By Bill Platt

I bought my own domain name in March of 2000. I was in hog heaven; I was finally a real business. Now, I am a business in transition once again.

When I bought my domain name, I checked the Whois network to make sure my selected name was clear. Much to my relief, it was. So, I bought the Domain Name, started building my site, and started promoting like a mad dog. Less than 2 months after moving to my own domain, I am generating over 6,000 hits each month to my site.

I have firmly established myself under my domain name, and I have created an environment on the Internet where I have over 300 links pointing to my dot com site. I worked 16 hours a day to build the site to its current level and to get all of those links established. I am now starting to make some decent money from my website for the first time ever.

And then BAM! It happened.

I received a certified letter in the mail from a lawyer in Seattle, Washington. It seems a very large company owns the trademark on the word one of the words in my domain. I have managed to negotiate a settlement with them giving me 60 days to complete my transition, but after that 60 days, I must give up every single reference to the Trademarked word completely!

Ouch!

In the course of the last few days, I have learned some new things about protecting your business from a nightmare like this. Too bad I did not know this information two months ago! Fortunately, due to this article, you have the opportunity to not make the mistakes I have made.

Just a few days ago, I would have told you that there are only three steps involved in getting started as an Internet based company. The first would have been to find a domain name that you are comfortable with. The second would have been to visit http://www.TotalNIC.net/whois.html to do a search to make sure your selected domain name was open. And the third was to find a reliable and affordable web host for your domain services.

Of course, that is the simplistic view, because it does not take into account the design and the construction of your website. It also does not take into account getting your e-commerce set up or anything like that. Basically, this simplistic view was the three steps that you would need to take to get rolling.

But, the events that I have dealt with over the course of the last few days has changed all of the forever. Now, I will insist that there are actually six steps in this simplistic view of the process. Steps four, five and six can be taken care of all in one website. That website is: http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/search.html

Step Four: Learn about the Trademark and Servicemark laws. Basically, the way I so far understand it, anyone can purchase a trademark or sevicemark without the aid of an attorney, though they do recommend that you use an attorney for your own protection.

Trademarks and Servicemarks are used for product based companies and service based companies, respectively. In effect, what they do is to protect a name or a certain word in the eyes of the business world.

Now, Trademarks and Servicemarks are not entirely unique to the company who owns them. They also have product and service categories attached to those "marks". Thus, Nikon could not have challenged me using the name "F5" because I had "F5" attached to a computer based business, and they have "F5" attached to a camera product. Different types of product and service categories allow more than one company to own a Trademark or a Servicemark on a particular name.

HINT: Don't trust my understanding of Trademarks and Servicemarks as the God-honest interpretation. Talk to an attorney who specializes in this industry for a God-honest interpretation. The general idea behind these "marks" is to prevent the consumer from getting confused between two companies offering similar products with similar names.

Step Five: Visit http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/search.html and search for your selected name in one of the Trademark search engines. If your selected name is "marked" already, then check the "marks" to see what industry the "mark" represents.

Step Six: If your "mark" is clear, BUY IT! The do-it-yourself Trademark will cost you a mere $325 for 10 years.

If that seems like a lot of money, then stop to remember me. I have to give up my domain, and I lose the money I used to purchase it. Then think about my 16 hour days over the last two months. Then think about those hundreds of links out there that will be dead links in less than 60 days. Then think about the fact that I will be going from 6,000 hits a month to probably less than a hundred hits in my first month at my new domain. Then think about all of the work that will be required to move from one domain to the other, and change all of the references from my old domain name to my new domain name.

$325 in comparison to all of the time and goodwill I will lose and have lost on this deal, is just a drop in the bucket of what it could have saved me.

Let me put this another way for you. Do you remember the Dick and Jane stories we read when we were kids?

See Bill do his homework.
See Bill buy his domain name.
See Bill in hog heaven.
See Bill work hard.
See Bill work long hours.
See Bill promote the domain like a mad dog.
See Bill do this for two months.
See Bill check his mail.
See Bill read his important looking letter.
See Bill chew his nails.
See Bill lose everything he had worked hard for in a flash.
See Bill eat a bottle of aspirin in one week.
Don't be a Bill.

Bill Platt is the List Owner and Editor of both "Bill Platt's Power Marketing Magazine" and "American Icons - Best of The Web!" To subscribe to either weekly publication, send a blank email to: PowerMarketing-subscribe@topica.com --or-- AmericanIcons-subscribe@topica.com --- Bill's website in transition can be viewed at: http://WindstormComputing.com

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