LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Glen Turner <glen.turner@aarnet.edu.au>
  To  : Damien Wilson <wilbs@seol.net.au>
  Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 11:36:59 +0930

Re: [OT] Legal advice required (web related)

Damien Wilson wrote:
> 
> I received an email this morning from the person who owns the Australian
> trademark "Aussiewood". This dot com that was registered is aussiewood.com.
> The owner of the trademark has asked us to cease using the name in Australia
> as they own that name.

Your friend needs some legal advice from a solicitor.

Unfortunately, he should have talked to a solicitor or accountant
before now.  They would have advised him to:
 - created a limited company
 - trade mark his products
 - protect any unique designs
 - create a .com.au name -- so thet he could force the dispute to
   be settled in Australia.

Hopefully your friend has done most of this, as it is all very much
Small Business 101.

You need a solicitor to handle a letter in reply to the e-mail.
It is worthwhile as a business to develop a good working relationship
with a solicitor, that way you don't need to explain your
circumstances repeatedly (at high hourly rates).

Hopefully your friend does have some rights to the name beyond
the DNS registration.  The system is designed so that a sole trader
that is using a name other than their own name has very little
rights.  This is not a surprise as it is true outside of the
DNS as well.

If the other company is properly registered then they may well be
upset.  Company and product naming is difficult, the goodwill
attached to a name can be significant, and having a competitor
with a similar name is a nightmare.

> Now, my question is does this type of thing apply to dot coms?

Dot coms are no different to any other company or sole trader.
Sometimes there is difficulty in arriving at a suitable
jurisdiction or locating the principals behind the web site.

> Can any of you shed some light on this rather murky subject?

Nothing murky here -- I suggest you look into the excellent small
business courses run by the WEA.

Glen

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