For Lease 2 domains which hold the following meaning
Olympics or Olympic Games
One is in simplified and the other in traditional chinese.
奥运.ws (xn--hus697j.ws) - Simplified Chinese
奧運.ws (xn--jus609j.ws) - Traditional Chinese
You do not need to purchase these domains but can take advantage of them with a lease until December 31 2008
Remember with the olymics to be held in Beijing China during August 2008 this is your opportunity to ride the wave. There is also no doubt that in future years the chinese will travel in huge numbers to subsequent games.
Offers to w.fredrickson[at]wlr.com.au
[This post has been edited by hekler on May 30, 2007 5:28pm.]
Do you have any idea how vigorously the IOC (International Olympic Committee) pursue those who infringe on their trademark?
Just to give you an idea here's a google search for IOC, WIPO
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=IOC%2C+wipo&btnG=Search
(And... if you don't know what a WIPO or UDRP is I suggest you look it up before buying heavily trademarked domains)
The IOC only challanges those who do the wrong thing. Olympic and Olympic games sites have existed for the last 2 olympics with no interference from the IOC or national Olympic Committees
The main criteria you must adhere to are
1. You can not use there logo, mascot, copyright material and insignia. (except where a product which has paid for the licensing is depicted)
2. You must state clearly it is not an official site.
3. You derive income that they would normally get.
Examples of acceptable behaviour is
Blog type sites
Hero sites
Forums
Supporter sites
Information sites (that do not advise people to do the wrong thing)
Unacceptable are
Sites supply/depict images in or around the olympic zone
Sites that are detremental to the olypic idea of co-excistance and understanding
Sites that assist in cheating or avoid paying for things that should be paid for
Ticket scalping
Selling non authorised and/or counterfit merchandise.
You will note also in the example given - it was a no contest and that in one of the summaries the Olympic comittee was warned that it was for it to protect actively before others registered domains not to react afterwards.
The suggested above uses also cover areas of usage that the olympic commitee do not hold a trademark for. People tend to forget that trademark protection only applies to the classes of goods and services they are nominated for. Almost all Olympic (as in the games) are solely for the running of games/events, protional merchandise in relation to these games and advertising of these games. Further .WS names are from Western Samoa and there is no recognised Trade Mark in effect for the word "Olympic".
The word Olympis is used by hundreds of large organisations world wide with Trade mark protection for defined areas. Again a user would be safe to use this domain as long as they do not infringe these rights
[This post has been edited by hekler on May 28, 2007 2:11am.]
For sale
2 domains which hold the following meaning
Olympics or Olympic Games
One is in simplified and the other in traditional chinese.
奥运.ws (xn--hus697j.ws) - Simplified Chinese
奧運.ws (xn--jus609j.ws) - Traditional Chinese
If you do not want to purchase these domains but like to take advantage of them they are also available for lease until December 31 2008
Remember with the olymics to be held in Beijing China during August 2008 this is your opportunity to ride the wave. There is also no doubt that in future years the chinese will travel in huge numbers to subsequent games.
Offers to w.fredrickson[at]wlr.com.au
If these domains go to arbitration you will lose them, it's as simple as that.
The direct translation for 奥运 is 'The Olympics' .. That is the actual translation so there is no way you could reasonably defend the use of this domain.
While the information you supply is admirable is was supplied after it was pointed out that these domains are inherently worthless, you should have made your points in your initial post rather than let a buyer pay for them who may or may not have any idea about WIPOs or trademark law, UDRPs etc.
Do you think you could defend the domain names 'theolympics.ws', theolympicgames.ws', olympics.ws' etc succesfuly no matter what content you put on them? I don't think so.
That is ultimately the question you have to answer to yourself before you take on such a risky venture.
Just because they are in a language other than English does not protect you from pursuit of legal redress and the fact they are posted in a public forum for all to see with the intent to sell is not a wise move IMO as it shows you, the initial registrant, displaying bad faith by wanting to sell them (Bad faith being one of the main criteria decisions are based on) And if you do sell them on it does not protect you from legal action as there is proof positive right here that you had no intention to do anything with them other than to make money from them and by doing so you have broken 2 of the 3 points you yourself brought up as to what you can and cant do with them:
2. You must state clearly it is not an official site.
3. You derive income that they would normally get.
Not only that you have handily supplied your email address should the hoard of IOC lawyers need to get in touch with you.
[This post has been edited by aiofe on May 28, 2007 6:58am.]
[This post has been edited by aiofe on May 28, 2007 6:59am.]
[This post has been edited by aiofe on May 28, 2007 7:00am.]
Now Mr Legal eagle points out a few things so now lets see the comments on this.
