Friday, January 8, 2010

Trademark And The Internet

By Albert Finn

With the increasing impact of the internet in our daily lives, the significance of trademarks has acquired a new dimension, particularly in relation to domain names. This is critical if you want to successfully promote your product or services among the customers by means of your domain name.

The moment you are a trademark owner of a domain name, you can bring charges of infringement upon a firm for making use of a similar name and thus confusing people into believing that you, the genuine trademark holder, are somehow linked with their web site.

Getting a domain name registered must always be preceded by detailed research, in order to avoid any possibility of trademark infringement. The search must include a close study of marks that are very similar in appearance, pronunciation or even meaning to the name you have chosen for your website. You should file an application for registration only after you are certain that your mark is distinct enough to avoid any possible violation.

For this purpose, it is advisable to hire an attorney, preferably a cyber law specialist, who also has a thorough knowledge of trademark laws. This can greatly help in preventing future disputes related to possible violation.

It is essential to note in this respect that a domain name can be registered as a trademark only if it acts as an identifier of the goods or services of your business, and not just as an online address that brings web users to your site.

Other than domain names and their possible infringement, infringement of keywords is a new menace in cyberspace, wherein original trademarks are infringed and used as keywords in ads put up through Yahoo, Google, and MSN, with the deliberate intention of creating confusion in the minds of consumers.

If the online ads help in boosting the sales of the trademark owner, it is not a violation but the problem arises when the advertiser starts using such ads for promoting his own goods for an economic advantage.

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