Honestly MT GmbH, operators of the ultra-premium domain name Honestly.com, have filed for the registration of the matching mark, HONESTLY.COM, at the USPTO.
The application cites September 18, 2017 as the date of first use of the mark in commerce, for the following services:
Platform as a service (PAAS) featuring computer software platforms for employee surveys.
Registered in 1999, the domain name Honestly.com was acquired by reputation management start-up Unvarnished in 2010, that changed its name to Honestly.com after raising $1.2 million in an initial round of funding. Just two years later, the company renamed again to TalentBin, without having a real public launch as Honestly.
In 2014, TalentBin was sold to Monster Worldwide, operators of Monster.com, wrapping up the course for Honestly.com. In late 2017, Honestly.com was sold to the German start-up Honestly MT GmbH, current owners, that had been operating from the domain name Honestly.de.
The domain’s transition is another example of companies selling premium assets directly to each-other, without any intervention from domain investors or brokers.
It’s an ongoing trend among owners of generic domain names, following the decision by SCOTUS on the Booking.com trademark application.
Since then, dozens of generic domain names have been applied to be registered as trademarks, inclusive of the TLD.
As of January 5th, 2021, BOOKING.COM is a registered trademark with the USPTO.
Will these applications become the new norm? Watch this video from NamesCon Online 2020.
