What's the deal with already trademarked names?

Just wondering what the stance for SH is on entries being entered that are already trademarked and even worse being trademarked in the same industry.

I don’t want to point fingers but a very recent contest has just been won when the name is clearly already trademarked in the same industry, which I believe is the second time this has happened for this creative.

I know mistakes can happened or that sort of thing can be missed but I do my best to avoid giving already trademarked names, because it would be a bad look for SH clients are purchasing unavailable names.

Who is the onus on to determine trademark availability, the creative or the CH?

I wondered about that myself.I have seen the same thing happen.In fact, one name that recently won I backed off from, as it was trademarked.

Along these lines…how can you find out if someone has stolen your name? I submitted a name that had the domain available at the time, for an Australian contest…and now I see it being used by someone in Australia.They abandoned the contest…but how do I know they aren’t the ones that took my name,please? Thanks…

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Go to Whois lookup on Godaddy and send the registrants details to admin to check for a link.

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If you are aware a name has a Trademark, you should disclose that in the entry comments while submitting it. While we do not encourage submitting names that have Trademarks, we also recognize that this is a very complex topic and each country/jurisdiction could have different laws around it. As contestants, you may not have enough information to do a thorough Trademark search however if while submitting the name, you are aware of an existing Trademark, you should certainly make the CH aware in the entry comments. In the end, the CH is responsible for doing the necessary legal due diligence for their jurisdiction to ensure that they can infact use the name for their business.

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