With the increasing influence of the internet in our daily lives, the significance of trademarks has acquired a new dimension, particularly with respect to domain names. This is vital if you want to spread the word about your goods or services among the customers by means of your domain name.
A registered domain name helps you in taking legal action against any person, who steals your trademark and attempts to coerce people into believing that their goods and services actually are sourced from you and that you are the patron of their website.
However, you should undertake a search for presence of similar domain names to see if your selected mark is infringing any of the already present ones. The research should investigate the presence of similar marks that have a strong resemblance in appearance, sound or meaning to the domain name you have chosen. You should apply for registration only after you are certain that your trademark is unique enough to avoid any infringement claims.
For this aim, it is better to hire an attorney, preferably a cyber law specialist, who also has a comprehensive knowledge of trademark laws. This will protect you from serious trademark infringement action that may be raised in future.
It is essential to note in this respect that a domain name can be registered as a trademark only if it serves as a quick identifier of the products or services of your business, and not just as an address that brings web users to your site.
Besides violation of domain names, keyword infringement has emerged as a new menace in virtual domains, which means infringement of original trademarks by their unauthorized use as keywords in advertisements on Yahoo, Google etc with an aim to confuse the customers or to dilute the genuine trademark.
However, it should be noted that such use by advertisers is not tantamount to infringement if by using the trademark the advertiser contributes to the marketing of the goods or services of the original trademark holder, and not act as his competitor.
Discover more about trademarks Singapore and industrial design protection.
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