Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Missouri
Domain Name
We have been in business for the past 5 years mostly selling items on Ebay and thru our website, the url was l*wcostmetals.com until this past August when we bought *nlinemetalsupply.com to give our company a more professional image and better describe the products and services we offer. (we sell metals) We were recently contacted by the owner of *nlinemetals.com basically wanting us to give up our new url and go back to the old one as he had a servicemark for *nlinemetals.com, I told him that I considered the terms generic in the metal sales business and that the two sites differed and that no one has or could be confused as to whose site they are purchasing from. He did have a supplemental registration that has been ''abandoned'' or is ''dead'' according to the USPTO site, not sure what that means in legal terms as far as this case goes. We also have an Ebay store under the name *nline Metal Supply. We expect a letter from their attorneys anyday.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Domain Name
If they had prior use in the marketplace of that name, your name is sufficiently similar to attract at least a "Cease and Desist" letter, and if they have enough $ into it, a lawsuit.
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