Legal issues about Trademarks and Domain Names

Trade marks are a name or symbol that are used to distinguish the goods of services of a particular company from others.

Similar to copyrights and other signs of intellectual property, the effects of the trademark system is territorial. This means, that each country has its own trademark system. A brand name like Machine Head may be owned by one person in the United Kingdom and by another, totally unrelated, person in the United States.

The domain name system, which is putting most of its emphasis on the .com title as the international domain, does not really jive well with the trade mark system because of the latter’s fundamental definition of “ownership.”

A case in point is the Prince vs Prince suit. Prince, the US-based manufacturers of sports goods, challenged the use of the www.prince.com domain name by a British computer consultancy company. The said company registered the domain in good faith and have been using it. The Prince sports goods company, which has no registered UK trademark, threatened to sue the British company for US trademark infringement. The latter counter-sued in the UK for the unwarranted threats regarding trademark infringement. They eventually won and the US company had to contend with just using the domain name www.princetennis.com.

Alternatively, a different scenario where the trademark owner will most likely prevail over a domain name holder’s rights is in the case of Marks & Spencer vs One in a Million. This particular case was elevated to the English High Court in 1997 when various trademark holders, including the world-famous UK retailer Marks & Spencer, sued One In A Million, a company who accumulated a number of domain names under the well-known trademarks like Sainsburys, Virgin, Marks & Spencer, and Cellnet. These domain names, and others, were bought with the express goal of selling them again to the trademark owners. The High Court decided that One In A Million be required to relinquish their claim on the said domain names. This decision was further upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The One In A Million company’s basis of argument was that domain name registrations were first come, first served”, thus, the trademark owners do not have any rights to the domain names.

Based on the two actual court cases we can build up a clear picture about the interrelation of trademarks and domain names.

In general, domains that have no trademark significance can be acquired by the entity who registered them first. Continuous use of this non-trademarked name will allow the holder to build a reputation on the name. When the situation is between to legitimate companies who have a right to the name then, as with the stipulation of most laws in most countries, the first person who registers will get the domain. However, a registrant to a domain that is also a subject of a trademark and who does not have any entitlements is going to be forbidden based on the laws of most countries. For more information please visit http://www.dolphinformations.co.uk

Reliable Hosting - Wide Selection

In addition to the many conveniences and headaches brought on by our increasing reliance on the world wide web, this new form of communication, advertising and commerce has brought with it  an altered mindset for the new consumer; we want it fast, we want it now, we want it perfect.  From small ecommerce web sites to large organizations, reliable hosting is the key to ensure that customers and viewers see the same site at the same speed every time they visit their favorites.  Reliable web hosting services provide the space, along with support (often 24/7) and the all important bandwidth.  Reliable hosting is key to  success in that it gives the consumer a consistent experience while preventing down time,  that could cost the company in question hundreds, and maybe thousands in revenue.

There is a fine selection of reliable web-hosting services online.  Often these services host in a specific region.  There is a multitude of web sites on the internet advertising the services of one or another reliable hosting company.  Luckily, there are also a couple out there to help you choose what is right for your company.  Netcraft and Web hosting Inspector are two examples of such sites.

Web hosting Inspector provides a comprehensive spreadsheet listing independent test results, awards, rankings services and prices for various reliable web hosters.  Though helpful, Web hosting Inspector feels a lot like paid advertising.  A better choice is Netcraft.  Netcraft supplies a lot of the same info as Web hosting Inspector, but also gives in depth analysis regarding down time, a fate worse than death to any e-commerce entrepreneur. Very often, these companies are run from private homes, a low cost, high return way for the internet savvy to make an income.  However, the very “under the radar” nature of some of these businesses makes it all the more crucial that sites such as Netcraft exist, providing checks and balances to an otherwise turbulent industry.

You cannot have a company on the internet without a reliable hosting provider, with a team of dependable customer service.  Their services are important to keep your e-commerce site consistent; visually consistent,  service oriented and most importantly, consistently lucrative.

As the use of the Internet increases every day, with more people than ever before utilizing the World Wide Web to find products and services they  need, reliable web site hosting becomes a bigger issue.  Consumers will not continue using companies who have web sites that are slow loading or are constantly having technical difficulties and down time.  It could be the death of a growing online company to have a site that’s unavailable for any legthy time frame because of a server problem.  The choice of a reliable web site hosting company is then imperative.

Online companies along with individuals will want to select a reliable web hosting company that also offers great customer service, fair and competitive pricing plus first class management. There are some suggestions you will want to remember when looking for a reliable web hosting company.  If you are seeking quality and reliability you will want to do a some research before you make your  final decision.

