The laws that are already in place  "that prohibit passing off, etc."  do not necessarily prevent someone from registering such a name and warehousing it, ie cybersquatting.   Those laws usually require "use" of some kind.

You should not be able to blackmail trade mark owners by squatting on a similar domain name without using it.   McDonalds Plumbing has just as much right to register mcdonalds.com.au as the restaurant chain *unless* McDonald's Plumbing does not intend to use it for its plumbing business but just wants to sit on it in order to lever some money out of the restaurant chain.

Besides, McDonalds Plumbing from a marketing perspective would be better off with  mcdonaldsplumbing.com.au.   Very few, if any, of the accidental hits they would get with mcdonalds.com.au would convert into plumbing business.

David Wise
Freehill Hollingdale & Page
Brisbane

My views are not necessarily those of my employer.




> I agree that there needs to be restrictions in place to
> prevent people from registering domain names that would
> allow them to take advantage of someone else's
> pre-exisiting brands, trade marks or goodwill.   I would be
> interested to hear from anyone who disputes that.

There are already laws in place that prohibit passing off, etc.

The real issue which trademark holders refuse to face up to is that
trademarks are NOT unique - there can be multiple users of a trademark
across the 42 trademark classes.  That's how we get Apple records and
Apple computers, Astra margarine and Astra cars, etc.  Not to mention
the fact that McDonalds Plumbing and McDonalds Furniture and McDonalds
Restaurants all legally co-exist.  And McDonalds Plumbing has just as
much right to mcdonalds.com.au as the restaurant chain - first come,
first served.

Regards, Mark

Mark Hughes
Director
Effective Business Applications Pty Ltd
effectivebusiness§pplications.com.au
61 4 1374 3959

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