The problem that I see is that if they one day decide to use that domain, they can force you into handing it over.
Either legally or by extortion and suing you into the sky.
I’m of the mindset that you bought the domain you can do with it as you please.
Where I think you’d get into “trouble” is if you were talking about piracy or something associated with their IP.
And the best possible outcome is they contact you and buy it for some much larger amount than you paid for it.
The problem is buying means nothing about whether it is legit or whether a company decides they want it. It only means you reserved it. Any disagreements are hashed out after the fact in court. It’s not a game that individuals can afford to win vs a corp
And the best possible outcome is they contact you and buy it for some much larger amount than you paid for it.
I wouldn’t touch this with a 10 foot pole. Squatting on domains that contain a trademark with the purpose of forcing a company to pay you out for it is illegal. There would need to be intent, but just going to court over something like that would NOT be worth it.
Businesses of a different industry can use the same name. There is nothing keeping you from using the website for blogging. The computer store might be problematic if it could be construed you are trying to profit from EA’s established trademark. Also, why would you want a .org for a storefront? I’d say get a different domain for your computer store.
🤫 you forgot to type two zero when you listed the original price. And surely you wouldn’t want to part with it, at least not for the amount any person would offer. Only corporates might have the amount you would accept, but surely none might be interested in that domain…
I’m not a lawyer, but if I wasn’t planning to do anything related to the other ‘dedsec’, I wouldn’t even consider what the owner of that dedsec would think.
Businesses have the same name ALL THE TIME.
Unless you’re trying to piggyback on or undermine that other dedsec, I, the non-lawyer, can’t imagine how they’d have any standing to raise a concern.
Whatever you’re doing must have led you to the dedsec name (I assume it’s a website for dog-eat-dog security), there’s just no way in my (non-lawyer) mind that EA or Ubisoft has any right to stop you from saving dogs from being eaten.
I (the non-lawyer) would 100% not pay a lawyer for their opinion on this.
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A LAWYER AND THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
First: let’s talk about the difference between copyright, patents, and trademark
A patent protects a method of doing something - like a novel piece of code, or a newly invented drug formula - from being duplicated and used or sold without your consent.
Copyright protects creative works - like art, books, and computer software - from being mimiced. It literally deals with the rights to copy something
Trademark protects brands - like a logo or company name - from being used by other people for profit. It usually deals with marketplace confusion, as when someone creates a competing product with a similar logo to try to benefit from the logo’s recognition and popularity.
So, with that said, what are YOU dealing with?
Well, since you’re not selling software or utilizing anything from the WatchDogs game universe, you’re pretty much free and clear on both patent and copyright.
What about trademark?
Well, on the one hand, you are not competing with Ubisoft in any way, nor are you attempting to represent yourself as related to WatchDogs. So, by the letter of the law (in the US), they don’t have a valid complaint.
However, trademark under US law has this funny feature where an entity that holds a trademark is required to vigorously defend it when they become aware of potential infringement. This is to prevent the selective application of trademark. That is, if I know John is using my trademark and I don’t go after him, then Steve uses my trademark too, I can’t suddenly claim to have an interest in defending it when I didn’t care before. Steve can point at the fact that I didn’t go after John and say “you already gave up your trademark by failing to enforce it”.
So how does this impact you? Well, unfortunately, even if you are technically allowed to use “dedsec” under US law, if Ubisoft has a trademark on the term “dedsec” specifically, AND if someone at Ubisoft became aware of your use of their trademark, they would likely come after you for trademark infringement just to cover their ass. You might even win in court, but it would cost a whole lot of money that you would likely never be able to recover.
The good news is that the very first step in a trademark dispute is a cease and desist letter. They’ll demand you stop using their trademark. At that point you can either comply, refuse, or offer to settle the matter by selling them the domain.
Not a lawyer, but there are lots of intricacies to this. You can own a trademark without having it be a registered trademark. Registration is expensive and then you are expected to actively defend use of your trademark. Be prepared to pay lawyers to send cease-and-desist letters to parties using your trademark for financial profit. Not to mention you have to be/become a business engaging in interstate commerce using this trademark.
