Would I Be Covered By a Copyright?

[sjaguar13]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

I have a website with a subscription service to info and a forum for users to share any other info they learn. I own my domain, and the site was sent on a CD to the copyright office. There has been some updates, but mainly on the forum.

People are using my domain domain minus the .com to sell similar items on eBay. Does the fact that my site is copyrighted and I own that domain give me the right to have the auctions removed/edited? If not, if I got my domain name trademarked, would that do it?

 

[divgradcurl]

People are using my domain domain minus the .com to sell similar items on eBay. Does the fact that my site is copyrighted and I own that domain give me the right to have the auctions removed/edited? If not, if I got my domain name trademarked, would that do it?

Copyright does not extend to domain names, real names, titles, short phrases, words, etc. Period.

Owning a domain only gives you the right to control that particular domain. It does not, in and of itself, give you the right to control the same name with other TLD's, or to control the domain name in any other way other than to point to your particular site.

So, you are saying that your domain is "www.something.com," and there is someone with a user ID of "something" selling merchandise on eBay? If that is the case, their probably isn't anything you can do. Even if you obtain a federally-registered trademark on the word "something," unless the person on eBay was selling the same stuff that you sell (and it doesn't sound like they do, it sounds like you provide a service and they are selling goods) AND using the userID in such a way that a buyer would be "likely to be confused" as to whether or not you, the trademark holder, were selling the goods or authorized the sale of the goods, then there would be no trademark infringement, and therefore nothing you could do.

So, for example "Mack Trucks" is (I assume) trademarked, so anyone calling themselves "Mack Trucks" and actually selling big rigs might be liable for trademark infringement. But if I set up a user ID called "Mack Trucks" on eBay for selling beanie babies or something, I am not infringing on the "Mack Trucks" trademark because there isn't any consumer that is likely to confuse me selling crap on eBay with the trademark holder of "Mack Trucks."

Hopw that makes sense.

 

[sjaguar13]

It's a little more than that. I own "www.Something.com", and sell a subscription to information. The main selling point is all updates are free while you are a member.

Someone on eBay is selling info in an email, it's not word-for-word info that I am selling, but it is about the exact same, specific thing. Read mine, read theirs, you learn most of it. They are charging the same price, if not more, for the one time, plain text, no pictures, no forum/help info, that I would charge for a month of mine. In the title of the auction "something" is in there. It would be like "SOMETHING!!! Learn All The Info You Need, LQQK!". I am just affraid that someone will get mad they bought the other's guys plain text version, and then want me to give him an account on my site for free/discounted. I thought about doing something were if they could show they bought it from another guy, I wouldn't charge them full price, but there is usually over 50 auctions at any given time (right now there are over 70). Being that it is just an email file, many auctions are dutch, so I don't know how many times it really for sale.

Would the trademark protect me from that? It's like someone using "Mack Trucks" to sell trucks. They might not be the exact same big rig, but they are still trucks. Trademarks aren't cheap, so I don't want to get one, unless I know it will help. What got me thinking about it is, one auction listed UPDATE and sold 50 copies within 3 days. At $5, that was $250. That's almost the trademark right there.

 

[divgradcurl]

It's a little more than that.

Okay, but that wasn't clear from your first post.

Someone on eBay is selling info in an email, it's not word-for-word info that I am selling, but it is about the exact same, specific thing. Read mine, read theirs, you learn most of it. They are charging the same price, if not more, for the one time, plain text, no pictures, no forum/help info, that I would charge for a month of mine. In the title of the auction "something" is in there. It would be like "SOMETHING!!! Learn All The Info You Need, LQQK!". I am just affraid that someone will get mad they bought the other's guys plain text version, and then want me to give him an account on my site for free/discounted. I thought about doing something were if they could show they bought it from another guy, I wouldn't charge them full price, but there is usually over 50 auctions at any given time (right now there are over 70). Being that it is just an email file, many auctions are dutch, so I don't know how many times it really for sale.

Well, if the material they are selling is material you created, you could probably use eBay's IP program (verso, or whatever it is called) to shut them down, because they would be infringing on your copyrights.

However, if the material is facts, or stuff you've collected from other sources, etc., and they've rewritten it, then copyright will probably not help you so much.

A trademark would protect your name, and keep them from using your name. If you've had your site up and running for a while, you may have already acquired some common-law trademark rights to your name -- again, you should contact eBay to find out how you can put a stop to these sales, they have a program for IP rights holders to stop infringement on eBay. Your case would be stronger if you went ahead and applied for and obtained a federally-registered trademark. Trademark's aren't that expensive, and the paperwork is usually simple enough so that most business owners could do it. There are some tricky parts, sometimes, but a non-lawyer can usually handle their own trademark applications.

 

[sjaguar13]

Aren't trademarks like $325 if filed online?

I was wondering about something else. You metioned Mack Trucks could sell beanie babies on eBay. I used to sell beanie babies (until the bottom fell out of that and I lost pretty much all I ever put into it), and there was a bull named Snort. He was originally named Tabassco, but Ty was sued by the hot sauce company. What did they have to get in order to sue even though the bull wasn't hot sauce?

 

[divgradcurl]

What did they have to get in order to sue even though the bull wasn't hot sauce?

The more "famous" a mark is, the broader the scope of the trademark protections. Some marks become known as "famous" marks, and these marks can essentially be asserted against ANY product or service. Think of a mark like IBM -- they sell computers and services, but it would be very unlikely if anyone could now use the IBM name for any product or service -- the mark has acquired the properties of a "famous" mark, and therefore the mark can be asserted just about anywhere.

You can't register a "famous" mark -- a mark may become famous through time and use, but that's it. It's certainly possible that "tabasco" has achieved the "famous" mark status.

EDIT: What I meant by this is that you can't pay extra or anything to have your new mark registered as a "famous" mark. However, a registered mark can later on become famous -- it's just a matter of time, use, and luck...

Another possibility is that the owners of Tabasco have registered the mark for more than just hot sauce -- they also sell aprons, t-shirts, and the like, and the beanie baby may have run afoul of an area where Tabasco was already registered -- so it could be that Tabasco is a famous mark, or it could be that Tabasco is simply a registered trademark for numerous types of goods and services, and Ty happened to land on a good or service area where Tabasco had already registered a mark.