When you are ready to start a web site either for business or personal needs,  you need to find a reliable hosting service.  The reason for this is because that will be the place you keep the web pages for viewing by consumers and possible business clients.  If you are just starting with an online presence either as an e-commerce venture or even as an individual you want to first understand the basics of web hosting.  A server is a computer that gets the requests for pages or files from the Internet.  When someone types in a domain name a server somewhere is accessed.  It then shows the requested pages or files to the computer requesting the information.  Another way to look at a reliable web host is, they are a landlord renting you space on their computer to others.  You then have a choice between shared hosting or dedicated hosting.  The difference is evident in the name.  A shared host shares it’s server with more than one client and a dedicated host has one client on it’s server.  Dedicated servers normally are used by e-commerce sites that require a large amount of space disk space and more personal management plus cost a little more.

As the Internet is growing so is the number of companies offering hosting services and the more competitive the market is becoming.  Some offer inexpensive monthly prices, some even offer free hosting.  As a business free web hosting may sound like a great solution however; having a website that is also shows advertising that may or may not compete with your online business is not a very good idea.  In general a free web host does not have the quality of customer service a paid reliable web hosting company would have.  These servers are also normally crowded with personal web pages and have limited options.  Many have technical issues that may include down times which could have a negative effect on your new business.  These are all factors you need to consider.

Paying  more for a reliable web hosting company is a better option.  You want to make a good entrance into the web and if you are already established you want to keep your appearance and your clients experiences positive.  Another issue to think about is future expansion.  A reliable web hosting company can offer a multitude of services and packages to grow as you do.  When choosing a reliable web hosting company think of it as a long term business arrangement.

Before looking into reliable hosting options make a list of what is going to be important to you.  This not only in regards to the web site, but to other aspects such as budgets, what you want to accomplish, short and long term goals.  All these factors need to be considered.  Sit down with other companies about their relationships involving several different reliable web hosting companies.  This may give you a great place to start your search.

We mentioned budgets which most start up businesses need to deal with.  A word of caution here, a reliable web host may not necessarily be the cheapest but you will get what you pay for.  Reliable web hosting can be found at a price to fit just about every imaginable budget.

The Dot Edu Domain Name Extension Explained

When we talk about the domain name, we cannot escape the presence of top level domain names or commonly called as domain name extensions. It is for the reason that the domain name extensions are a great part of a domain name.

Given such idea, it is no doubt that many companies or the domain name owners in particular have their own domain name extensions for a much better identification. It is in fact a general view that all of the domain name extensions, whether it is a dot com, dot net, dot org, or dot edu domain names, really play a great part for identifying a domain name.

If the dot com, dot net, and dot org is the most common types of domain name extensions and has contributed a great part in the field of domain name, the dot edu domain name is also of great importance. Many domain name holders today cater to dot edu domain names for certain purposes and for certain functions.

Generally, the dot edu domain name is a descriptive domain name extensions that is designed to imply an educational institution or a degree granting university. So whenever you see a dot edu domain name, now you know that it is an educational institution or a degree granting university. To better show a concrete idea about the dot edu domain name, take for example the University of Portland’s domain name at up. edu which is the official site of Oregon’s Catholic University, the University of Portland.

Just like some of the top level domains such as the dot gov, dot net, and dot int, the dot edu domain name is also known as part of the generic domain names that is one that would not immediately be related with a company. Given such fact about the generic domain name to which the dot edu domain name belongs, it is therefore understandable that the dot edu domain name is such that defines an entire category of business and with the dot edu domain name, that business would be the “educational” business.

And speaking of the generic domain names to which the dot edu belongs, it is considered that as many of the domain name extensions have been approved today, many companies have gone on to create successful brands based on a generic domain name, and these domain names tend to be very important.

Furthermore, the dot edu domain name is such of great importance for identifying the educational institution since many of the people today are looking for some resources or information about certain educational institutions or degree granting universities maybe for some purposes. And by knowing that the dot edu domain name exists in the real world, they will be able to locate a certain educational institution through the dot edu domain name extension.

The dot edu domain name, finally, as it is one of the noted important domain name extensions therefore exists for the dot edu domain name generally affects how easily the visitors of the degree granting universities will find them. So when looking for a degree granting universities or some educational institutions in general, you better tahe as much care in considering the dot edu domain name as you do in the actual name for the fact that each is just as significant as the other.

Web Business: What's In A (Domain) Name? For Casino Sites, A Lot

You've seen them before and wondered what the heck they were thinking: small businesses with domain names like "http://reallylonganduniquebusinessname.biz". Half-out-loud you say: what, was "http://reallylonganduniquebusinessname.com" taken? A new advertising technique of "illegal" casino websites helps prove that your snickering is absolutely justified.

Cheapskates and Johnny-dot-Com-Lately's

If you've consulted for small business websites as long as I have, you have probably encountered more than a few whose owners decided to save three dollars at Godaddy by buying a dot-biz domain name. Or a dot-net, dot-info, or dot-whatever was on sale that week.

