Domain Name Registered Before Trademark. Registration of a domain name with a domain name registrar does not give you any trademark rights. A new decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals highlights the risks brand owners face when adopting a new trademark that also happens to correspond to an Internet domain name already registered to someone else.
However once you file it your domain name will appear as a pending trademark in the PTO database. But all of a sudden someone turns up with greatbrandcouk there it is. Before registering your domain name use the trademark tools on the USPTO website to find out if a domain name like the one you want is already trademarked.
Patent and Trademark Office it is probably distinctive.
Patent and Trademark Office it is probably distinctive. The ACPAs requirement that a trademark be either distinctive or famous at the time of registration of the domain name means that you cannot use or register a trademark after the corresponding domain name has been registered and then claim the owner of the domain name is cybersquatting. Registration of a domain name with a domain name registrar does not give you any trademark rights. A domain that they registered a couple of years ago before you even came up with the greatbrand idea.