domain. If you show that you have used it, in a years time, in the "spirit" of the name, you've a good chance of being allowed keep it.

Registering a business name costs €20 at www.cro.ie

Recessionbust

If The website directly relates to the name of your Business than you can register with the cro as previously mentioned and buy the website.
No one can have a issue with that, its fair game.
As the OP pointed out the domain is available and if the Company your dealing with want it than they can make you a offer for it.

As for selling there product and using their brand name to advertise well again fair game.

Maybe I am wrong but I don't think its any different to me selling for example Johnson & Johnson Products & Unilever and advertising this on my website which I have been doing.

connundrum

Recessionbust wrote: »

If The website directly relates to the name of your Business than you can register with the cro as previously mentioned and buy the website.
No one can have a issue with that, its fair game.
As the OP pointed out the domain is available and if the Company your dealing with want it than they can make you a offer for it.

As for selling there product and using their brand name to advertise well again fair game.

Maybe I am wrong but I don't think its any different to me selling for example Johnson & Johnson Products & Unilever and advertising this on my website which I have been doing.

I think the issue is that (going along the Unilever line) I'd be trying to register a business name like Dove Ireland, along with registering the website www.dove.ie

I'm stuck, as of I go to the supplier/distributor and tell him my plan, I'm sure he'll probably do the same thing as I'm thinking.

I've checked with the powers that be, and the brand name is not registered here. The brand logo is a registered trademark.

mneylon

brandname.tld or brandnamecountry.tld etc., are all going to be protected.
They don't need to have a registered trademark if its their mark

What you're basically talking about doing is setting up a business with the sole purpose of trading off someone else's mark / brand

The rights holder would be entitled to get the domain back via WIPO and could possibly sue you for damages on top of that.

If, however, using the example of Dove soap, you were to use something purely generic such as soaps.ie or similar then you wouldn't have any issue with the domain name at least.

As for nike.ie - that domain has been registered and dropped at least 3 times over the last 4 or 5 years. I'd be very surprised if Nike didn't take action against them, but maybe the Irish market isn't that important to them for them to have noticed yet

MOH

Is the name something like TwixBars.ie which clearly involves a trademark, or something like OrganicCarrots.ie which while it may be a trademark, could also legitimately refer to selling any kind of organic carrots.

Pope John 11

I would imagine that you would not be able to get a trademark for 'twixbars' as it relates directly to 'Twix' the chocolate bar manufacturer.

Also I'd say you would not be able to trademark two dictionary words such as 'Organic Carrots' on its own merit. Now 'Joe's Organic Carrots' you would be able to trademark.

Thats my take on it

TrendyWendy

It will probably only cost you about 50euro to register with the CRO and buy the website name so do that and then approach the company and see will they buy it from you make a quick turnover . The only problem I see is that if they dont want the name you will have to build some sort of site and approach the manufacturer about selling the product online.

If it feels like a good idea to you and its not going to cost you a fortune to give it a go why not go for it.