阪急.com | Hankyu.com --> What actually is Hankyu ??

[alexd]

Hi again guys,

I was doing some more random online searching, and came across the word/phrase/name ... Hankyu ( 阪急 ).

There were Overture results of over 180,00 and doing searches on Google and Yahoo gave me a load of results with Hanku in the domain name.

My question is ... what exactly does Hankyu ( 阪急 ) mean ??
From what I can gather, its a railway, a bus, hotel, travel agency, transportation company, etc, etc. There seem to be an endless list of websites, catering for all sorts of things with this name featured in them.

Can anyone care to shed any light on this for me ??

Also, would anyone know if I am infrindging on a TradeMark of anykind, as this is definately something I wouldn't want to do at any cost.

Thanks again for your time, and I hope to finally find out what Hankyu is.

Alex

P.S: I did register this name (阪急.com) - ( After re-reading my post, I saw that it might have seemed confusing with regards to whether I actually regged the name or not !! )

[alexd]

Just wondering if anyone at all can explain to me what Hankyu is or means ??
I am just a little worried in case I have violated a trademark of some sort.

Sorry for the bump of this post.


Alex

[Olney]

It's a Department Store I believe...

[Rubber Duck]

Just wondering if anyone at all can explain to me what Hankyu is or means ??
I am just a little worried in case I have violated a trademark of some sort.

Sorry for the bump of this post.


Alex

Well, these are traditional Chinese Characters, but neither these or the simplified form having any meaning in Chinese when combined. It is definitely a purely Japanese term. Not very helpful, but you have to start somewhere!

[alexd]

Thanks for the replies guys,

Its a start at least. When doing some searches online, I have found many sites with the work Hankyu in their name - everything from travel agents to shipping companies.

I have tried doing a Google image search for Hankyu, and find images of everything from hotels, to buses and trains.

Looks like I will have to search a little deeper, but its not that easy.

Anyway, thanks again for the replies.

Alex

[rhys]

Sorry Alex, I did not see this post earlier or else I would have replied. 阪急 "Hankyu" is one of a number of large conglomerates in Japan which operate Department stores, hotels, trains, subways, taxis, real estate agencies, travel agencies, and residential and commercial real estate development and all other manner of consumer services. I'm not sure if they began with the Department stores or with real estate, but once they built out their private train lines, they built out the stations, and the surrounding communities, and the buses and trains to get to the stations, and the real estate agencies to sell the houses they developed and the travel agencies in the stations and on and on. Others of this type that come to mind are Seibu, Tobu, Kintetsu.

In response to your question of whether this constitutes infringement...I would say uh yep in a big way.

[alexd]

Rhys,

Thanks for the reply. That explains why I was seeing such a wide range of different types of businesses with the name in them.

Now, what should i do with the name, as the last thing I want are any problems from them, as I would not have regged this name knowing what I know now.

Would it be best to contact someone at the company and ask if they want the name on a free push, or should I just delete it ( if thats possible with my domainsite account ) ??

Alex

[Edwin]

Would it be best to contact someone at the company and ask if they want the name on a free push, or should I just delete it ( if thats possible with my domainsite account ) ??

If you can arrange a "delete", the simplest is definitely to delete it. I can't imagine cold-calling somebody at a large Japanese company, trying to explain IDN to them and then trying to get them to accept something "free". They'll be scratching their heads for about a year...