USA trademark discussion (1.Viewing)

I’m considering purchasing a .CA generic domain name. However, a US company already has a trademark on that domain. Even though they’ve changed their company name, my goal is to develop the product and company exclusively for Canada. Is this acceptable, or should I reconsider?

Unless the trademark is for the same product or service you plan to use it for too, then the trademark isn't an issue.
And if you're targeting Canada exclusively, its definitely acceptable.
And when you say they have a trademark on that domain, you really mean the trademark is on the word and not including the ".ca", correct?

rlm said:

Unless the trademark is for the same product or service you plan to use it for too, then the trademark isn't an issue.
And if you're targeting Canada exclusively, its definitely acceptable.
And when you say they have a trademark on that domain, you really mean the trademark is on the word and not including the ".ca", correct?

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correct its only on the word, not the .ca domain. However they seem to be doing business in Canada as well.

marco said:

correct its only on the word, not the .ca domain. However they seem to be doing business in Canada as well.

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Well when you say generic, I assume you just mean a brandable dictionary word like "summit" or whatever. Not a word that is descriptive of the product or service - which in theory wouldn't be trademarkable on that product or service.

So in that case, as long as your usage doesn't infringe on the very specific products/services listed in the other company's trademark, then its nothing to worry about. If its very close to the same usage, then chat with a TM lawyer, it may not be worth the risk.