Hi!, I'm thinking about starting a new forum, but I have to say this Trademark/Copyright thing got me sort of confused, so before I make any move I wanted to ask the experienced guys for some help I just have a few questions on my mind, let's say there's a registered trademark ACU, which stands for Air-Conditioning Units and I want to make a forum about ACU. 1) Can I use the domain acuforum.xxx, if's not registered ? 2) Can I use ACUforum.xxx in the header as the name of my site or do I have to add the (R)? e.g. ACU®forum.xxx ? 3) Or is it possible to name it acUforum.xxx and then think of something different that stands for acU - like amazingly...cool...units ? 4) And finally if option 3) is not possible do I have to contact the company first and ask them if I can use their trademark in my header as part of the name of the site ? Thanks - James
I'm not sure how much has changed, but there was a time that ICANN gave Porsche the rights to shut ANY site down that had 911 in its domain name, unbelievably, even after 9/11/01. It really depends on how actively ACU protects its trademark, whether they only go after those that use their trademarked logo, or whether they go after anyone with ACU in their domain. Technically, legally, yes, I do believe you need to contact them to find out if it's okay to use their trademark, and they of course have the rights to say no, especially depending on the content of your intended site (pro- or anti-ACU). Does everyone do this? Hardly. There are some sites owned by members here that clearly violate trademarks and copyrights. Even high-profile sites. But their existence depends on how those trademark or copyright holders treat cyber squatters. Some of those sites actually benefit the rights holder, so they let it slide. It's really a toss-up, unfortunately.
Thanks a lot for the information. So I guess there are only two ways how to deal with it then, I can contact the firm and ask or try without asking and hope. Well I'm thinking about a pro-ACU site - mainly just a discussion about their products so I don't see a reason why they would want it down, that's just my opinion though. Any other name that doesn't contain ACU would be just useless in this case. Do you know if they usually just shut these sites down or they can even sue you?
I did a quick search on ACU and nothing on the first page even came close to Air Conditioning Unit. Then I did a search of the term as you have have written, Air-Conditioning Units, and again nothing really came up indicating there is a company or term out that has a copyright on the term as written. Both a Lenox and Trane site came up with the term used exactly as written. With that in mind it looks like you may dealing with an acronym that may not have a clear trademark. You want to spend a little more time looking into this matter.
What I wonder is how "ACU" could be protected as its just an abbreviation of air conditioning units, surely you cant be wronged for that even if they use it themselves. Best of luck with this!
