Rick Schwartz who has been known in the domain community as the “Domain King” has filed an administrative action to gain control of the domain name DomainKing.ng.
.Ng is the country code (ccTLD) for Nigeria.
Rick not only is commonly known as the Domain King inside the domain community, but has a federally registered trademark on the term “Domain King” in the United States since 2003 (which was renewed in 2013) as well as a European trademark.
DomainKing.ng is going to a full on domain name registrar site which appears to be owned by a company out of Jalandhar, India.
The complaint was filed with a the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) which manages the Top Level Domain (.ng ccTLD) in a process similar to a UDRP.
Rick Schwartz told TheDomains.com that this is just the first of several actions that coming against those who are profiting from the goodwill off the trademark of “Domain King” which Rick’s is widely known by in the domain name industry.
“I will be going after any site which is profiting off my good name and my protected trademark.”
Rick said he may file lawsuits for damages, not just UDRP’s, against companies that are using “Domain King” to profit off his trademark and good name.
I found several domain name registrars that are using DomainKing on various TLD’s so Rick looks like he will be busy.
I’m very curious to see how enforceable this is. I’m also curious if these companies are aware of Rick and his “Domain King” moniker.
Rick’s concerns and actions are definitely justified. See http://domaingang.com/domain-news/domainking-nigerian-cctld-domain-has-stolen-rick-schwartzs-thunder/
RICK,
you are insane !
you r not a king now you are a moron
there are more than 800 trademarks for coffee
so i guess tomorrow morning you have to drink tee
MORON
Stolz ist manchesmal ein armseliger Ersatz fuer Intelligenz
you don’t have even your own language
wtf
The shoe is on the other foot, he is retired, no longer using such a moniker.
Let the community use it, I think it has grown into a general term.
Anyone has a trademark for Domain Emperor? Or Domain God?
demonofdomain? Lol just for funn
i am the ownerofinternet.com
Let’s see if he gets dethroned, standard UDRP, let’s see what kind of defense is put up, otherwise he has it in the bag, as his marks are dated.
Not a fan of over abundant use of trademarks for widely used terms.
I can imagine the UDRP the Domain King ruler of the Internet, and loyal subject to the Queen of England blah blah
Andrew
Why is this trademark any less enforceable than any other which are the subject of thousands of UDRP decisions we have both read through?
The TM is 14 years old
Type in Domain King into Google Rick’s blog comes up number 1 in Google
This is a small industry and I knew Rick as the Domain King before I ever knew or met Rick.
If someone was using the domain for something other than domains, like real estate which the word “domain” is used also used in real estate for example that might be a different issue but in a domain registrar is well within the trademark
With respect, it has nothing to do with your rank on google or any other search engine as to whether your trademark has more weight.
But you are right on the ‘use’, which is the most common reason people lose domains rather than just the name entity itself.
Michael, I don’t know how enforceable the trademark is. That’s what I’m curious to see.
With regards to if people know about Rick Schwartz as the Domain King…I bet there are a lot of registrars and people at registrars who have no idea who Rick is, nor do they know he goes by the name Domain King. I highly, highly doubt that DomainKing.ng is trying to trade on any goodwill Rick has.
I forgot which registrar was using the term “domain king” a year or two ago, but I would bet it had no idea it was infringing a mark.
From a UDRP perspective, I note that the .Ng policy appears to be different than UDRP. If it were a standard UDRP, I’d argue that the domain name owner has rights or legitimate interests. It’s not cybersquatting. It could be a valid cross-border domain name dispute, but I don’t think it’s cybersquatting under the rules of a UDRP.
I’m not taking sides. I’m just curious how his enforcement of the name will play out.
Michael
what does it mean to have a TM ?
is is a word mark ?
a word figurative mark ?
even when you have a TM it means nothing
it should does include the domain or all domains
Domain is generic
King is generic
and nobody needs a King !!!
and nobody wants a King !!!
i hope that this TM will be cancelled
i hope that all TM will be cancelled
RICK just lost all his respect !!!
he is not a KING !!!
ivsprasad
” I am the ownerofinternet.com”
Congrats what does that have to do with anything in this post or anything else?
DomainKi.ng?
It’s available.
Will the US TM do? Or does one need to have a Nigerian one? Interesting case. Plenty of .ng are left untaken. Yes. The are pricey. But the market is starting to get more traction.
You can trademark anything you want, it is the bottom line.
Not sure why people are objecting to this.
Rick filed a trademark for “Domain King” in the appropriate class; it was approved for registration. He also is the owner of the mark in the EU, and he has filed the appropriate documentation and paid the maintenance fees. He needs to enforce his mark, and prevent dilution of his mark, which is his signature brand.
