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Registered a domainname - will i be sued now?

Hi all!

I would like to discuss following:

recently registered a domainname that contains as a namepart th eword

"wifi".

Now im sitting here and thinking abount that i was maybe a mistake, to

register such domainname, because the word "Wi-Fi" is a registered

trademark of the "Wi-Fi Alliance"('

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On the website of the "Wi-Fi Alliance" i found that "The Wi-Fi

Alliance is a global, non-profit industry association [...]".

What does it mean now to me?

Will they sue me ot let it, because i dont show off with their

Logo/Trademark and because they are "non-profit"?

(An affilation(15K/year for the membership) is beyond a question yet,

my company is 2 days old :-) )

Services which i want to offer on this website will of course direct

relations to the wireless technologies.

Now i found some other( from the count of propably very many)

websites, which also contains

the "wifi" in their domainame, e.g

Habe eineige(von bestimmt sehr sehr vielen) gefunden, die "wifi" in

domain-namen auch haben, sind

aber nicht in der "Wi-Fi Alliance" drin(habe in der Mitgliederliste

nachgeschaut), wie z.B.

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They are also not members of the "Wi-Fi Alliance" but seem to exist

already several years...

My question now: should i worry?

Alex.

Reply to
zucker
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eword

I doubt you will be sued. Ordinarily if there is a copyright issue they will send you a cease and desist letter informing you not to use it. Then if you dont, then you get sued. I would not worry about it.

Reply to
Airhead

Well, the domains: wi-fight.com wi-fright.com wi-fi-sucks.com are still available. What did you register?

What country are you in? The trademark (and service mark) laws are different for each country. International agreements (Madrid Protocol) do not include every country.

Do they materially affect the operation of wi-fi.org? Is there any possible confusion on the part of customers between your operation and wi-fi.org? Can wi-fi.org prove that you have in any way affected their operation? Is there any potential for "trademark dilution" where wi-fi is deemed a "famous" trademark, and your partial use of the trademark may in some way dilute their "fame". If you were to open a wireless certification service, methinks you would certainly have problems.

Start by reading the FAQ: |

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Plug the term "wi-fi" into the trademark search: |
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Read something on trademark and service mark infringement: |
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Check how Wi-Fi.org licenses the use of their service mark. |
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If international, start reading about the "Madrid Protocol". |
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No, but you should protect yourself in case they do decide to litigate. Registering your service mark would be a good idea. Adding a trademarks disclaimer at the bottom of the page "wi-fi is a registered trademark of..." would be expedient.

It really depends on whether they consider you worth the effort. For example, there was quite a bit of grumbling about the term WiMax being too close to Wi-Fi, but no litigation. Microsoft will complain if anyone uses the "Windows" in any manner that implies that it may have come from Microsoft. For example, "Windows Startup Inspector" had to be changed to "Startup Inspector for Windows". Many years ago, Emulex was successfully suing anyone that used the term "Emu" in their product or company name. If you plan to base a business upon the use of a term that includes "wi-fi" in the name, you should register the service mark and see what happens. At least if wi-fi.org decides to sue, you have some grounds to stand upon. Of course, you could send them a letter and ask if there's any real or potential problem.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

@Jeff Liebermann:

Hello Jeff, thank you for your detailed answer.

:-)

well, there are some other domains;

i would like to do not "publish" them , not yet, sorry.

I'm from Germany.

Puh.. I will act as a wireless ISP. Think, it will not affect

wi-fi.org...

? :-(

? :-(

well, "wifi" in the name of my website stands surely for "Wireless

Fidelity",

like the abbreviation that "belogns" to "Wi-Fi Alliance"...

From my sight it dont "dilute" their fame, but who knows what their

lawyers will tell...

Heh.. damn..

Thats what i also decided to do. I already wrote a mail to a contact

person of

wi-fi.org, describing the situation and asking for a hint.

Hoping the best...

Reply to
zucker

I've got a very good example:

here. This Forum.

Its name is "WiFi-forum". Do they (the owners) have the right to use

the word "wifi" in their domainname? Because, i think, "wifi" in

"wifi-forum" stands for "wireless fidelity".

Yep. Very good example.

Im in the absolutely same situation..

Reply to
zucker

You were OK until you sent this message. Law enforcement is on it's way to your house now...

Reply to
TV Slug

I posted a similar question in another newsgroup and was directed here, I have a couple of wireless kiosks installed and wanted to put something like "Wi-Fi here" on the front sign of the business where the kiosks are, ("Wireless Internet") is kind of long, but I don't know if I can without getting me and the business in trouble. I see the term Wi-Fi everywhere, even in magazines of the trade but shouldn't they be adding the ® next to it? Thanks for any ideas.

Reply to
ToyalP2

well, im still waiting for the answer to the as good as the same

question,,,

even emailed on sunday to Matt Krebsbach - see

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No respone until today.

Reply to
zucker

The time to ask about potentially being sued over something is usually BEFORE you do it.

Reply to
D. Stussy

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