buying a domain....looking for advice!!

StarBright01

Hi, I'm looking to buy a domain to set up an online business. The domain we want is available, what else do we need to do with regards to trademarks etc? It's a .com website, does anybody know what is the next step to check re trademarks etc?

zig

To buy a .com domain you dont need anything proof wise or registered wise. Simply purchase the domain right now while its still available.

StarBright01

Thanks a million for your response! Do you know if there is anything we need to do with regards to trademarks? Sorry I sound stupid but I've never done this before. There seems to be loads of search databases that will tell you if the name or similar to the name is trademarked

mneylon

Simply put, don't register a domain name that is close to or includes a "famous mark"
So "facebookthing.com" would be a problem
But "socialmediathing.com" would be fine

(over simplifying obviously)

devildriver

What Blacknight said.

And also if the .com tld is available then you can be relatively sure that it hasn't already been trademarked.

PaulPinnacle

devildriver wrote: »

And also if the .com tld is available then you can be relatively sure that it hasn't already been trademarked.

Take care with this. I understand (and agree with) the sentiment behind it, but it's a little too specific for such a broad generalisation to hold true.

I could run off and register the domain "wwwblacknight.com", which would probably gather a small amount of typo traffic and would potentially confuse a few users leading to a higher click-through rate, or "blacknightdeals.com" but as that domain potentially contains a term that has a trademark against it (I haven't checked if Blacknight have a TM, but as they're a clear brand involved in the discussion we'll use them for illustration) I could still have (serious) issues there.

The same could be true of any term that isn't trademarked, but the requirements in relation to claims for "passing off" are far more onerous and restrictive than in the case of trademark infringement.

That's all in relation to you potentially stepping on someone else's toes.

In relation to your own site.... In the vast majority of cases (nearly all) you won't have to get a trademark against your business name and doing so would be nothing more than an additional cost.

However, if it's something worrying you and that you'd like to get professional advice in relation to most legal professionals would be happy to have a free initial consultation that would cover a topic like this in terms of the specifics and in far more detail and expertise than we could ever manage here on a public forum.

devildriver

PaulPinnacle wrote: »

Take care with this. I understand (and agree with) the sentiment behind it, but it's a little too specific for such a broad generalisation to hold true.

I could run off and register the domain "wwwblacknight.com", which would probably gather a small amount of typo traffic and would potentially confuse a few users leading to a higher click-through rate, or "blacknightdeals.com" but as that domain potentially contains a term that has a trademark against it (I haven't checked if Blacknight have a TM, but as they're a clear brand involved in the discussion we'll use them for illustration) I could still have (serious) issues there.

The same could be true of any term that isn't trademarked, but the requirements in relation to claims for "passing off" are far more onerous and restrictive than in the case of trademark infringement.

That's all in relation to you potentially stepping on someone else's toes.

Good point. My statement was made under the assumption that the OP wasn't thinking of passing off or any other type or dubious activity with relation to the domain name.

mneylon

PaulPinnacle wrote: »

I could run off and register the domain "wwwblacknight.com", which would probably gather a small amount of typo traffic and would potentially confuse a few users leading to a higher click-through rate, or "blacknightdeals.com" but as that domain potentially contains a term that has a trademark against it (I haven't checked if Blacknight have a TM, but as they're a clear brand involved in the discussion we'll use them for illustration) I could still have (serious) issues there.

Oh I can assure that registering anything that even smelt like an infringement on our brand would land you in a world of pain
Yes - we have multiple trademarks covering most of the world, for both "blacknight" and "blacknight solutions" and we defend them actively!
There's also the security / phishing angle that we have to be careful with (as a company) as we have thousands of businesses who trust us with their online presence
And yes, we have been the target of malicious registrations like your example in the past

mneylon

devildriver wrote: »

Good point. My statement was made under the assumption that the OP wasn't thinking of passing off or any other type or dubious activity with relation to the domain name.

The problem, at times, is that a lot of people don't even think that their usage of a domain name is "passing off" or in anyway "dubious"

StarBright01

Thanks a million all, this is a great help!

jmcc

Luc01 wrote: »

Hi, I'm looking to buy a domain to set up an online business. The domain we want is available, what else do we need to do with regards to trademarks etc? It's a .com website, does anybody know what is the next step to check re trademarks etc?

What is your primary target market? If it is Ireland, then use the .IE domain variant as your main brand (but also register the .COM if it is available.)

Regards...jmcc