Following the Booking.com decision paradigm, the registrants of Cruises.com have applied for a trademark at the USPTO.
World Travel Holdings, Inc., applied for the mark CRUISES.COM – a full text representation of the domain, without any graphic images.
The mark is applied for in international class 039:
Travel agency services, namely, making reservations and bookings for vacation and business transportation for organization of vacation travel for persons and businesses; travel, excursion and cruise arrangement
The trademark application for CRUISES.COM cites 2003 as the date of first use for the mark. The domain Cruises.com was registered in 1997. Between 2000 and 2004, the domain’s WHOIS did not change.
In early 2003, the domain Cruises.com was forwarding to MyTravelCo.com for travel related services, and later that year to CruisesOnly.com.
In recent weeks, more generic domain registrants are eager to apply for a trademark at the USPTO. To register these marks, however, one must demonstrate that the general consumer public considers the mark – essentially, the domain name – as a service leader in its class; in this case, cruises.
CRUISES.COM – a trademark application by the Cruises.com operators
