Posts under ‘Domain Names’

In deciding whether to file a trademark application to protect your domain name, the first step is to determine whether you use your domain name as a trademark.  If your domain name is only used as the Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) (i.e., http://www.example.com) to indicate an address on the World Wide Web, then you are [...]

A Business’ IP is often the most valuable asset it generates.  So just neglecting to protect your IP in these recessionary times when budgets are tight can have adverse and long term implications—especially if there is a time limited window within which your IP may be registered. To avoid a large hole in your IP [...]

Last week nine websites that allowed people to download or stream TV programmes and films for free were closed down (see here), their domains seized by the US federal government.  These sites included tvshack.net, Movies-Links.tv, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.coms along with five others. These sites were  targeted as part of a new initiative, aimed at combating Internet [...]

Last week I suggested questions to ask your business lawyer.  But let’s accept it – legal isn’t as much fun as working in your business, or marketing it.  Legal stuff just isn’t sexy. So, if like millions of other entrepreneurs, you are tempted to ignore the legal stuff, or to write it off as a [...]

In the early days of the internet when the web was like a small village which has just  one bread shop, one toy shop or one other type of store, it was understandable that businesses were drawn to names like toys.com or books.com or hotels.com as business names not just as domain names.  But with [...]

Harvard University researchers in a recent study, estimate that Google could be making $497million a year from the practice known as ‘typosquatting’ according to ZDNet How does typosquatting work? Typosquatters register domain names, usually a well-established trade mark, in bad faith to gain a commercial advantage. This usually involves holding the domains in a portfolio [...]

Nowadays, when high street businesses like Spec Savers offer a choice of designer frames for prescription glasses, it’s easy to forget what the opticians market looked like before it was deregulated.  In those days there was little choice, and opticians dispensed NHS prescription glasses. The legal Big Bang augured by Clementi’s  Legal Services Act 2007 [...]

It is obviously easier and cheaper to prevent cybersquatting and name squatting by pre-emptively protecting your brand and blocking your trade marks from being used by others. For those who have missed the chance to register their business names with Facebook (see earlier post) the solution is to set up a Page and then register [...]

Web projects are riddled with Intellectual Property Rights issues.  These have a long term impact on the future of the business.  Awareness of online branding, search engines, copyright law and the technicalities involved in specifying a web presence are some of the key issues to consider. An unregulated web means anyone can and does set [...]

Domain names are an important aspect of branding.  When registering domain names people often wonder which domains to buy.  Some advisers advocate buying the sucks.com version of your brand to protect against aggrieved consumers who may want to vent anger against the brand. However, it is clear from the case of blogger and investment advisor [...]