thrashiedean.com

So you have a hot idea for a website, or maybe you want to capitalize on a hot new product that has just been released. There\’re some things that you\’ll want to know first before you get yourself in a lot of hot water.

Choosing a domain name is not really rocket science but it\’s very important. You want to select something that is as short as possible, easy to pronounce & remember for marketing purposes, & if at all possible you want to get your main keywords in the domain name. All that aside, you also have to be very careful that you do not step on the toes of a person or company who may be inclined to sue you.

For example, judges have ruled against domain name squatters in every case where they registered ® a celebrity\’s name. They will also rule against companies that infringe upon other companies. A very good case in point would be the case a couple of years ago between the World Wrestling Federation & the World Wildlife Foundation. The World Wrestling Federation called itself the \”WWF\”, put up a website at wwf.com, & the World Wildlife Foundation filed a trademark infringement suit against them. The Wildlife Foundation won because they had been in existence for many years before the wrestling firm & therefore the World Wrestling Federation had to change its name to World Wrestling Entertainment. Obviously this cost them a great some of money to change their name that appeared on millions of marketing products all over the world as well as the expense they had put up on their website & on line marketing.

Another more recent issue that is still ongoing is the battle between Apple & the V.O.I.P. product \”iphone\” from Cisco. Apple announced they would be bringing a product to market called the Apple iPhone to go along with their other products that start with an \”I\”. Cisco promptly filed for injunctive relief & as of this writing the issue is unresolved.

There are a few basic guidelines that will help keep you out of trouble when you\’re choosing a domain name so you do not run into legal trouble from violating someone\’s trademark. Let us take a look at them.

First off you really need to realize that a name that is used to identify a particular service or product is a recognized trademark. Trademarks that are deemed to be suggestive & memorable are granted protection by both state & federal law.

A confliction of trademarks occurs when one trademark is in conflict with another & the deployment of both is probably going to be confusing to customers or would be customers concerning the company\’s products or services. As I illustrated above, when the legal issue is with a later user of a trademark, the law rules that the first commercial user of the trademark is the legal owner & is therefore given protection. The loser will be forced to cease using the trademark & may even be compelled to pay damages to the original owner, particularly if it\’s determined that they were malicious in their intent.

The smart thing to do is to consult a trademark lawyer & have them check out your idea for a domain name before you invest too much in developing & marketing it.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about this as well as intellectual property attorneys at http://www.focusonip.com

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