Oh shoot, yeah I don’t have the money for that lol I’m just a small computer store. Is it okay just to use it for my blog then? Thank you and everyone else for the advice!
The main problem I see you running into is that if they decide for any reason to go after you (even just cause now they want your domain), it won’t matter if they have a solid legal standing or not. They can afford to tie you up in court indefinitely, and you will likely be unable to outlast them.
Source: This is exactly what happened to my family. We have the same last name as a large corporation, and in the early days of the internet we registered a domain based on a name-related slogan they had used in an older commercial compaign. We were just hosting a basic family website and email, and clearly had no conflicting or overlapping IP. We even checked in advance - they did not own a trademark for the slogan or the name.
A few years later, they decided the wanted the domain for themelves, but instead of offering us a fair price to purchase, they first filed a trademark for the slogan and then sued us for the domain. If we’d had the funds to continue fighting we would have eventually won, but we’re just a middle class family and they’re a large multi-national corporation with near infinite funds to pay their lawyers. We lost the domain, and it cost us a small fortune in legal fees fighing it.
I had a similar thing happen where my last name was also part of a trademark for a huge institution. As soon as I registered a domain with the name in it, I got an email from their legal department demanding I forfeit the domain to them or they would take legal action.
I replied that the domain was my surname, and that it wasn’t being used commercially at all, much less in the industry they’re in, and I actually got an email back saying they’d back off as long as I didn’t try to pull any funny business.
Unless someone has registered the trademark for those specific purposes you’re clear. A trademarks is only valid within a specific field of purpose. Trademarks are there to avoid consumers mistaking one brand for another.
There are a lot of entertaining articles on Techdirt about companies not understanding trademark law.
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The problem that I see is that if they one day decide to use that domain, they can force you into handing it over. Either legally or by extortion and suing you into the sky.
Both are unlikely but there is a chance.
isnt the ubisoft that holds the right to the name? (watch dogs franchise)
I’m of the mindset that you bought the domain you can do with it as you please. Where I think you’d get into “trouble” is if you were talking about piracy or something associated with their IP.
And the best possible outcome is they contact you and buy it for some much larger amount than you paid for it.
The problem is buying means nothing about whether it is legit or whether a company decides they want it. It only means you reserved it. Any disagreements are hashed out after the fact in court. It’s not a game that individuals can afford to win vs a corp
I wouldn’t touch this with a 10 foot pole. Squatting on domains that contain a trademark with the purpose of forcing a company to pay you out for it is illegal. There would need to be intent, but just going to court over something like that would NOT be worth it.
Businesses of a different industry can use the same name. There is nothing keeping you from using the website for blogging. The computer store might be problematic if it could be construed you are trying to profit from EA’s established trademark. Also, why would you want a .org for a storefront? I’d say get a different domain for your computer store.
🤫 you forgot to type two zero when you listed the original price. And surely you wouldn’t want to part with it, at least not for the amount any person would offer. Only corporates might have the amount you would accept, but surely none might be interested in that domain…
This is likely a question for an attorney tbh. You’re not asking a technical question, you want to know if
EAUbisoft will sue the shit out of you.I personally wouldn’t risk it, but I’m not an attorney yadda yadda yadda
Fun fact, DEDSEC is a type of memory used in Soviet era mainframes.
I’m not a lawyer, but if I wasn’t planning to do anything related to the other ‘dedsec’, I wouldn’t even consider what the owner of that dedsec would think.
Businesses have the same name ALL THE TIME.
Unless you’re trying to piggyback on or undermine that other dedsec, I, the non-lawyer, can’t imagine how they’d have any standing to raise a concern.
Whatever you’re doing must have led you to the dedsec name (I assume it’s a website for dog-eat-dog security), there’s just no way in my (non-lawyer) mind that EA or Ubisoft has any right to stop you from saving dogs from being eaten.
I (the non-lawyer) would 100% not pay a lawyer for their opinion on this.
Oh boy, let’s take this piece by piece…
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A LAWYER AND THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
First: let’s talk about the difference between copyright, patents, and trademark
A patent protects a method of doing something - like a novel piece of code, or a newly invented drug formula - from being duplicated and used or sold without your consent.
