Im about to start up a new website and I'm going to the the trouble of spending thousands to get it programmed (its quite a big complicated site). Anyway, I really want to trademark my business name and tag line, but how do I go about it? What I mean is, since the website will be trading globally and I am based in Australia, is there a trademark that can stop a web user in, say, France using my name and tagline? Any info would be greatly appreciated Cheers
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), there is no such thing as a global trademark (or copyright or patent, for that matter). Each of these pieces of intellectual property are governed by the laws of the country in which such IP is registered. This is not only a function of country independence, but is also a function of the purpose of IP rights (restrictions on use within a given geographic region). Trademark is especially governed by geographic location, as it's designed to show the genesis of a good or service - location is therefore important. So, if you register a trademark in the US, use within the US is governed by US law. If you register the trademark in Australia, use within Australia is governed by Australian law. Now, there are treaties between nations that cover IP - but these treaties are usually silent on the issue of extra-territorial enforcement. In other words, Australian registration doesn't entitle you to US-based enforcement. Some folks find this disturbing and there are efforts on a variety of fronts in first-world nations to change the laws. But I wouldn't hold my breath. So for now, you need to register in each country in which you'd like to hold IP rights. Any country you skip can potentially be an opportunity for someone to use your IP without repercussion. Sorry it's not the answer you were looking for! ~Jeff -- Learn or expand your knowledge of software licensing term by term with the Software Licensing Handbook at www.licensinghandbook.com
Well, there's a sort of global trademark if one can call it that. Look under the Madrid Protocol, but that's limited to only its member countries and isn't really that affordable. Beyond that, jigordon's correct that there's no practical way to enforce one's mark in another country when it comes to domain-trademark disputes. If it's a gTLD like .com, there is an administrative proceeding called the Uniform Dispute Resolution (UDRP), or for country codes they have their own processes.
I believe you should make your site well-known and useful for the visitors. As your site is growing , then consider the problem of global trademark.