Quote:
Originally Posted by Redskin Rich
Matt,
Explain to me why they have the right to just take the domain name. Aren't you the legal owner of that name? I was under the impression that anyone could purchase a domain and then if someone else wanted it, they would have to purchase the domain name. I would think they should at least throw you a few G for it... and it would be less than their legal bills in trying to force it from you.
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Disclaimer: The following is based on about 10 minutes (maybe 20) of legal research and in no way represents a definitive statement of trademark law.
It's called trademark infringement. The NFL owned the rights to the name "redskins" before matty did. The NFL has registered trademarks for logos, names, etc. relating to the league and its teams. They are allowed to protect those trademarks and prevent others from "piggybacking" on their marks. Legally, they had the name and logos first and you can't use them to popularize your own ventures. This prevents others from unfairly profiting from the NFL's advertising/product and protects the NFL's product from being diluted by copycats.
Included in those protections is the right to obtain large punitive damages. These damages are intended to a) compensate trademark owners for having to sue to protect what is legally theirs; and b) discourage others from using the marks as a way to blackmail the owner (Pay me, and I'll stop, otherwise you'll have to sue me.).
Like patents, trademark protections are important to free trade and the market system. They are intended to insure that the person (or corporation) who takes the risk in creating a product and builds "good will" in that product is the person or entity that reaps the monetary rewards from that product.
While it sucks for us, and they may seem to be acting a little over the top, entities who have products with mass appeal are subject to "death by a thousand cuts" unless they aggressively protect their product. I wouldn't be surprised if NFL employs a small firm of attorneys whose sole purpose is to protect the integrity of their marks from small-time infringement like us.
I understand their purpose and intellectually accept the need for aggressive protection of trade marks.
Still sucks though.
Matty - my bill is in the mail.