Domain names. Little beacons of light in dark, mysterious realm of cyberspace. When maps are ever changing and routes ever shifting, a familiar name is sometimes the only thing a weary traveler can count upon.
Does your website have it's own domain name? What if the domain of your site was CozyFrog.com? What if you worked long and hard to familiarize the cyber world with your name? How would you feel if you found out that some jerk registered and is getting traffic from the URL C-o-z-y-F-r-o-g.com?
You'd be incensed. You would want to do everything within your power to make the bastards give you back your name.
Okay, what do you do? Where do you go? What if you want to buy a domain that resembles a familiar brand?
So you want to buy a domain:
A domain name is the middle part of a URL or Internet address. For instance the domain of www.cozyfrog.com is cozyfrog. When you register a domain, this is what you're paying for. It tells the surfer that your site is on the World Wide Web (www) at the name location CozyFrog and your site is on a commercial server (com). There are other extensions besides the.com extension: .net, .edu, .gov and .org. There are also extensions that are country specific such as .dk for Denmark and .to for the country of Tonga. ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is also currently considering other extensions such as .biz, .info and .name.
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"Whether you have an existing domain name or are considering registering one, familiarizing yourself with trademark protection is advantageous to you." |
To register a domain, first you have to see if your domain name is already in use. There are many places where you can do a name search. The best place to go is to a domain registrar. A domain registrar is a company that is authorized to register a domain name in return for payment and contact information. InterNIC has a searchable database of links to accredited domain name registrars.
When you find a registrar you like, go to their site and type the name you desire in their search box. If your name is available, the registrar will then guide you through the registration process. Remember that you will be required to give contact information and that you will need to have a host for your domain. Usually, if do not have a host, the registrar will most times provide you with one until you find a real host for your site.
This is a good place to bring up copyright and intellectual property law. If someone has registered your brand name or a reworked version, there are procedures you can take to reclaim your name.
While it's wise to register your name with at least the .com, .net and .org extensions, registering every possible misspelling and configuration of your name can get a little silly. You can protect the use of your domain name and it's insertion in META tags legally.
Here's what ICANN says about domain name disputes:
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"All ICANN-accredited registrars follow a uniform dispute resolution policy. Under that policy, disputes over entitlement to a domain-name registration are ordinarily resolved by court litigation between the parties claiming rights to the registration. Once the court rules who is entitled to the registration, the registrar will implement that ruling. In disputes arising from registrations allegedly made abusively (such as "cybersquatting" and cyberpiracy"), the uniform policy provides an expedited administrative procedure to allow the dispute to be resolved without the cost and delays often encountered in court litigation. In these cases, you can invoke the administrative procedure by filing a complaint with one of the dispute-resolution service providers listed at http://www.icann.org/udrp/approved-providers.htm. For more details on the uniform dispute resolution policy, see http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm".
If you are really serious about your brand name, not only should you make sure your domain name is copyrighted, you should also copyright the name as a trademark. For further information about Intellectual property and copyrights two good places to go are:
The Intellectual Property Law Server
http://www.intelproplaw.com
The United States Patent and Trademark Office
http://www.uspto.gov
Free Patents Online
http://www.freepatentsonline.com
Whether you have an existing domain name or are considering registering one, familiarizing yourself with trademark protection is advantageous to you. You want to make sure your good name is not used for profit or slander or cybersquatting.
If you think that C-o-z-y-F-r-o-g.com is a cool name that will get you tons of visitors, you're right you will get visitors. The question is, are lawyers the kind of visitors you wish to have?