Domain names: If a company hasn't registered their domain name, can you do so?

[Irish 313]

So just say, for arguments sake, Walmart hasn't registered the domain walmart.com or.us or .net or dot whatever (and of course Walmart have) but if a company stupidly hasn't...can someone unrelated to a company do so? Can you register it and squat on it or point it to another site, a competitors for exmaple, or a site that opposes said company, this kind of stuff? Thanks
Thanks. What bout typo's? For example, Walmrat or Wamlart? Or Nestlee? Or Cadburry?

[Vaughn Smith]

I understand that you can register it but "Walmart" can get it just by asking for it because they own the trademark. "Bill's Drycleaner" may have more trouble.

[Peter Nikolow]

Yes, you can.

But you also can get an lawsuit coming later because trademarks violations. And this will be much more expensive than you can ever think.

[Jake]

In the very early days of the internet speculators were buying up major brand names with the hopes of making a killing in the future.

To prevent such exploitation Cyber Squatting laws were enacted that prohibit buying names and holding them for hostage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersquatting

[flying_ant_2013]

Short answer - don't do it You can register typos and trademark domains, but the moment your site goes live, expect all kinds of troubles. Some companies are going after such practices very aggressively and in the best case scenario you can expect to kiss your domain good bye.

[bcnu]

A company name, a domain name and a trademark are three different things. Sometimes a company name is also a trademark. Sometimes a trademark is a domain name. The rights to use a company name, domain name and trademark are all different.

That being said, if you intentionally register a domain name to create a "likelihood of confusion" with an existing trademark, that is completely illegal. In trademark law, misspellings generally make no difference to being considered "similar".

You say "stupidly hasn't registered a domain name" as if a company has a legal obligation to have ANY domain name at all, let alone their company name or their brand. The vast majority of trademarks in Canada and the USA are not registered anywhere, and yet can be still used to sue people who infringe them.

As mentioned, cybersquatting laws and the ICANN domain name dispute process can result in orders that legally transfer the false registrations to the proper trademark owners.

It's a dangerous game to gamble with trademarks owned by companies that have lawyers monitoring the property rights of their clients and who are ready and waiting to sue you.