First of all in the US there is no Trade Mark for the Olympic games. In fact the word Olympic is protected under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. The following disclaimer is 100% legally correct and as long as the site complies with this the term olympic is allowed
Disclaimer
This web site is a privately-created work of design, computer programming and research, and has not been underwritten or supported by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or any officially recognized National Olympic Committee (NOC).
Every step has been taken to comply with 36 USC 380 (see below) and to reinforce the fact that this site is not an officially sanctioned website of the IOC, the United States Olympic Committee or any other National Olympic Committee. No effort has been made "to cause confusion, to cause mistake, to deceive, or to falsely suggest a connection with the Corporation or any Olympic activity." (36 USC 380 section A). Every page on the site contains the following footer:
DISCLAIMER: This web site is not affiliated with or funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) or the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of any country.
Secondly, this site is free from advertising or sponsorship of any kind. This site is intended to be an educational and not-for-profit website providing useful information for Olympic fans around the world. It is not "for the purpose of trade, to induce the sale of any goods or services, or to promote any theatrical exhibition, athletic performance, or competition." (36 USC 380)
In the Webmaster's opinion, any incidental use of the "five interlocking ring" symbol in pictures and graphics, or the word "Olympic," on this site is not a violation of 36 USC 380 for the reasons stated above. The webmaster will fully cooperate with the IOC and/or USOC if it is believed that sections of the site are in violation of 36 USC 380.
The use of any and all copyrighted works in the creation of this site is, in the Webmaster's opinion, protected by 17 USC 107 (see below). If the owner of a copyrighted work used in the creation of this site believes that 17 USC 107 does not apply to the use of their work, the site's creator will cooperate to the fullest extent possible.
The Webmaster
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is United States Code 36 Statute 380, which governs the use of Olympics-related terms and marks.
¤ 380. Use of Olympic symbols, emblems, trademarks and names
* (a) Unauthorized use; civil action; lawful use prior to September 21, 1950
Without the consent of the Corporation, any person who uses for the purpose of trade, to induce the sale of any goods or services, or to promote any theatrical exhibition, athletic performance, or competition -
(1) the symbol of the International Olympic Committee, consisting of 5 interlocking rings;
(2) the emblem of the Corporation, consisting of an escutcheon having a blue chief and vertically extending red and white bars on the base with 5 interlocking ringsdisplayed on the chief;
(3) any trademark, trade name, sign, symbol, or insignia falsely representing association with, or authorization by, the International Olympic Committee or the Corporation; or
(4) the words "Olympic", "Olympiad", "Citius Altius Fortius", or any combination or simulation thereof tending to cause confusion, to cause mistake, to deceive, or to falsely suggest a connection with the Corporation or any Olympic activity; shall be subject to suit in a civil action by the Corporation for the remedies provided in the Act of July 5, 1946 (60 Stat. 427; popularly known as the Trademark Act of 1946) (15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.).
However, any person who actually used the emblem in subsection (a)(2) of this section, or the words, or any combination thereof, in subsection (a)(4) of this section for any lawful purpose prior to September 21, 1950, shall not be prohibited by this section from continuing such lawful use for the same purpose and for the same goods or services. In addition, any person who actually used, or whose assignor actually used, any other trademark, trade name, sign, symbol, or insignia described in subsections (a)(3) and (4) of this section for any lawful purpose prior to September 21, 1950 shall not be prohibited by this section from continuing such lawful use for the same purpose and for the same goods or services.
* (b) Contributors and suppliers The Corporation may authorize contributors and suppliers of goods or services to use the trade name of the Corporation as well as any trademark, symbol, insignia, or emblem of the International Olympic Committee or of the Corporation in advertising that the contributions, goods, or services were donated, supplied, or furnished to or for the use of, approved, selected, or used by the Corporation or United States Olympic or Pan-American team or team members.
* (c) Exclusive right of Corporation The Corporation shall have exclusive right to use the name "United States Olympic Committee"; the symbol described in subsection (a)(1) of this section; the emblem described in subsection (a)(2) of this section; and the words "Olympic", "Olympiad", "Citius Altius Fortius" or any combination thereof subject to the preexisting rights described in subsection (a) of this section.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is United States Code 17, Statute 107, which outlines the limitations of copyright.
¤107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phono records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include -
the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
the nature of the copyrighted work;
the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
(1988 ed. and Supp. IV)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: This web site is not affiliated with or funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) or the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of any country.
[This post has been edited by hekler on May 28, 2007 7:48am.]
What you say may or may not be correct in the US but that doesn't mean anything in another country. There are other countries in the world and the US is not the be all and end all.
There doesn't have to be a trademark. To show a history of usage is ample and there is no doubt what the word Olympic(s) mean so to use it for anything related to the olympics is infringing, and while your 'disclaimer' *might* carry a little weight in the US it won't anywhere else.
