Check it out properly. We got threatened with some nasty legal advice. Turns out they didn't have a leg to stand on. I thought it wasn't possible to do this, and that you could only register a name if it was available. i.e. You type in a name and the registration service tells you which one is available. Including whether it's .org or .net etc. And presumably when you register a name you are paying for this service as well. I would have a word with the company that your name is registered with, they may be able to tell you outright. Some people like to kick up a stink, and band legal terminology about just to frighten people off. It doesn't mean they know what they're talking about, even if they are a big organisation. I would have also thought if they had a right to the name - that they would have registered it themselves. But then i'm not an expert in company names. 

You never know - if they turn out to be wrong you could use it as publicity! (Although you don't sound like that).    

Thanks Ampersat.

Do they have a trademark on the name?

You should take legal advice on this, contact our IP team on IP@limeone.co.uk for some initial free advice and the best way to proceed. Very often these letters have some points of law but are not the whole picture.
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LawHound Limited www.lawhound.co.uk
01244 300413

As I understand it, it is your duty to check before you use a mark.

You can search for marks on the website:

http://www.ipo.gov.uk

This seems to be the mark in question:

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tm/t-find/t-find-number?detailsrequested=C&trademark=E5056189

Two things stand out:

1) If you registered your domain before 04 May 2006 then as I understand it they may not be able to enforce the mark.

2) It appears to be a image that they have trademarked, NOT the words, so unless you're using the exact same image you should be ok.

PLEASE NOTE I'm not a solicitor, so get proper legal advice on this but I don't think you need to panic.

What regulaters should have told you about this? Surely you chose your name and domain name? Looks like you registered yours in December '06 so not sure where you would stand as they applied for their trademark in May 06 but it wasn't granted until April 07.

Good luck with it!
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Adam
onestopdigital

hosting | broadband | telecoms | print
www.onestopdigital.com
www.onestopprinting.co.uk

Companies like this HAVE to enforce their ownership of the name or they face losing it all together. Often you don't really need to worry about it... this is more for cases where in the future a big company may try and use their name to do something in order to make profit. In this instance the court would ask them if they have acively protected their name all along or if they are just going after the new company in order to make some cash. At this stage they must have evidence that they have tried to protect their name from day 1, if they have not, they face loosing it all together.

Personal thoughts are that you don't need to worry, especially if you are not profiting from the name in any way. The worst case is that they would take you to court and 10 mins later you have to hand over the domain. They can't make you pay compensation if you have not made anything out of it nor have you spread bad things about them etc.

Keep us posted.

Having had a look at the .com and the .org sites I don't think you have a thing to worry about and it certainly sounds like they are trying to intimidate you so they can obtain the .org domain for themselves.
Get a solicitor to write back to them saying "on yer bike".
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Advice should be sought directly. Checks as to whether the mark is registered is only the first step. The next step is whether the alleged infringement comes within the classification that the mark is registered under.

Happy to advise further if you email direct

Black White and Grey

www.bwglaw.co.uk

advice@bwglaw.co.uk