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Corinithians Reversed: Federal Court WIPO UDRP Challenge Upheld
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Thank you for the support.
I'm not arguing on whether or not anyone or everyone has the language skills to understand the slang application of "sucks". My point is that trademarks are valid only if they are distinctive. If they are descriptive, they *are* being used as language, and that's where the dragons lie.
Let me try another example. My firm does a lot of shipping work. One famous multinational carrier is Yan Ming. I know that Yan Ming is cantonese, but I have no idea whether it means, translated from cantonese "Harry Smith" or "our boats never sink". To me as a non-Cantonese speaker, the words Yan Ming signifies a carrier, and I would recognise them (if written in our alphabet!) in any language. That's what trademarks are for. To act as a guarantee of origin to the consumer (see Cornish, or Laddie on the subject).
Now, I *do* accept that where generic dictionary words are used, the domain name is questionable as intellectual property. As said above, AppleComputers.com is clearly an infringement. However I have a client who, having lost Dixons-online.com then registered "DixonsCustomers". Dixons may have an argument to run that they should be entitled to that domain name for, say, a customer support website. However, my client's arguments in support of his registration are perfectly legitimate. He runs a support site for unhappy Dixons customers. Here be dragons....
mjr
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Anon writes:Should trademark owners win sucks decisions? Probably not. But if a squatter registers a sucks address and sells products on the site instead of protesting the company, then the trademark owner should be able to shut the site down. I'm saying the same thing so in general I agree with that, though each case needs to be looked at individually. -g
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