How many domains would you register if you wanted to build on a good branded name?

Let's say you are about to make a website that you think can be very popular. You thought of your unique name, and now you're registering domains.
You think of the different tld's you can get like .com, .net etc
You think of the alternate wordings, spellings etc

How many domain registers in total would you get?

 

Just the .com.

 

If you really think it is going to be very popular, slowly get them all.

 

i would register from start .com, .net and .org

 

Get the .com, .net, and .org versions from the beginning. If anyone recognizes your site is becoming popular they may buy one of those and try to steal some of your potential traffic. So get those three. Then slowly build up and get others, like .info and .us. To be successful you really need them all so you can have full control.

 

Will experiment with .com and TM it, later sue the people who regged .net/ .org and others

 

Exactly as I was thinking.

 

concentrate on the 1 for now

 

well I have a site that is quite popular. Registred .com only, now all other extentions are taken. I don't really inderstand what motivation people have, they just parked the domains.

Now I registred all extentions for my new project.

 

how much does it costs... or what you have to do to TM a website?

 

You are not required to formally file for a trademark for anything. By adding (tm) with your trademark, you are trademarking it. There are 200+ classes of trademarks, so there can be many other companies using the same words for different uses. If you do register a trademark, then you would use (R) for registered.

Hope this helps.

David Beyer

 

Ok. If I had really genius idea, then I would register .com, .net, .org, and .biz. If it were global I would also add .co.uk, .us, .ca, .au, .eu, etc. All TLD's are very important if you have a great idea for the original domain name. I would only do the variations of the name on the .com, .co.uk, and maybe a few others. These strategies are all dependent on the finances I had to invest. Once someone else has your domain and it turns into YouTube or something like that... You will never get it back.

TM's are an entirely different ballgame. Yes I would TM the name, but it requires the use of a lawyer. It is illegal to put TM after a name unless it is in fact a "registered trademark". I have looked into this before.

In addition that is only going to help you in the United States. That won't protect you from people outside of US Borders. To get protection from those people you would have to acquire an international trademark, which from what I have read can be very expensive.

If you register all of the TLD's you can afford for the original name you have in mind, and register a US Trademark for the name, and also do a copyright on the name (if it is unique like Google or YouTube), then maybe that will help you on the international level, but still it will be very expensive to try to protect.

On the copyright side of it, you can put domain.com copyright "year" on the website and that is perfectly legal. It isn't legal to put TM after the name though.

If you truly are interested in protecting your name and don't have the money to protect it, then I would save up until I could afford to put every protection in place.


The only stipulation the TM legality issue is this: You are protected by TM if your legal business name matches the domain name. It is a lot more difficult to get that protection in the court system, but you do have some level of protection. Same goes for copyright.

However, If you have legal documents (formally registered trademark or copyright) in place that say you own and use a name, tm, or copyright, then there are witnesses and documentation to protect you in the event someone tries to use a similar domain to steal your customers or traffic or to slander your domain.

If you are just running a small business with the domain then I would only register the .com, .net, .org, and .biz.

 

You need to do a lot of research on trademarks before you post.

1) It is NOT illegal to put TM after your mark. You can only use "R" is if is registered.

2) Trademarking a name does NOT require a lawyer (you can do it yourself online with the USPTO) but you should do hire a company for a trademark search (a few hundred) before so you don't waste your time.

3) You don't copyright a name.

4) A trademark does NOT give you exclusive rights to a name. It gives you the right to a particular classification (example: There are several different trademark owners for MySpace and Apple.)

 

com net and org
will be the best !

 

just the .com.
if you can afford then .net and .org as well

if your business product or services could be delivered via mobile, then reg the .com and .mobi.

if it's related to tv, then reg .com and .tv

 

1 -- Ok. I stand corrected.
2 -- Ok. I stand corrected.
3 -- Ok. I stand corrected. Maybe this falls under servicemark.
4 -- Ok. Not certain what class it would be... possibly multiple classes, but whichever class or classes that protects something like YouTube, Google, MySpace, etc.

When it comes down to it, the only real way to protect a name on the internet is to register it first.

 

Thanks. You beat me to it

 

Trademarks are highly complex. You can do your own search on the gov't trademark office website, but then there are many rules associated with the status of various trademarks. Even if you see a trademark in the class you are looking for and it looks like it's available, it may still not be because of their procedures. There are over 200 classes. It is possible that YouTube, Google and MySpace could each be in their own classes based on the service they claim they provide.

Further, there may be a company already using the trademark that did not register it that has proper documentation that goes back prior to your filing. You would be required to do a reasonable search to verify it's not already being used.

David Beyer

 

It depends on how much time and money you are investing into the project. If it's not more than a spare time project then just get the .com. If you are investing hundreds or thousands of dollars and lots of time, then definately make sure you have the big three... com, net and org.

If you want to run international versions of your project, then start buying up the country specific domains and all the rest like .biz and .info.

 

Lol i feel i can start by suing you