NOTrepreneurs and Trademarks
Due to the economic times we have a whole new wave of online business newbies hopping online and starting businesses. That’s just dandy when done properly. But not so much with the properly part recently. I am seeing, hearing about and having to deal with trademark and copyright infringers almost on a daily basis.
I also hear this from other associates who are now being relegated to using their valuable time (and money) protecting their trademarks and collateral from those who have no clue about the fact that they cannot just name a business anything they please, register a domain name or use other’s written works without proper credit.
What happens then? Folks like me who rabidly protect their marks have them shutdown or worse yet have to send unpleasant legal threats. These uninformed “NOTrepreneurs” just wasted a bunch of money on domain names, design, business cards, etc. that they legally can no longer use.
What is more aggravating about this trend is how these folks respond. That’s why I call them NOTrepreneurs. True Netrepreneurs do their homework; they do their due diligence in all areas legal, financial and otherwise. And they certainly do not respond to copyright and trademark infringement notices with personal accusations, visceral name calling and words that would make your mother blush. These folks respond as though the legal trademark holder, whose mark they have decided they have the right to use, is the bad guy!
How dare we protect our trademarks that we’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars over the years building and branding! Who do we think we are telling them what they can or cannot use? Well, who we are is the legal owners of said trademarks – that’s who!
When you have gone through the process of filing a formal trademark with the United States Government and you spend the thousands of dollars that process entails up front and over the years to maintain, that means that others cannot use it — period.
This is law — not someone trying to give you a hard time, infringe on your free speech (I hate when they use that lame excuse — ignorance abounds), take away your rights or are just being “nit-picky”. The fact is you are infringing on the rights of the legally established trademark holder! A trademark that has gone through the legal review process, been approved and designated as owned by the individual or company that filed for that Trademark ownership.
Here are some things to think about before you name your new business or choose your domain name:
- The very first thing you should do is go to United States Patent and Trademark Office and do a thorough search to ensure you are not going to step on any toes. Search for your proposed company name and make sure that you are not even close to any established trademark in the same industry, product or service as you intend to offer. Read about how Trademarks work and the process involved so you can avoid any liabilities.
- When it comes to domain names, contrary to what appears to be popular belief, you cannot simply add numbers (such as your area code) or a word or two to an already trademarked name and think that makes you different and unique. It doesn’t. That’s just asking for trouble! Do a Google search for your proposed company name and domain name to see if there are any possible conflicts you could be faced with later.
- If you think that there is even a chance that your new company name or domain name can be confused with an established trademark holder in the same business as you would like to start, do yourself a big favor and choose another business name. Trademark holders are heavily invested in their mark and most will defend it aggressively.
Yes, you can have the same trademarked name being used by different companies — as long as they are in completely different industries. In the same industry — all bets are off and the NOTrepreneur will NOT be online. To think that trademarks are not binding law, or that how they work are one person’s opinion that you can disregard, reflects that you really are not educated enough or prepared sufficiently to run a business of your own.
The bad news is this type of ignorance costs them (and the legal Trademark owners) money they can’t afford to loose. The good news is that the resources online to learn about how Trademarks work is readily available to anyone who is interested enough to just look.
At your service,
Judith
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