You put this domain in front of a panel they will take it away, regardless of your *disclaimer*
For your perusal:
http://www.juriscom.net/actu/visu.php?ID=923
http://www.china.org.cn/english/government/209924.htm
http://www.arb-forum.com/domains/decisions/99702.htm
This may be of particular interest to a potential buyer of these domains as it involves olympic.biz:
http://www.arb-forum.com/domains/decisions/112584.htm
It doesn't even have to have the word Olympics in the domain:
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2003/d2003-0598.html
The fact you continue to try and sell these domains is proof you yourself are acting in bad faith. As well as the fact both domains are pointed to a parking page, albeit Dynadots in house parking. If you had any foresight you would delete these 2 domains and ask Dynadot to delete this thread as you have already shown your bad faith here.
It's not a matter of if, more a matter of when the IOC will come looking for their domains and to think you can get away with it shows a lack of common sense and a blatant disregard for IOC intellectual property
You are trying to make money by selling these domains with foreknowledge of the facts which will not go down well with a court, should they go down that route, and may be looked upon as fraudulent misrepresentation based on your *facts* as stated in this thread.
EDIT: There should also be a variant error on one of these domains as one is the traditional version, the other the simplified version. Can Dynadot comment as to why there is no variant error in this case as there is with .com, .net etc?
[This post has been edited by aiofe on May 28, 2007 9:35am.]
First of all get a simple fact right about TradeMark law
Right to a (Trade)Mark is Jurisdictional. A Mark registered in the US has no bearing in say Australia or Europe. It only gives the owner a pre-emptive right in those jurisdictions. E further example of this is the ownership of the word “Olympic” in Australia where for the sake of the “games” it is owned by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC).
As in all countries you specify classes of goods and services (and then subsequently items within) which for the Australian registration are
Class: 2 Paints, varnishes, lacquers; preservatives against rust and against deterioration of wood; colourants; mordants; raw natural resins; metals in foil and powder form for painters, decorators, printers and artists
Class: 5 Pharmaceutical, veterinary and sanitary preparations; dietetic substances adapted for medical use, food for babies; plasters materials for dressings; material for stopping teeth, dental wax; disinfectants; preparations for destroying vermin; fungicides, herbicides
Class: 12 Vehicles; apparatus for locomotion by land, air or water
Class: 14 Precious metals and their alloys and goods in precious metals or coated therewith, not included in other classes; jewellery, precious stones; horological and chronometric instruments
Class: 16 Paper, cardboard and goods made from these materials, not included in other classes; printed matter; bookbinding material; photographs; stationery; adhesives for stationery or household purposes; artists' materials; paint brushes; typewriters and office requisites (except furniture); instructional and teaching material (except apparatus); plastic materials for packaging (not included in other classes; playing cards; printers' type; printing blocks
Class: 24 Textiles and textile goods, not included in other classes; bed and table covers
Class: 25 Clothing, footwear, headgear
Class: 28 Games and playthings; gymnastic and sporting articles not included in other classes; decorations for Christmas trees
Class: 29 Meat, fish, poultry and game; meat extracts; preserved, dried and cooked fruits and vegetables; jellies, jams, fruit sauces; eggs, milk and milk products; edible oils and fats
Class: 30 Coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, rice, tapioca, sago, artificial coffee, flour and preparations made from cereals, bread, pastry and confectionery, ices, honey, treacle; yeast, baking-powder, salt, mustard, vinegar, sauces (condiments); spices; ice
Class: 32 Beers; mineral aerated waters and other non-alcoholic drinks; fruit juices; syrups and other preparations for making beverages
Class: 33 Alcoholic beverages (except beers)
Class: 36 Insurance; financial affairs; monetary affairs; real estate affairs
Class: 38 Telecommunications
Class: 39 Transport; packaging and storage of goods; travel arrangements
Class: 41 Education; providing of training; entertainment, sporting and cultural activities; all the aforementioned relating to the Olympic Movement
Class: 41 Services in this class relating to the provision, organisation and running of competitions including athletic competitions, entertainment and sporting events
The IOC have only 2 registrations for classes 38 and 41. Between the 2 of them they control just 8 of the 78 public TradeMark registrations for “Olympic” with a further 8 for the 2000 Olympics against misuse of the Olympic Insignia.
Under the Madrid (as signed up to by most countries) protocols Internet services are either Class 35 or 42 (as in the context here) and for Domain names class 45. None of these are covered by IOC or AOC TradeMarks. As such as long as the services offered within these classes do not infringe on other class rights and do not attempt to deceive they are fine. Hence the disclaimer listed before and technically disclaimers of this type should be on all websites due to the international nature of domain names.