Whatever it is, forget trying to tell them that they may have lost out in thousands of dollars of business from type-ins. That is, from all the people who will type in the dot-com version and get an error message--or a parked domain advertising naughty-naughty pictures. Nor should you tell them that everyone who knows a dot-biz from a dot-com knows that the former is usually offered on sale and is the beast-mark of the most extreme kind of penny-wise-pound-foolish cheapskate. The obviousness of the truth of the observation will only make them hate you more.

Then there are the netrepreneurs who wanted that keyword-perfect domain name so badly that they took a dot-biz, dot-org, dot-cc, or dot-what-the-heck-does-that-stand-for? when the dot-com version was already taken. You know what I'm talking about: a one-man-band bookstore that buys the "book" domain with the Vatican's top-level domain extension because Barnes & Noble has http://book.com, and every other possible variant was also already taken.

Again, don't bother telling these people they're just sending type-in traffic to Barnes & Noble. You are arguing against a cottage industry. Pitcairn Island, population under 100, has its own top-level domain name extension. No doubt they can cut back on their rare coin and postage stamp production thanks to the hundred bucks (US, not Pitcairnian) per domain paid by wishful Johnny-come-lately's. And GoDaddy is no doubt raking in the credit card digits from .us domain names that are worth their weight in gold pixels. This is the web version of small business owners paying thousands to put their kids in their TV commercials. If you're a business consultant, you correct their error at your peril.

Why Casino Sites Know Web Businesses Need Dot-Coms

In case you have some justification for a dot-whatever lurking in some self-destructive corner of your brain, let me write this as clearly as possible. For a US or international business, the only suitable domain name extension is dot-com. Nonprofits can get by with dot-org, schools with dot-edu. Non-US country-specific businesses can use their own national domain name extensions. No, my fellow Americans, there is no justification for dot-us, even if your shipping area does exclude Canada and Puerto Rico and military addresses to boot.

Why? Here's solid evidence the dot-whatevers are so bad.

1) Type-in traffic.

Yes, many people really will type in the dot-com version of a non-dot-com business website. I discovered powerful proof of this once after I saw a television commercial for a website with educational information about gambling. Curious how they were making money on this deal, I typed in the domain--and found a website with actual gambling right on the homepage, which would be flagrantly (though perhaps technically) illegal for me to use. Only later did I realize that the TV commercial had advertised the dot-net version of the domain, and I had typed in the dot-com version. The dot-net version has the educational material.

How would a no-membership-fee content website--with little to no advertising--recoup the expense of television advertising? Only if a vast number of the visitors to go to the money-generating dot-com version.

2) Prestige

You may think I'm completely off-base and a business's domain name choice is none of my dot-biz-ness But the fact is those opinions are my opinions, they're not going anywhere, and if you want to impress me, a dot-whatever domain name won't do it. And I'm certainly not the only one who feels that way. Maybe you can just devote your dot-whatever website's homepage to refuting the snickerers like myself?

3) SEO

True snobs, search engine algorithms are suckers for anything that smells of respectability--and dot-whatever does not smell like that. How often do you see a high-ranking dot-whatever business site? The irony is that many dot-whatever domain name owners hope that having the keyword in their unique domain name will help them in search engines.

In the end, I have to admit there's one good thing about the snobbery against the dot-whatever domain names. They provide a way for web business consultants to sort out the serious inquiries from the slush, just by looking at the "from" address.

Website Hosting – Domain Names

When you go to obtain website hosting, you will need to choose a domain name for your website. This can be done through your host, which is likely to offer you a discount on the domain, such as a percentage off of the price or even a free domain when you choose them for your website hosting needs. The most ideal domain would be your business name. However, for many reasons that might not be a possibility.

Your domain name is your website’s calling card. It is the first thing seen when a person visits your site, it can even be a deciding factor as to rather or not the person will even visit. That is right; a person will decide rather to visit your website or not, based on the website address (domain name).

When you are looking for website hosting, you often consider domain names last. Your website domain name is perhaps on of the most important aspects of your entire website. You could have the flashiest, most professional design on the entire internet, however, without the right domain name all of that will be pointless.

One reason might be that the domain is already taken, you might choices with different extensions such as .net, .us, .org, or other such extensions, but you need to remember that people usually remember .com, so you should strive for that. Another reason might be the length of your business name, such as Joe’s Bar, Grill, and Dance club. Now, you can have a lengthy domain if you really want it like joesbargrilldanceclubdotcom, but look at that, would you remember it?

The key point in a domain is to make it easy to remember and catchy. Think about your business, consider the business name and what you offer. You want the name of your website to stay in their thoughts and easy to remember. With the Joe’s Bar, Grill, and Dance Club, you might consider joesdotcom, jbgddotcom, or something to that effect.

When you do choose a few names, look at each one and determine rather you, yourself, would be able to remember it. Would that name stick in your mind? Would it tell you exactly what the business has to offer?