Thread: Trademarks & channels of trade

After I registered CCIE.in , Jeff mentioned that CCIE is a trademark in the US. After reading through at United States Patent and Trademark Office Home Page what I uderstand is that -
as far as I don't do business in the same industry as CISCO (CCIE) i think there shouldn't be any problem. I may be wrong , so please correct me. I am an amateur in this area.

I immediately searched for ccie term on sedo. There are few ccie.xx extensions for sale too including mine. In fact ccie.com is childcare exchange program and this was registered (mid 80's) before CCIE was trademarked (90's)

I have been there once and gave away my .com domain before.

We are dealing with a .IN so ultimately it's the Indian trademarks register you need to be concerned about (although checking the USPTO register can be helpful in some investigations).

In general, if a trademarked term is registered for use in association with for example coffee, then you can use that same term in association in computers. Both businesses are dealing in different channels of trade, therefore there is unlikely to be confusion among consumers.

However, there is an important exception to the above. If it is a well-known trademark then the owner of the trademark is given special protection. For example, if you registered and used the domain StarbucksComputers.in for use in association with computers, consumers would likely get confused and think there's some connection with the very well-known Starbucks beverage company. Therefore, there's a possibility you might lose the domain to Starbucks.

In your case, I note Cisco has more than 10 offices in India, so I'm guessing they've probably obtained a trademark (or common law rights) for the term CCIE. If that's the case, the important question is whether CCIE falls under the description of a "well-known trademark." You'd probably have to do a bit research to find out how well-known it is in India. If it's not well-known, you can use CCIE.in in a different area of business. If it's well-known, there's a risk you will lose the domain to Cisco.

Bottom line: if you use and register CCIE.in, there's always a risk that Cisco might attempt to obtain the domain from you. As Jeff pointed out, there are lots of websites using CCIE as part of their domain and Cisco isn't doing anything. In any event, I recommend you don't park this domain. Also, I notice you currently have links to software management sites etc.

Perhaps other members can also offer advice and tell you what they think.

Develop a mini site on this domain on a topic that is completly different from cisco in totality.

Like use as a website for a dummy NGO