Website with a company name problem??

Bergstrom

Hi guys,

I want a company name that a website has already .com'd in Norway. I've checked with the company registrar in Norway and the company name doesn't exist.

What has happened is that the guys name (for example) is Sean Fogarty. And he has registered an company Sean Fogarty Films, but registered Fogartyfilm.com.

So, I have registered a business name with the CRO.ie called Fogartyfilm and I want to eventually use fogartyfilm.com if this guy stops using the site. Fo now I'll have to use ff.com or something.

What I want to know is, is there anything stopping me registering Fogartyfilm.com since there is no company in existance, even though there is a website of the same name? I don't see anything on the CRO website that says I can't.

Thanks in advance,

Bergstrom

ButtermilkJack

He may not have registered it as a company but he may have registered it as a trading name? If so he is likely to keep his .com for a very long time. Personally I'd pick a new one. There's nothing stopping you trading as "Fogarty Film" in Ireland afaik but just don't expect the .com any day soon. Whynot fogartyfilm.ie? Do you need to be international?

Vokes

Surely you can make a challenge to the other party where they would have to demonstrate that they registered the domain with good intent and that they actually intend to use it in the future, no?

Bergstrom

ButtermilkJack wrote:

He may not have registered it as a company but he may have registered it as a trading name? If so he is likely to keep his .com for a very long time. Personally I'd pick a new one. There's nothing stopping you trading as "Fogarty Film" in Ireland afaik but just don't expect the .com any day soon. Whynot fogartyfilm.ie? Do you need to be international?

I definitely want this name. I'd be trading in Ireland, but it may be recognised internationally. It will be a Film production company. I guess I could, if allowed,
advertise with fogarty-film.com (with the "-" put in,to link people to MY co. )

As regards this guy keeping the domain, he said he intends to keep it for a good while.

Thanks for the replies. Any more info on this is appeciated.

Berg

Our man in Havana

Register a complaint with ICANN that the other guy is cyber squatting.

OfflerCrocGod

Change your name, bloody hell he was there first in this day and age get a company name that has no web domain registered......it will probably be quicker and cheaper.

antoinolachtnai

forget about it. he has more rights to the name than you. if you go and register fogartyfilm.com as a company name without having the domain name first, you'll look really stupid, especially when it comes to making a WIPO application. As it is, he could potentially injunct you and it is very possible that he would do this if you came near his turf.

If you think the domain name and the name are really valuable to you, then make the guy an offer.

If you are in the movie business, and plan to go anywhere near the US, then I would be very careful. The Guild in the US seems to take a very dim view of people using the same or similar names as established (even slightly established) filmmakers, to the extent that they will make you change your name, even if it's actually your own name and the other guy's is just made-up. Hollywood, it's a crazy town!

Bergstrom

I'm not registering fogartyfilm.com as a company name. It's just fogartyfilm. There is NO co. called Fogartyfilm, just the site. And since there is no company with that name, I'm just trying to find out if I have the right to set up a company called Fogartyfilm. He has called his company John Fogarty Films but probably realised Fogartyfilm.com would sound better on a website.

Berg

antoinolachtnai wrote:

forget about it. he has more rights to the name than you. if you go and register fogartyfilm.com as a company name without having the domain name first, you'll look really stupid, especially when it comes to making a WIPO application. As it is, he could potentially injunct you and it is very possible that he would do this if you came near his turf.

If you think the domain name and the name are really valuable to you, then make the guy an offer.

If you are in the movie business, and plan to go anywhere near the US, then I would be very careful. The Guild in the US seems to take a very dim view of people using the same or similar names as established (even slightly established) filmmakers, to the extent that they will make you change your name, even if it's actually your own name and the other guy's is just made-up. Hollywood, it's a crazy town!

Our man in Havana

You can set up your company Fogarty film no problems. Once the company exists you could complain to ICANN about his website saying that he intends not to use it and to stop you having it, kinda like cyber squatting.

antoinolachtnai

a. You said at the start that you wanted to register the company name fogartyfilm.com, which is why I thought that why you intended that.

b. ICANN doesn't deal with cybersquatting disputes. WIPO does. It's unlikely that WIPO would entertain any case on this, because there's no evidence of bad faith.

c. Yes, you could register the name as a company name.

