Anyone care to express a considered opinion on this scenario? Or perhaps you
know of a similar case (with oucome)  you care to share.

Big company 'W-Dog Pty Ltd' trademarks its name, 'W-Dog'.  They register a
domain name of w-dog.com and w-dog.net

On the other side of Australia, a new small business is established and
calls itself (Reg Business Name) wdog.com.au . wdog.com.au registers the
domain www.wdog.com.au This business had not seen the W-Dog product because
it was not publically available or in the marketplace. However it turns out
that both organisations have much the same idea.

Big company 'W-Dog' cries foul play and threatens legal action against
wdog.com.au for breach of trademark.

wdog.com.au has had its product in the market place for many months. Even
though W-Dog registered its trademark before wdog.com.au was established,
W-Dog still does not have its product in the market place nor will they
provide proof of its existance. However their trademark details are written
so generalised that it could pretty well tie up the whole industry. There is
still no publically available information on its specific product.
Apparently, W-Dog says its all very confidential. Plus the domain name of
www.w-dog.com.au is still available. They have not registered it!

QUESTION: Should wdog.com.au be prevented from using the domain wdog.com.au
? Reason being breach of trademark.

Regards,
Chas Cleland, Manager, AUSCITY
auscity§auscity.com.au     www.auscity.com.au
Phone: +61 3 5561 3077