RE: Internet domain name controversies

On Wednesday, October 02, 1996, mheilman[_at_]a3.com wrote:
>
> Anyone up-to-date on the domain name issue?
> (if not, check out
>
> http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Domain_Registration/Doma
> in_Name_Controversies/
>
> I got worried, because there is no doubt that a generic and smple domain
> name like a3 certainly has been trademarked or servicemarked somewhere.
>
> Do I understand this right, anyone who has A3 Pizza in Boston, A3 car
> repairs in Rome, etc can come and request my comain and Internic will
> put me and all my work on hold until the cours decide, and I will have
> to fork out thousands for lawyers?
>
> I understand that in the normal world Miller Brewery and Miller Autobody
> can peacefully coexist, because they do not compete with each other in
> any way.
>
> Which of the 10,000 different holders of the a3 trademark can sue me?
> Is it first come first serve?
>
> Can I trademark a3.com, with the com included, so nobody could possibly
> have this trademarked? My services are advertising boards, dating,
> chat, etc on the web, and whatever service I might want to do in the
> future. It is mainly geared towards Brazil, and I have labored a lot to
> get exposure and am quite well known there.
>
> I understand that if I can register the service mark in Brazil, this
> would protect me, too. I am worried if I register this in the US, the
> very process of publishing the registration might trigger exactly what I
> want to prevent, namely someone's attention being called and trying to
> take my domain away from me.
>
> Does anyone out here have a CD Rom database handy and can run a search on
> A3? It would save me a day of going to the public Library. But, there
> is no doubt, someone has registered this. Is there not a steak sauce with
> this name?
>
> Anyway, is there any chance that the courts will decide that internet
> domain names are just addresses? Until then, the only safe domain names
> are things like xy4f-83gbytz.com. Anything else is certainly trademarked
> somewhere in the world.
>
> I got my own domain name exactly because I wanted to have aname I could
> keep independent of providers. And now it seems to be insecure. Are
> hundreds of thousands of internet domain names in limbo now??

An easy way to do a very preliminary search is to use a net search engine. Through Alta Vista I found this page:

   http://www.netaxs.com/~panoptic/psb_NetS.html

which utilizes the term "A3", although it's unlclear if the term is being used as a trademark or to identify an actual corporation.

Alicia Brillon
<aliciab[_at_]ntserver1.photodisc.com> Received on Fri Oct 04 1996 - 03:56:16 GMT