What Legal Rights Do You Have Once You Own a Domain Name?

Before you claim a legal right to your domain name, make sure that you have a basis for your claim. Simply registering a domain name does not protect you if another company files a trademark infringement claim — if they hold a legal trademark, you can lose your domain name and even find yourself liable for the owner's legal costs. A case in point: Ty Collectibles, which makes the popular Beanie Babies collectible stuffed animals, successfully sued a woman who registered the name Beaniecollectibles.com and who then tried to sell the name back to the company.

Not all trademark disputes are cut and dried, however. Many cases turn on whether a person uses a domain name to exploit a trademark holder's brand or whether a name creates confusion among consumers. A judge recently threw out a case in which the publisher of Archie Comics tried to shut down a parent's Web site — devoted to his 22-month-old daughter, Veronica! If there's any pattern to these cases, it seems to be that Web sites devoted to noncommercial, nonprofit, and satirical content fare better in trademark disputes than for-profit business sites.