ASSIGNMENT

Assignment

Assignment

PART I

This assignment is based on a case study of Fantastic Fun Games Ltd. This company sells computer games and has a wide variety of products available. The company is considering diversifying its product portfolio. Fantastic Fun Games Ltd. is realizing the importance of e-commerce and is and is thinking to sells games online as well. In order to implement this idea, the proposed domain names are:

FantasticFun.com

FFG.com

Following are the three situations which can be faced by Fantastic Fun Limited. The purpose of the assignment is to give advice to management on each of the following three situations.

A) The domain name FFG.com is registered by the Finmere Fat Group,a group of people for are trying to lose weight and use the site to exchange dieting information

B) The domain name FFG.COM is registered by Kevin who has also registered 50 other acronyms ending with the letter G and who would be willing to sell the domain name for 5000 pounds

C) The domain name fantastic fun has been registered by The Science Fiction Bookstore which has a link to its own website and a message "Books are more fun than games.

In this assignment, we will analyze the above-mentioned situations separately.

A) The domain name FFG.com is registered by the Finmere Fat Group

In this case, Fantastic Fun Games Ltd. should go for the second choice i.e. FantasticFun.com. The reason behind choosing this option is that the domain name FFG.com is already registered by a company which deals in exchanging information related to dieting practices, named Finmere Fat Group. According to s10 of the Trademark Act, the unauthorised use of a mark identical to a registered mark, on identical goods, will amount to an infringement. So will the unauthorised use of an identical mark on similar goods, or a similar mark on identical or similar goods, if there is a likelihood of confusion.

S10 (1) of TMA states that trademark infringement occurs if a person uses in the course of trade a sign that is identical with the trademark in relation to goods or services which are identical with those for which it is registered . Accordingly, there is no likelihood of confusion requirement needed under this section. However, the relevant questions here are whether the domain name in question is identical to the registered trademark? Whether the use of the domain name is in the course of trade? And whether such use is in relation to identical goods or services for which the trademark is registered? Identical with the trademark means that in order to prevail under this, the domain name in question has to be identical to the trademark. However, it should be borne in mind that the established principle is that identical does not amount to absolutely identical.

A good way for Fantastic Fun Games LTD to avoid this is to go ahead and register the company by second domain name i.e. FantasticFun.com. This will have a positive impact on online sales and the publicity of Fantastic Fun Games ...