Legal Question in Technology Law in Washington

Registered trademark names
I registered the domain name www.scientologycast.com these domains with cast at the end are usually used for podcasts, wich is a new form of online radio that is becoming increasingly popular see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast
but now i got a letter from the church of scientology saying that the name scientology is a registered trademark and to turn over the domain, is these legal? i am not passing the domain as the official scientology site, can noone make a radio show about scientology and use the church name in the title, at the moment i am trying to sell the domain, but i would like to have some advice regarding what to do, or if i should turn it over. thanks for your time

Asked on 5/16/06, 12:23 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Christopher Steuart IT Forensics, Inc.

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Re: Registered trademark names

The Church of Scientology is generally pretty aggressive about protecting its name and symbols. I would not be able to predict what the ultimate outcome over your site would be, but I would expect that even if you won it may take you years of struggle with the Church. There are other sites with Scientology in the name, some quite negative, but with indicators that the site is not a Church approved site. You might contact some of them and find out their experience with the Church over their sites. In the interest of disclosure of a potential or perceived conflict: I use Scientology services and training/education at a local mission, and have donated to an ideal org building fund.

Answered on 5/19/06, 3:22 pm

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