A very important question arises in the early stages of
development of a web site - what would be the most appropriate
domain name? Domain names are representative of the address for
a web site, and there is a rising trend of incidents of disputes
over domain name registration with increased usage of Internet.
There are numerous factors that have led to a crisis of domain
registration disputes and this, in turn, has led to a rapid
increase in the reported cases of infringement of domain names.
Several companies have taken legal action against other
companies or individuals over alleged copyright violation on the
domain names.
There are some basics that you should understand before choosing
a domain name registration:
1. Use of two similar trademarks should not confuse customers
about the products or services.
2. If there is a legal conflict over use of similar trademarks,
the first user is likely to win the case.
3. The later user would to give up his claim if he cannot proves
his point and may have to pay the first owner damages.
You should apply these principles to your domain registration
selection process:
1. The best method to avoid conflict of trademarks is to search
the trademark database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
at www.uspto.gov. It provides you with all registered and
pending trademarks. Try to search for your proposed trademark as
well as other similar names and variant spellings. 2. You must
be able to justify your reason for using the name. Your domain
registration should principally consist of a name you are using
as a trade name, trademark or corporate name.
3. It is better to select more than one name since you are not
sure about the availability of the required domain name.
If on searching for the desired domain name, you find that the
name has already been registered but there is no content being
displayed at the domain, try to find out the details of the
owner of the domain registration. It is possible that he/she may
be genuine and have yet not published any content.
But it is equally possible that the owner does not plan to
develop a web site and is willing to give you the domain at the
original price. You must confirm that the seller has ownership
rights for that particular domain name registration.
The regulations governing copyright issues for domain names are
governed by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN).
It is very likely that you would lose right of your domain name
registration if you have intentionally chosen a name similar to
another domain name so as to confuse potential visitors to the
site. For example, if your site deals in consumer electronics
goods made by a Samsung competitor, do not choose the name
“samsungbusiness.com” since a court is most likely to pass a
verdict that you selected this name to divert attention of
Samsung customers.
There could be others reasons of losing a domain registration:
1. You have never carried out any business under that name 2.
There is no person in your company similar to that name 3. You
are planning to sell that domain name to your competitor for
financial gain.
If your domain name is same as your name then you may be allowed
to continue to use it, despite of the fact that it is similar to
someone else’s domain name. But the usage of such a name is
governed by certain condition set by court. For example, Mr.
Suki Nokia, who runs a cosmetics business, may be allowed to use
the domain name “nokia.kr” but he would barred from using his
site to demonstrate any electronics-related information or
advertising.
A very useful tip to buy all three of the top level domains -
..com, .net and .org. You should buy all possible misspellings of
your domain name before anybody else takes advantage of this
fact.
If on searching, you find similar names, ask yourself the
following questions:
1. Will the products/services on your site compete with the
products/services on similar domain names?
2. Will your distribution channels for products be same for
products being sold under the similar domain names?
3. Will your site distract business away from the site with the
similar name?
4. Is the other name quite famous?
If you get negative answers to all these questions, you can feel
confident to go ahead with your domain name registration without
any worry of a legal hassle.
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