Legal Question in Business Law in Maryland

Domain Names / Service Mark

We (crfoton.net) have been a small company serving Crofton Maryland sine 1996, we've had the domain name Crofton.net since 1997 and have been serving several clients in the Crofton area all the while. Reciently, an individual bought CROFTON.COM away from the former owners and opened a business in my town.

We had no arguments with the prior owners because there was no possability that the two comapnys would be confused with each other as the crofton.com owners were in another state, but now that the new owners are in my same town we wish to klnow what resources are available to put a stop to their use of our non trademarked service mark on the domain and company which bears the name of our town.


Asked on 4/08/02, 11:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alton Drew Alton Drew, LLC

Re: Domain Names / Service Mark

In general as long as Crofton.com and Crofton.net sell distinctly different products hence leaving no room for consumer confusion regarding product and quality then its okay. You must consider that you have no trademark protection in the name so the name is up for grabs. If you are that concerned that net traffic may be diverted to their site, offer to buy the domain from them. If feasible I would also buy .org, .tv, etc, especially if your website is doing well.

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Answered on 4/08/02, 7:07 pm


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