Google managed to tm "google" and a few their related .coms.
HOWEVER, you odn't have to tm the .com portion.
Simply get do a business filing with your local state govt to get the business name. But that will enable them to tax you and must be renewed yearly.
But tm's have upkeep cost as well.
BUt anyways. Filing a tm IS NOT REQUIRED, there are 1st usage codes and laws that do offer some protection and would save you the TM fees.
ALSO, TM may not be the proper filing. Depends precisly what you are wishing to "cover".
Keep in mind, it's not "totally" a violation to use a varition of a tm'd name.
Simply look in your phone book's buisness section at all the "like" businesses. Have a friend that live sout of state do the same.
You boht will see several sintances of shared names.
The catch is to make absolutely sure that no REASONABLE person could mistake the two as being the same.
Must be some very clear and evident differences.
Some have pulled that off, some have failed and gotten sued. Some have had there names taken by ICANN.
Hit vs Miss and Guts vs Money. then somehwre in there throw in logic.
[edited by: Webwork at 8:22 pm (utc) on Jan. 24, 2006]
[edit reason] No signature line personal URLs please [/edit]
You've covered a lot of law in your first post, mostly in general terms, which is pretty much the way we handle legal questions by members. Please take a moment to read the Charter [webmasterworld.com] for the Domain Forum as it contains provisions you should be aware of when posting.
So, where did you learn all that trademark law?
