Legal Question in Technology Law in New York

So I registered iSlateBlog.com which will be a blog surrounding the topic of the impending iSlate/Apple Tablet form computers. I forgot to grab the other extensions for the iSlateBlog domain such as .net and .org Well, I checked today and iSlateBlog.org is live and with a blog talking about the same topic as mine. My blog is still in the process of setting up, but I've been doing some work on my MacTouchUser.com, which will be 301 redirected to iSlateBlog.com soon.

Will there be a conflict between my iSlateBlog.com and other iSlateBlog.net/.org/.info sites that talks about the iSlate topic? If so, how can I prepare and protect myself?

Thanks,

Philip


Asked on 1/10/10, 10:44 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sarah Grosse Sarah Grosse, Esquire

All of the "iSlate" domain name owners/users need to be worried about infringing the trademark rights of the owner of the trademark application "ISLATE" (Ser. No. 77/048,995) in class 9 for goods including computers and software used for blogs. This mark is not registered yet because the owner has not shown use (it's an intent to use application), but if the mark does register, the priority date of their rights is 11/21/2006. If the mark registers, using domain names containing the trademark may be trademark infringement. Additionally, if the mark registers, Apple may not be able to call its Apple Tablet an "iSlate."

Competing infringers cannot recover against each other because they are both infringing - that would be a perfect time to raise an "unclean hands" defense.

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Answered on 1/15/10, 11:51 am


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