Domain names and Trademark Protection (09/27/2008)
...com, a full-service exchange for stamp collectors; and cleanswell.com for a website that sells household cleaners, and •words of praise, such as bestpetshop.com (unless it becomes distinctive over time, as in bestbuys.com). Misspellings or alternative spellings (such as "lite") cannot make an ordinary term ("light") distinctive....

How to Choose a Great Domain Name (09/27/2008)
... But coffee.com wouldn't qualify as a trademark for a coffee-related website, because the word coffee in that context is generic it describes the product itself. So if your website were named coffee.com, you wouldn't be able to do much about goodcoffee.com, blackcoffee....

Domain Names and a Strong Trademark (09/27/2008)
...com (online retailer of books, CDs, toys and other items) •Drugstore.com (online pharmaceuticals sales) •Nolo.com (online legal information provider and publisher and retailer of legal books, forms and software). A domain name isn't always a trademark. If ahab....

Register a domain with a domain name registration service (09/27/2008)
... Geoff then checks drtrademark.com and finds that it's available. Although Geoff knows that using such a similar domain name might infringe the doctortrademark.com trademark, he decides to go ahead and reserve the name until he can do some more investigation regarding the other "Doctor Trademark" website. If the exact domain name you want has been taken by someone else, you will not be able to register it unless you have already been using the name as a trademark and are willing to take the steps described to assert your legal rights as a trademark owner....

Domain Names and their Legal Side (09/27/2008)
... Fortunately for small e-commerce start-ups with limited budgets, most businesses make up their domain names or use names that they are already using as trademarks, and don't pay anyone a penny for the privilege. Domain Name Anatomy Domain names consist of two main parts: the top-level domain name, or TLD, and the second-level domain name, or SL The SLD comes first. For example, in nolo.com, nolo is the SL The TLD comes at the end of the domain name, after the ubiquitous dot. TLDs are organized, for U....

Register a domain using Coined Words (09/27/2008)
... That means they require extensive, often expensive, marketing efforts to get established as product or service identifiers in the first place. Without that, your domain name won't mean anything to the general public. That's a major drawback for a small business with limited capital. Opting for a coined word has a second drawback. New combinations that sound and look good that is, ones that are marketable and not already in use are becoming harder to develop....

What to Do If Your Domain Name Is Already Taken (09/27/2008)
... The availability of .net or .org is probably small consolation to you. E-commerce businesses often refuse to settle for .net or ....

ICANN Dispute Resolution Procedure explained (09/27/2008)
... as well. Here's a look at each of these three elements in more detail. Domain name's confusing similarity to your trademark. You must assert that you own the mark because you were the first to use it or because trademark registration has given you the right to its exclusive use. You must also state that the domain name really is confusingly similar to your mark....

Cybersquatting and Trademark Infringement Lawsuit (09/27/2008)
... Another company, which had been using the actual mark "moviebuff" on a CDROM containing movie information, was prevented from using moviebuff.com as a domain name. The "Movie Buff's Movie Store" mark had been in use before the other company started using moviebuff on its CD-ROMs. Who was the senior user of the moviebuff trademark? The U.S....

Trademark Search Service for Domain Names (09/27/2008)
...) So if someone has filed an application to register a trademark very similar to your proposed domain name within the last few months, your search won't pick it up. A four-month lag time is tolerable to initially determine the legal viability of your proposed domain name, but you should definitely have an up-to-date search done before pouring money into promoting the domain name. Search state (not just federal) trademark registration records. Every state allows the registration of marks that are used primarily in that state. If your choice for domain name is the same or confusingly similar to one of these state-registered marks, you may run into trouble if the mark's owner decides to use the mark for a domain name, only to discover that you have registered it first....

How to Register Your Domain Name As a Trademark (09/27/2008)
... This article explains how to file your trademark application online. If you need more help once your application is filed, check the resources discussed at the end of this article. Applying for Registration: An Overview Filling out and filing a trademark application for your domain name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is a snap....