registering competitors domain name

[deadgoodundies]

Ok first of all i have to stress I would never do this im just curious on the legality of it (im actually going to advise the competitor of their oversight in the morning)

Im guessing if someone found that a company has forgotten to register a TLD and it wasn't a brand name or trademark but it was the .net, .com or .co.uk of the domain that they already use and they registered it and pointed it to their own site (which is in the same sector) then that person could end up with a lot of legal problems.

Like I said above it's not for me but I do want to get my facts straight before I notify the person so that they can go and register it to cover themselves.

[morleymouse]

why not? if its not a trademark, and its not close to one then surely its ad advantage for you to own it? But just to clarify, if your have the slightest inclination that it could be in the process of being trademarked, resemble, or even look a bit like one stay way - you'll drop yourself in a world of pain.

example:
Cheap Flights.ie - Cheap flights from Ireland
Cheap Airline Tickets – book discount airfares at Cheapflights.com

2 domains, 2 TLD, 2 sites / companies.

If its available, and it could benefit your business to own it - why would you not consider it?

[dougs]

Trademarks/passing off can be a real pain for merchants to proove but if they do be warned.........

[ian-d]

In the early days i had ownership of some competitors 'alternative' domain name extentions and pointed them to my site. I of course knew full well that the company names weren't trademarked etc, but soon stopped redirecting them to my site when i was getting constant customers complaining about the service received, when in fact it was the other company they were meaning to moan at!