"scott" <sco### [at] laptopcom> wrote in message 
news:46e79654$1@news.povray.org...
> Say for instance I bought www.nokia.com long before Nokia realised they 
> needed a website.  Do they have any right to force me to give-up that 
> domain name, just because they are a huge multi-national company, or is it 
> just tough luck and they have to pay me whatever it will take?

    As long as you don't use it in any way, then sit back and wait for the 
offers. You have every right to register that domain if you want.

>
> Would it make any difference if I ran a small company called 'Nokia 
> Gizmos' or something that nobody had every heard of?

        You couldn't start a company with the word 'Nokia' in it, and if you 
chose any variation of the word because of this, it still might be trouble 
for 'sounding' too close to their (trade)name.

 Do they have more right to it
> than be just because they are a bigger well-known multi-national company?

    No, they have no more right to it than you, but you just couldn't use it 
in any way, unless it would be to their benefit, and they give you the right 
to use it.

     That's my understanding anyway.

       ~Steve~

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