Domain Names and Trademarks

[Joseph Friedman <josephf@touro.edu>]

It must be recognized that people and organizations have a right to use a
name even if they do not have a trademark on it.  This right should not be
infringed in favor of holders of trademarks.  That is, if a person or
organization has a right to use any given name, in any jurisdiction, for
whatever purpose, and they register a domain name with this name, they
should not be prevented from registering or lose this domain because
another organization does have a trademark on it.

Generally anyone can use a name if it is not used in the same industry as
an organization that does have a trademark on it.  The only time someone or
some organization should be prevented from using a domain name is if they
blatantly use it for the purpose of infringing a trademark.


Joseph Friedman