TAG: Trademarks
Trademark
TheFunded.com Discussion
Posted by Anonymous on 2011-09-02
Tags: Trademarks
Always File for Trademark or Put Into Use!
TheFunded.com Advice
Posted by Anonymous on 2010-01-27
Tags: Operations Trademarks
No matter how obscure you think something is, or how off-beat a domain name is, never, EVER register the domain and then leave it parked even for a minute.
We just went through the painful process of spending hours and hours until we hit on a cool domain name for our rebranding (sending coupons to mobile phones) -- kupongo.com. Less than 45 days later while we were working up our new look website to launch with it, we got an inquiry from someone about buying it. When we told them we were going to use it for our business... they went and registered kupongo.net and filed a trademark for kupongo in the exact same line of business. Then tried to bully us into selling them the .com domain for $500 because "we wouldn't be able to use it anyway."
Unless they don't actually put it into use (and we can then pursue abandonment), well, we can't use the domain for OUR site.
If we had used the domain at all beforehand, well, we'd have a position. But by trying to be stealthy, and conserve cash...well...it didn't work.
Lesson learned for me...don't let it happen to you!
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