Very Important Tip before Registering Domain Names :)

Starting anything without checking for trademarks can put you in trouble at some point of time or other. It may be possible that in your country the trademark may not be available but somewhere in other part of the world some third person may have registered a trademark that collides with your name.

A trademark owner can claim your domain if it means confusingly similar or infringes their trademark. Some trademark owners are very strict and forbit/dont allow their registered mark to be mixed with other word combinations. Be careful !

Doing a initial trademark search is a must before registering a domain name of your choice.

Always do a preliminary trademark search before you

* Registering a Domain Name
* Registering Business Names
* Selecting New Product or Brand Names

Initially it would cost more than $1000 to do a official trademark search through an attorney. The best less expensive way is to do it for yourself. Search the trademark databases available in different countries online although it is not 100% foolproof. I have published URLs to only specific important countries, the complete formation available at WIPO Trademarks Database site.

List of Trademark Databases Online

Madrid International Registrations http://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/services

Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (CommunityTrademarks) http://oami.eu.int/CTMOnline/RequestManager/en_SearchBasic

Australia http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/trademarks/search_index.shtml

Austria
http://www.patent.bmvit.gv.at

Brazil
http://www.inpi.gov.br

Canada http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/cipo/trademarks/search/tmSearch.do

Chile
http://www.dpi.cl/tapa.asp?cuerpo=486

Czech Republic

http://isdvapl.upv.cz/servlet/page?_pageid=82,110&_dad=portal30&_schema=PORTAL30

Estonia
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=438

Finland
http://tavaramerkki.prh.fi/

France
http://www.icimarques.com/
(access subject to payment)

Germany
https://dpinfo.dpma.de

Hong Kong
http://ipsearch.ipd.gov.hk/tmlr/jsp/index.html

Hungary
http://elajstrom.hpo.hu/HPOAdatbazisok/hophandler?lang=EN

Ireland http://www.patentsoffice.ie/eregister/Query/TMQuery.asp

Israel
http://patentim.justice.gov.il/db1.htm

Japan
http://www.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/homepg_e.ipdl

Mexico
http://marcas.impi.gob.mx
(access subject to payment)

New Zealand
http://www.iponz.govt.nz/search/cad/dbssiten.main

Poland
http://www.uprp.pl/patentwebaccess/databasechoose.aspx?language=english

Republic of Korea
http://kipricd2.kipris.or.kr/eng/

Russian Federation
http://www.fips.ru/ensite/dbs/dbs.htm

Slovakia
http://www.upv.sk

Slovenia
http://www2.uil-sipo.si/dse.htm

Spain
http://www.oepm.es/

Sweden
http://www.prv.se/eng/trademarks/index_rseng.html

Switzerland https://www.swissreg.ch/srclient/faces/jsp/start.jsp

United Kingdom
http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm.htm

United States of America
http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm

I searched online for countless hours to locate the online trademark databases of different countries. Just a thought that i could share my findings with DP people.

Any compliments much appreciated as it would encourage me to work more.

 

Nice article. Great info...keep it up

 

Nice article. But just an extra note that trademark registration is not needed if
one can demonstrate common law trademark rights.

Okay, an extra extra note: a few attorneys I know who specialize in this sort
of thing tell me the "best" trademark search engine is the big G itself.

 

Interesting point you made. can you shed more light on this? does that mean i dont have to spend $$$ to register for trademark.

 

Damn... Headache comes.....

 

Keep checking trademarks and in the meantime someone snatches your domain

 

lol i read this somewhere, mate

 

Great Info The subject always comes up of trademark .. gave ya a rep

 

..or, just register generic names...ie monstertrucks.com, fastmountainbikes.com,
etc etc.

 

Thanks for sharing this info on trademarks, gave you some green

 

Google "common law trademark". And this:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/tmfaq.htm#Basic001

 

very helpfull thank you

 

eh... like "windows" ? lol

 

Dont think that if trademark is not registered in your country you can take advantage and misuse the trademark. Its a wrong idea. As far as i remember there is a madrid convention and if our country is a member then the TM rights automatically applicable in all member countries of madrid convention.

This is my understanding, but again i may be wrong.

 

Checking for a TM also depends on what you want to do with the domain name. Just have some common sense about it and you should be fine.

 

Common sense is a trait we all need to use occasionally...I know your j/k'ing, but you could use windows....(if by god it was available) but consider modifying it, like customwindows, qualitywindows, windowrestoration etc etc.

People generally dont talk about it, but it seems that most dont want more than two words in a .com....if you go to three (such as verynicewindows.com) you will significantly lose value and brandability...

 

I never knew you couldnt register or name your website something because it is trademarked...

 

Imagine once you have developed your business and then somebody claims they want your domain because they are trademark owners. It is good to know something that knowing nothing.

 

Awesome post! Thanks for the information. Rep Given.