I completely agree with Rick’s decision in doing this. One day he may write a book, or produce a film called “Domain King”…. he needs to enforce this brand. And he is. Well done.
Domain is generic
King is generic
i hope this TM will be cancelled
nobody wants a KING
Rick is no KING
in my eyes he lost all his respect
in my eyes he is a MORON
Burger is generic, too but I think BurgerKing wouldn’t like their name being used by someone else.
That said, given Schwartz’ history and occupation for so long, him not immediately registering DomainKing in every extension he cares about is malpractice.
every TM can be cancelled
even
this TM should never got through
the Trademarkdepartment just want to make 300
but
as i mentioned
every TM can be cancelled
A Trademark is supposed to be used for business. I don’t know Rick, but he himself in a post said he was not going to be active in the industry AS MUCH. bottom line, Rick is a guy who got there first, not a domain king.
I have to agree with this post, I would assume the fact he still sells domain names would constitute business, but he did sort of announce a retirement from the industry, and his kingdom so to speak.
Many extensions outside of .com are for sale, with fixed prices
DomainKing.biz looks like they are in some trouble
His retirement has zero to do with protecting his mark.
The only TM I found in the USPTO says: “IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: LICENSING OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, NAMELY, DOMAIN NAMES; AND WEB SITE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES. FIRST USE: 19960731. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19960731” so it does not say Domain Registration. IMO he won’t win this one.
top
Bruce
So domain names does not cover a domain name registrar?
I am not a lawyer. I am stating my opinion. It is pretty obvious the owner either knows he is i violation or he does not know. My question is, did he even ask the owner to stop? I have spoken with rick before and let’s say, he has a harsh message sometimes.
Bottom line, is I really don’t care what he calls himself. let the law decide. I can tell you this, domainking.ng has received thousands of dollars in free ads just by this post.
I know many people think Rick is a domain god. IMO he is a guy who saw the light early and regged the best names. I do think he has a right to challenge this one. I personally think the guy knew of the infringement and he should be challenged.
Ryan
you are correct as is John.
Rick still has domains and has many of the biggest sales of 2015 in “retirement” so he is still doing business and he is still known as the domain king.
Hell I even refer to him as the domain king in blog posts
He’s known by his name, Rick Schwartz, more than anything. Just because a few domainers know him to be the “domain king” and he has a trademark in the USA/Europe, doesn’t gives him the right to own or control over DomainKing.ng or DomainKing.jp or others who use that term for their own business in other countries!
He’s never used DomainKing.com for anything OFFICIAL at all. It’s never been a developed/functional website or business. It’s only ever been a url that was forwarded/masked to various other domains he owns.
Instead of filing UDRP for domain why he didn’t buy all the tld, because of him unknowingly all other will suffer and trademark rule must be only applicable to person where he is living say now rick is living in US than trade mark rule must be only applicable for .us only and not other tlds, In every country there is one domain king.
Andrew
I just don’t know why you think its any less enforceable than other United States TM
I respect what Rick has done for the Domain Name Industry and I will leave it at that.
Using this name is like poking a TIGER!!
Game over, its best they stop wasting everyone’s
time and take the website down.
Show me where CURRENTLY this registered trademark is IN USE. It is NOT. Nowhere. Rick has stopped to blog, he has stopped to show in “domain public”, he has stopped using his mark. Since it is not in use, it should not be a valid argument in any such case. Sorry :-!
KingsDomain.com.au is a barber shop in Australia.
Unlike CocaCola, Domain King is not a “world famous” trademark as CocaCola, you can get away with DomainKing.xyz if you use it in different TM Class eg a T-shirt clothing label “DomainKing” under TM Class 25. You are entitled to use it.
If you use DomainKing.Builders as home renovations, you are entitle to use too.
But, If you use DomainKing.xyz as a domain name sales platform, you are in trouble!
This is not true. A trademark is only enforceable in the country it is trademarked in. He only holds a trademark in the USA/Europe so if any USA/European business was to use the term DomainKing for a domain related business they would be in trouble. If a Indian/Nigerian company uses the term for their own domain business (DomainKing.ng, etc.) he has no control over that.
For example, DomainKing.jp is a domain registrar and owns the the trademark for “Domain King” in Japan, Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia. They’ve been around since 2009. Why has Rick never gone after them?
Nobody wants a KING
Nobody needs a KING
RICK Schartz just lost all his respect
Blame on you
ALL Trademarks can be cancelled
special such ,,stupid,, TRADEMARK
just 300$
give it a try
mediclorianer
That is three comments that basically say the same thing on one post which is plenty
I deleted the other 2 comments.
