xyz.com and xyzdesigns.com

Are they too close for comfort?

[mnw]

Looking for a domain name and I found xyzdesigns.com was available. A little more research showed that xyz.com and xyzs.com were already gone. Neither are trademaked but at least one of them is an active website (but not in my state). All three will be in the same business. Am I looking for trouble registering the xyzdesigns.com name? Or is it just their lack of foresight that they didn't register all of the "close" names. BTW, xyz.com and xyzs.com are registered to two entirely different companies. What have been your experiences?

[Woz]

MNW,

Selecting a new domain can be tricky when there are similiar names already taken, expecially when they are in the same business. The challenge is, and I think this is what you are worried about, that surfers will simply type in xyz.com expecting you and get your opposition instead. Problem!

I would opt for choosing a different name away from the existing names. Lets say XYZ stands for "Xero Yellow Zoo" the name of your company (??). Perhaps you could research XeroDesigns.com or something similiar. The trick is to look for something that will differentiate you from the opposition.

I cite a recent case I was involved with, a training company called "Trainor" here in China that is a subsiduary of a Norwegian company. The Norwegian company uses Trainor.no as it should. Trainor.com was taken, but this didn't concern me as we were looking for something that suggested the Chinese office was working in all of Asia. We settled on TrainorAsia.com which seems to work.

Does this help??

Onya
Woz

[Brett_Tabke]

Do a trademark check. You can also get a retro trademark if you want. I am involved in a domain dispute with one of our domains right now over a close name.

I would be very leary of registering a close name.

[mnw]

What is the easy (quickest) way to do a tradename check?

[Marcia]

The U. S. Patent office has a searchable database for trademarks:

[uspto.gov...]

[Woz]

>>I would be very leary of registering a close name.

Absolutely Brett. I should add the qualifier that in my case the company I was working for was a wholly owned subsiduary and so there was no problem.

I general it is very wise to research exhaustivly before registering.

Onya
Woz