Absolutely. Just go to http://uspto.gov and
do a trademark search for "BMW" using the TESS system and you'll see
they've got numerous marks registered. The same could be done for many other
acronyms: CNN, NBC, JVC, you name it -- provided they're being used as
trademarks (i.e., as a designation of the unique source of products or
services).
First, abbreviations can be registered just like
any other trademark, provided:
(i) they are not descriptive of the goods for
which they are used;
(ii) they have some significance of their own;
For example, the mark BMW does not in any way
describe that the underlying good is a car, as also, the significance of it is
that, it stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke. However, even without
registration, you can claim rights in an abbreviation, provided you can prove
that the general population recognizes the abbreviation as atra source of the
goods you provide. For example, people recognized FedEx for Federal Express,
Coke for Coca-cola and so on.
Second, domain names are fully within the
purview of trademark law, as well. This means that if a trademark owner can
prove that a registered domain name is confusingly similar to the mark in which
the owner claims rights, then he has a good case against the owner of that
domain. However, going to the court is always an expensive ordeal, for which reason,
the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) was adopted, which gives owners of
REGISTERED marks to file a complaint with Internet Corporation for Assigned
Name and Numbers (ICANN) and have the infringing domain either cancelled or
transferred back to the trademark owner. The latter process is very popular
amongst corporations, it being more efficient and less expensive. However, the
owner of the mark must prove the following in order to have either of the
remedies:
(i) that
the domain name is confusingly similar to the registered mark;
(ii) that
the domain owner has no legitimate rights in the domain name;
(iii)
that the domain has been registered or used in bad faith.
For
example, if you registerwww.biemw.com, and have no other acceptable legitimate explanation
as to why you registered the domain, then most likely BMW would be successful
in an action against you.
Learn more about our ANT Lawyers Intellectual Property practice,
its experience, and team members here. Please
contact our Trademark attorneys in Vietnam for
advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or
call us at +84 912 817 823.
Let ANT Lawyers help your business in Vietnam.