He can make a case, has the right. Would I if it were me, likely not. I see next to zero up side to spending the money (as little as it may be) or adding any extra stress to your physical body or mind to get the .ng and save your name among the Nigerians! Some times we do more harm to ourselves (physically and mentally/stress) so do we really win? I say he take aim at bigger fish 🙂
But that’s just me…
Rick Schwartz put a lot into his personal “domain king” brand. And he filed a trademark to protect it, which is his right. If that mark is flouted, then some action ought to be taken on principle.
Since the infringing domain is a registrar doing business in this space and not just a naïve individual, the case deserves to be taken seriously. It’s not a kid cutting corners by walking across Rick’s lawn. This company may as well have set up a food truck in Rick’s front yard to sell tacos to the whole neighborhood.
Except it’s worse … because they’re selling what Rick himself sells – domains – using a brand name Rick has paid to protect for more than a decade. So it’s like setting up a taco truck called “Taco Belle” in the parking lot of Taco Bell!
I’d applaud Rick Schwartz for enforcing his mark. And not jut because he’s protecting what’s his. Showing that the domain industry takes trademark rights seriously lends credibility to our protests against both cybersquatting AND reverse domain name hijacking.
>Rick Schwartz put a lot into his personal “domain king” brand.
He only holds a trademark in USA/Europe that he’s never put to good use. What gives him the right to go after other much more established DomainKing businesses in other countries that he holds no trademark in? DomainKing.jp has been around since 2009 and own 4 active trademarks in Japan/Philippines/Indonesia/Singapore. Rick can’t do anything about it. I bet it makes him squirm to know he isn’t a King.
A vendor of flavored popcorn purchased kingofpop.com from a MJ fan website operator is being sued by the MJ Estate because the domain’s usage isn’t related ! TMZ 2/26/2016
And MJ’S estate won’t win. It’s a ludicrous lawsuit.
I think, ccTLD domains can be registered by anyone which belongs to same country as that of ccTLD (which will be a citizen of that country).
No one from outside that country should register..
Here, The ccTLD is .NG (Nigeria) and domain is owned by someone from India.
So owner seems to be used in bad faith. What you think ?
Plenty of cases where famous marks in e.g. Iran using .ir ccTLDs are enforced via UDRP and are taken down. The Internet is global.
Pravin
With all due respect it doesn’t matter what you think how countries should run their ccTLD extension.
Most countries allow anyone in the world to register and some of them .co, .tv, .me, .io are very popular as you know
A ccTLD’s few are restricted to residents like .us but its the countries.
I thought Rick was smarter than this. Now he needs to register domainking.every-worthless-tld or start forking over more cash take away the worthless like domainking.tattoo.
Domainer
No he doesn’t he can do what most brands do, go selective after domains that are being actively used in the domain space, those that are businesses/making money.
Those that are going to a Godaddy placeholder i would not expect him to go after nor would I expect him to register every domain extension known to man.
Either way, the outcome of the ‘UDRP’ will have an impact on the hobby – sorry, industry – called domaining. Waiting & watching.
Not your typical parked page domain. This company who registered and developed this domain must be the most unintelligent company on this planet.
If this case were the other way around, you know for a fact they would go after the domain holder. Double standards. If they enforce, then Rick has the right to seek damages. Essentially, they are using a domain and advertising as being the Domain King.
IMO, this is a slam dunk case. I am no attorney, but it is obvious this company lacks any common sense to launch a domain registrar. They should know better. Obviously, they didn’t check for any maths before deciding to use this domain and its protected mark.
Rick has the next move to take their down and win the game.
Revision: trademarks instead of maths
Take them down instead of “their. “
LOL, you are going to waste your money, effort and time.
Let us say there are 1000 domains out there registered by 1000 different people around the globe and those domains are matching your stupid DOMAIN KING TM. each one of them list it for sale for $500 each or maybe less (that is much lesser than the $1,200 cost of filing a UDRP), so are you going to file 1000 cases of UDRP costing yourself $1,200,000 or simply buy the whole 1000 domains for $500,000 or even much less ?!
I know what the folks are thinking, what a stupid comment, right ? Yes he is only going after developed websites infringing his TM. sooner or later those parked pages are also going to affect that TM through advertising and misleading contents. so that is just ONE side of the story. the other side is the amount of real sites matching his TM, he can NOT win them all. some are real genuine businesses with similar TM or simply do not fall in the same category or under the same jurisdiction. lots of complications are involved when it comes to TM.
Does it really worth it ? i doubt that.