Can I use my ex-employers web address?

Factual Questions
1

Earlier I created a thread in which I explained that I bought my ex-employers old domain name. I linked to the site I created and the thread was closed. I’ve since taken the page down also.

My question is how am I allowed to use that site? It’s not their company name but their old domain name which I think might still be on their trucks.

Can I use the site to bash them? Can I say things that are truthful without dfaming them? Where does slander or defamation draw its line?

Can I use it for a totally unrelated subject or perhaps to advertise their competitors?
It’s ok if you think it’s childish. I just want to know where the law stands.

2

All I can say is that it is only libel if what you say is untrue (slander is oral). OTOH, anyone can sue you for such things and it will cost money to defend yourself if such things arise.

3

If the old domain is somehow their trademark, then they can demand their web site address back. Check out taubmansucks.com for a real lift example.

4

I believe there is an arbitration process that the company can use to recover the domain name without having to sue you. So you may have only a short time with the domain.

5

Ok, depends upon what kind of name this is and what you’d intend to do with it.

If it’s purely descriptive (woodentrains.com and it sold trains carved out of wood) then you can use it yourself for that purpose, or another purpose. Any rights they had to the name lapsed when they didn’t renew it.

If it can be called a trademark in some way (name is not strictly descriptive and used in marketing… like, say, on thir trucks) then you cannot use it in anyway to violate their trademark. If you do they can sue you (if you are in the US, fines can be $100,000 under the AntiCybersquatting Act of 1999… or financial damages, plus legal fees, and, well, ouch) or file under the domain name UDRP process (which doesn’t fine you but can take the name away).

So if you want to badmouth the company, most likely trademark violation. Compete with the old compnay and it’s again most llikely a trademark violation. Even holding onto it and doing nothing with it can be an infrinment as UDRP could rule that your getting and preventing them from using it financially hurts them.

But if — IF — name could be used in another way, and that’s how you use it, then you might get away with it. Like if they sold plush baby chicken dolls at CuteChicks.com you could possibly use it for cute grownup human “chicks.” The sticky part here though is being a former employee means that that would probably be frowned upon as interfering with their business by assorting the old trademark with porn. But perhaps you could use it as CutEchicks.com and forward it to CutEchecks.com for some online payment service and using it as a typo forward for the benefit of that company (of course then you could violate their trademark if you profit off of it).

The main rules are, for UDRP anyway, is that to take the name away the complainant has to prove three things:

  1. That the name is the same or confusingly similar to a trademark they have. Trademarks don’t have to be registered, but they have to show somehow that they own the trademark in their geographic area and field. You’d losre this one hands down.

  2. That it was registered in bad faith. You’re a former employee, asking if you can bad mouth them. Bad faith is a given I think for these purposes.

  3. That you have no legitimate alternate use for the name (legitimate meaning non-infringing). This is your only hope. If the name is purely descriptive and you use it for the descriptive purpose then you should be free and clear (and that assumes that they don’t really have a trademark… though I’ve seen cases where names that looked extremely generic descriptively in the field the description is for were somehow upheld as trademarks, so that can still be tricky).

Also, be aware that some panelists coming to conclusions on UDRP cases sometimes just skip past the all important third part. The more bad faith you show the more likely they are to focus only on that. But if you don’t like their decission you can always appeal it in court, but then you are paying the upfront costs there.

So, not knowing your exact situation, all I can really say is good luck.