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Comment by jmonegro | Hacker News Reader

One of huddle.net's features is conferencing. I noticed they have an affiliate program. I could put a link that says something along the lines of "Looking for something more heavyweight? Check out Huddle.net!"

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I am not 100% clear on the law but I believe they'd have an infringement case against you. Although, I did a quick search and did not look like huddle.net has registered the huddle trademark. (A brief 5 minute search, looks like all 'huddle' communication related ones were abandoned)

But if they did have a trademark case, this would likely strengthen it. If you benefited from a referral program, huddle.net could prove you profited from domain infringement.

I don't think they do, because huddle is a dictionary word that means "to crowd or draw together". I don't think they might have a trademark case against me, especially since my huddle is not a company.

If they do, however, I think they might chill with the fact that I would be giving them some customers. Even if not, it's a good thing that I'm not living in the US at the moment (and not moving back until late 2010).

Just to be clear, Huddle is based in the UK.

Yea, but the word 'apple' is a dictionary word that means "fruit with red or yellow or green skin and sweet to tart crisp whitish flesh," but the lawsuit between Apple the computer company and Apple the record company has been pretty well publicized, not to mention lengthy and expensive. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v._Apple_Computer. I would consider changing the name, or keeping it and plan for a legal battle if this becomes any kind of success.

It is a nice service though, and awesomely simple.

Touché ;D.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, dude, but to my knowlege Huddle have a global trademark on the use of the word "Huddle" in relation to collaboration. Would suggest re-considering the name.

IANAL, however, just a programmer.

The point is not that it's a dictionary word but that huddle could be too generic to get as a trademark, that means you can [likely] use it* but also that anyone else offering a group-talk phone app could use it too.

I don't think huddle in the UK would be considered to lack the distinctive quality that makes it suitable to be a RTM but perhaps in the USA?

TM are registered in an area of business, as companies grow they tend to fill [almost] all areas, I'm sure you can get MS clothing, MS food, MS surfboards, ... if huddle isn't registered and can be then registering it is fine but as mentioned it does not prevent current use from being continued IIRC.