Domains have turn out to be a necessity in today’s day and age. Unfortunately, acquiring a site name will be confusing, difficult, and time-consuming. Before acquiring a site name, an internet business should consider trademark availability and company name availability along with the domain’s availability. The next discusses the first steps of domain name acquisition.
1. Trademark Availability. What key trademark will the business adopt going forward to discover itself because the source of its goods or services? For the trademarking strategy, will the business’s name be similar to the trademark? Will the trademark predominately discover the business or a selected good or service? Once those questions are answered, care must be taken to be certain that the trademark is obtainable. Trademark clearance searches will be conducted to make this determination. Typically, a search is finished of the Unites States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)’s Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). Additional resources for trademark searches can include state trademark offices and Web searches. For a fee, industrial search services are also available and include more comprehensive search databases.
2. Company Name Availability. Along with trademarks, many state Secretary of State offices prevent registration of company names and DBAs which can be similar. Before committing to the domain name, evaluation must be done to be certain that an identical company name can actually be registered. If not available, the domain can still be acquired and an identical trademark adopted. Knowledge of availability upfront is useful though.
3. Domain Name Availability. Finally, now that the trademark and company name issues have been addressed, trying to find domain name availability will be accomplished. If the domain name is meant for use at the side of an app, a fourth step could also be needed to make sure the domain name is obtainable at the assorted app stores.
If the specified domain name just isn’t available (either with a .com TLD or considered one of the various other TLDs), the web business may acquire the domain name through a transfer from the third-party registrant. After acquisition, care must be taken to guard the domain from adversarial parties which will seek to trade off the goodwill related to the brand. Domain theft or hijacking are additional risks. The domain owner also needs to enable auto renewal to forestall lack of the domain registration as a consequence of inadvertance.
While the above identifies a lot of eCommerce and web law issues affecting domain name acquisition, an in-depth evaluation could also be required. For more information, you could wish to contact a domain name attorney with experience in acquiring domains, trademark clearance, and company name clearance.
Disclaimer – As with all discussion of legal topics, this text is meant to be educational only, and just isn’t an alternative to legal advice, nor does it provide legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship with the reader. Please seek legal counsel before making any decisions. Also, please note that this text will likely not be updated, so the law and circumstances could have modified by the point you’ve read this text.