Copyright protects creative works - like art, books, and computer software - from being mimiced. It literally deals with the rights to copy something
Trademark protects brands - like a logo or company name - from being used by other people for profit. It usually deals with marketplace confusion, as when someone creates a competing product with a similar logo to try to benefit from the logo’s recognition and popularity.
So, with that said, what are YOU dealing with?
Well, since you’re not selling software or utilizing anything from the WatchDogs game universe, you’re pretty much free and clear on both patent and copyright.
What about trademark?
Well, on the one hand, you are not competing with Ubisoft in any way, nor are you attempting to represent yourself as related to WatchDogs. So, by the letter of the law (in the US), they don’t have a valid complaint.
However, trademark under US law has this funny feature where an entity that holds a trademark is required to vigorously defend it when they become aware of potential infringement. This is to prevent the selective application of trademark. That is, if I know John is using my trademark and I don’t go after him, then Steve uses my trademark too, I can’t suddenly claim to have an interest in defending it when I didn’t care before. Steve can point at the fact that I didn’t go after John and say “you already gave up your trademark by failing to enforce it”.
So how does this impact you? Well, unfortunately, even if you are technically allowed to use “dedsec” under US law, if Ubisoft has a trademark on the term “dedsec” specifically, AND if someone at Ubisoft became aware of your use of their trademark, they would likely come after you for trademark infringement just to cover their ass. You might even win in court, but it would cost a whole lot of money that you would likely never be able to recover.
The good news is that the very first step in a trademark dispute is a cease and desist letter. They’ll demand you stop using their trademark. At that point you can either comply, refuse, or offer to settle the matter by selling them the domain.
What you do with this information is up to you.
dedsec doesn’t appear to be a registered trademark in the US at this time.
https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results
edit: added the word registered
Does that mean I can register the name for my business name?
Not a lawyer, but there are lots of intricacies to this. You can own a trademark without having it be a registered trademark. Registration is expensive and then you are expected to actively defend use of your trademark. Be prepared to pay lawyers to send cease-and-desist letters to parties using your trademark for financial profit. Not to mention you have to be/become a business engaging in interstate commerce using this trademark.
https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/what-trademark
https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/how-much-does-it-cost
Oh shoot, yeah I don’t have the money for that lol I’m just a small computer store. Is it okay just to use it for my blog then? Thank you and everyone else for the advice!
The main problem I see you running into is that if they decide for any reason to go after you (even just cause now they want your domain), it won’t matter if they have a solid legal standing or not. They can afford to tie you up in court indefinitely, and you will likely be unable to outlast them.
Source: This is exactly what happened to my family. We have the same last name as a large corporation, and in the early days of the internet we registered a domain based on a name-related slogan they had used in an older commercial compaign. We were just hosting a basic family website and email, and clearly had no conflicting or overlapping IP. We even checked in advance - they did not own a trademark for the slogan or the name.
A few years later, they decided the wanted the domain for themelves, but instead of offering us a fair price to purchase, they first filed a trademark for the slogan and then sued us for the domain. If we’d had the funds to continue fighting we would have eventually won, but we’re just a middle class family and they’re a large multi-national corporation with near infinite funds to pay their lawyers. We lost the domain, and it cost us a small fortune in legal fees fighing it.
Proceed with caution.
I had a similar thing happen where my last name was also part of a trademark for a huge institution. As soon as I registered a domain with the name in it, I got an email from their legal department demanding I forfeit the domain to them or they would take legal action.
I replied that the domain was my surname, and that it wasn’t being used commercially at all, much less in the industry they’re in, and I actually got an email back saying they’d back off as long as I didn’t try to pull any funny business.
My condolences Mr. Google
Unless someone has registered the trademark for those specific purposes you’re clear. A trademarks is only valid within a specific field of purpose. Trademarks are there to avoid consumers mistaking one brand for another.
There are a lot of entertaining articles on Techdirt about companies not understanding trademark law.
Id say this falls into the consult a lawyer category because that is what EA will do. Also isn’t dedsec from Watchdogs by Ubi?
It is, this is my first website so I dont really know about trademark infringement too much.
Forget about EA, they’re a different company. Ubisoft is the one you want to worry about, they own Watch_Dogs and all related copyrights like DedSec