Oh and I agree the US is not the be all and end all of everything, but is a damn good starting point when looking at commerce. BTW I'm not American but if you are looking at the internet ignoring the US is foolhardy.
[This post has been edited by hekler on May 28, 2007 11:19am.]
While I don't want to get into the finer points about trademark law which is just clouding the issue at hand the fact remains that if this domain goes before a panel it will be taken away .. You know it and I know it, regardless of trademark law. Since when have they ever made their decisions based on law?
A search for the word 'Olympic(s)' on any of the domain forums will show that people stay away from Olympic domains.
I suggest you ask for an appraisal on one of the IDN specific forums and see what kind of reception you get. I think you already know how it will go down.
We made an offer earlier to purchase these domains. Our offer still stands
We referred this to our lawyers who stated clearly there is no basis for a dispute as long as we use it for our intended usage which was to promote, promote contact with, worship individual olympic contestants.
When do you intend to close offers?
Now you've changed direction. Shown not to understand either trademarks or how trademark law is applied you've decided to become an expert in WIPO decision making - so if you want to go down that tract lets go there.
Many claims in regard to domain name ownership do not even get past the first part of the process because many claimants have no understanding of their rights and most think because they own a trademark in the UK for say tennis racquets they have exclusive rights to it worldwide. Remember the key to nearly every dispute is the 3rd and most important criteria of the UDRP - use in bad faith. Imagine if the sole criteria was a name - you could not have sites such as fordparts, fordforums etc etc .
The reasons that most complaints that succeed do is that the claimant was able to prove
1. The registrant has no true interest in the domain other than to deprive the claimant the right of use of said domain. (Cyber-squatting)
2. The registrant is deceiving the community as a whole and it was always that registrants intention to do so. (Fraud)
3.The registrant is doing harm to the claimant situation. (Malicious)
All bad faith provisions.
As for the IOC or any of it's national offshoots - they have lodged very few claims and in fact have sought to purchase domains that they feel they want to control. On several occasions while attempting to purchase domains the registrants have attempted to “blackmail” the IOC to pay excessive amounts leading to complaints. Yes they have lodged 7 complaints to WIPO (though 2 are really initial .biz STOP claims) over the last 7+ years not some massive amount as you imply. Lets quickly look at these.
usolympicstore.com and other similarities on 3 occasions which where registered on or nearly on the day of announcement of stores of this name being opened by the American Olympic Committee – with a name like that it definitely was for the purpose to deceive the public.
olympiccommittee.com – just the name says it all - definitely for the purpose to deceive.
olympic.tv – This was purchased to create a site critical of the IOC – malicious bad faith.
Olympic-brand.com – If this is not deceptive I don’t know what is
bcolympic2010.com (and various other close associated names from the one respondent) - where registered on or nearly on the day of an announcement of the next host plus the respondent attempted to extort $2000 per name from the IOC - The registrant has no true interest in the domain other than to deprive the claimant the right of use of said domain. (Cyber-squatting)
olympic.biz & olympics.biz both where handled under STOP not UDRP and neither where contested.
Today we did a quick search of domain names containing the word OLYMPIC with up to 5 other characters (such as olympichost.com) and we found over 970 examples not owned by the IOC or it’s national associates. (I used Olympichost.com as that is the term used for the host city). many of these have been in place for over 5 years and because they do not infringe under any test other than name they are left alone as they should be.
Which part of 'bad faith' don't you understand?
You registered these domains in bad faith with no intentions other than to sell them on to someone for a profit. You had no intentions of using them in any way except to make a profit.
Clear examples of bad faith registration are not hard to come by--they are exactly the situation the UDRP was designed to address, and any number of cases fall squarely within the 4(b) enumerated circumstances. More interesting are the less clear cases, in which panels go beyond the enumerated factors in reaching their decisions. In Educational Testing Service v. TOEFL (toefl.com) D2000-0044, the Panel inferred bad faith registration from bad faith use, even where the Respondent's only use was an offer to sell the disputed domain name on a public Internet auction site. The Panel reasoned that because the Respondent did nothing but offer the domain name for sale, the registration was for that sole purpose. The Panel wrote: "As there is no evidence on the record that Respondent has undertaken any act regarding the disputed domain name other than to offer it for sale, the Panel infers that the offering for sale was Respondent’s purpose for the registration. If the Respondent’s offer for sale is determined to be in bad faith, then the registration will also be deemed to be in bad faith."
I see you didn't take up the challenge to ask for an appraisal on any of the IDN forums. Why not?
In reply to aiofe's question, if both IDNs are variants of each other (one is the traditional version and the other is the simplified version) only one can be registered (either the traditional version or the simplified version). Both domains cannot be registered at the same time.
Thus, only one of these domains may be registered.
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