Hello,
I have recently purchased a domain name that is the name of a business (I don’t own the business). For the purposes of this question, let’s pretend the domain is AloraCigarettes.au. I am passionate about good health, so I would like to redirect AloraCigarettes.au to an anti-smoking organisation’s website. I do NOT intend to use the domain for any kind of financial gain.
Alora Cigarettes has begun the process of trademarking its name with IP Australia. The priority/filing date was in mid-2022. The application is currently pending, and the acceptance date isn’t until 2023.
My question is whether Alora Cigarettes would have reasonable grounds to sue me if I used the AloraCigarettes.au domain while approval is pending on their trademark application? I would cease use prior to their application being approved. I have read that once a trademark is registered in Australia, the registered rights apply retrospectively from the filing date. Is this applicable if their trademark wasn’t approved/registered at the time of publishing?
Note: As per the IP Australia website, I understand that domain names are identifiers or addresses rather than IP rights; however, I gather that if a trademark is featured in a web domain, the trademark owner may have grounds to sue.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
I have recently purchased a domain name that is the name of a business (I don’t own the business). For the purposes of this question, let’s pretend the domain is AloraCigarettes.au. I am passionate about good health, so I would like to redirect AloraCigarettes.au to an anti-smoking organisation’s website. I do NOT intend to use the domain for any kind of financial gain.
Alora Cigarettes has begun the process of trademarking its name with IP Australia. The priority/filing date was in mid-2022. The application is currently pending, and the acceptance date isn’t until 2023.
My question is whether Alora Cigarettes would have reasonable grounds to sue me if I used the AloraCigarettes.au domain while approval is pending on their trademark application? I would cease use prior to their application being approved. I have read that once a trademark is registered in Australia, the registered rights apply retrospectively from the filing date. Is this applicable if their trademark wasn’t approved/registered at the time of publishing?
Note: As per the IP Australia website, I understand that domain names are identifiers or addresses rather than IP rights; however, I gather that if a trademark is featured in a web domain, the trademark owner may have grounds to sue.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
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