If you register the DN fogarty-film.com and you start to trade in a jurisdiction where he already trades, you are risking confusion at best and an injunction at worst.

Why put yourself through this?

Bergstrom

antoinolachtnai wrote:

a. You said at the start that you wanted to register the company name fogartyfilm.com, which is why I thought that why you intended that.

b. ICANN doesn't deal with cybersquatting disputes. WIPO does. It's unlikely that WIPO would entertain any case on this, because there's no evidence of bad faith.

c. Yes, you could register the name as a company name.

If you register the DN fogarty-film.com and you start to trade in a jurisdiction where he already trades, you are risking confusion at best and an injunction at worst.

Why put yourself through this?

That's true, its a lot of bother. I did register the business name a month after he set up his site. I had been thinking of using the name since 1996!! I thought no one will come up with this, but they did.

I might e-mail the guy again and see if I can work somethimg out. He did tell me that he was willing to put up a link on his site to link to mine. I'd have to make mine a .net or .ie . He seemed like a nice guy, but he understandbly was not willing to give up his website address.

Thanks for the advice guys. Any more ideas will be appreciated and I may contact this guy soon and see what he says.

Bergstrom

jhegarty

would you consider .ie ?

its going to cost €€€ to try and get the .com, and I would say you would loose.... he can't be cyber squatting if he used the name before you....

Bergstrom

jhegarty wrote:

would you consider .ie ?

its going to cost €€€ to try and get the .com, and I would say you would loose.... he can't be cyber squatting if he used the name before you....

The .ie is available. But there would still be confusion. I'll get back to him and see what he says.

Thanks jhegarty.

Bergstrom

democrates

Would be worth checking out with your legal eagle how trademark law impacts on wipo rulings.

Though he registered the domain name first, if he has no business name or trademark for fogartyfilm ask if you could still win prior-use if you beat him to those.

Or if you place an ad in a US paper, would that be enough to establish that you used your name there before he did and strengthen your case for the gTLD down the line?

You could also go for fogartyfilm.net, that's global and people don't balk at it.

But unless the name is just too brilliant as a brand, I'd put the thinking cap back on and come up with something else, you are in the creative business after all.

Bergstrom

Well, I've just sent him an e-mail outlinig the fact that i checked with the company registration office in his country and that the co.name doesn't exist. I registered the business name about a montha fter the website appeared. I was pretty Pi$$ed that the website was gone. .net and .org and I guess .ie while all still available don't have the same dominance (if thats the right word) as a .com.

If and when he replies, I might post it here, but of course I'll edit names etc.

Thanks again,

Bergstrom

democrates wrote:

Would be worth checking out with your legal eagle how trademark law impacts on wipo rulings.

Though he registered the domain name first, if he has no business name or trademark for fogartyfilm ask if you could still win prior-use if you beat him to those.

Or if you place an ad in a US paper, would that be enough to establish that you used your name there before he did and strengthen your case for the gTLD down the line?

You could also go for fogartyfilm.net, that's global and people don't balk at it.

But unless the name is just too brilliant as a brand, I'd put the thinking cap back on and come up with something else, you are in the creative business after all.

dahamsta

I don't mean to be a party pooper, but Antoin is absolutely right:

You have absolutely no chance of getting control of the domain via the UDRP or the courts. Any UDRP panel will ultimately refer you to COM's first-come, first-served nature and toss the complaint back to you, which will just leave you $1000 or so lighter.

A court battle will cross not one or even two but three juristictions (COM is NetSol, which is US-based), will cost you a hell of a lot more than $1000, and I'd lay a $1000 of my own on the line right here and now that you wouldn't win it. And I don't bet unless I know I'm going to win.

adam

Bergstrom

Ok, he got back 2 me and was nice about it all. he's keeping the name though, but offered to sell it for £1000. I think I might consider putting a hyphen in the address or go with .net.

The other option was to put a flash page on his page linking to MY hansenfilm.com. I told him it would be too confusing for people. The site expires next June, so it will be interesting to see if he renews.

I still have to set up the company and get seed capital etc... so the domain name will probably be the least of my worries.

Thanks again guys for your help.

berg

Our man in Havana

He offered to sell for £1000? That would indicate bad faith and give you grounds for action with WIPO and ICANN.