I now own all the URLS to my site, everything but .xxx, a few month ago I obtained the final piece of the puzzle and purchased the SatelliteGuys.COM domain. I plan on moving my site from .US to .COM shortly as I was contacted by Google Adsense and told that because I was using .US that I was losing up to 25% of my revenue and that I should move to .COM as soon as possible. Anywas since buying the .COM domain I have been contacted numerous times from people looking to buy the .COM domain one told me they want to open up a SatelliteGuys store with the .COM so they can play on the success of my site. (Sorry no sale.) So then I got nervous, I don't want people using my name and am now thinking about Trademarking SatelliteGuys to protect myself. However in reseaching I can not find that any other major forum which has trademarked their name. On of my concerns is if I get a trademark how I go about policing it as I hear if you don't police it then you could lose the trademark. So I am unsure of what way to go. So I ask you fellow admins what would you do?
I've owned every version of my name just about. It was over $100 a year to pay. Maybe that isn't much now, but when I started, I could barely afford it and didn't see the reason why I should do it. Maybe I need to relook at my actions.
I'm currently working on a project that I may get trademark if it takes off. But I guess there's no time like the present to start researching what it would entail
Getting the trademark is not an issue, I can get that done for around $300 for all costs. Its policing for violations and enforcing violations that I am worried about. Everytime I talk to my lawyer I seem to get a bill of $300, and someone could bankrupt me by just going out there and misusing my name on purpose.
Working with lawyers is not cheap that's for sure. Perhaps after going through a certain action with the lawyer's help you can learn how to take action on your own. From my limited experience with a small group of artists and labels, they seem to have a template for their cease and desist letters. They just fill in the blanks and send it off to the offending parties explaining if they don't comply with the cease and desist request legal action will follow. Not sure if that will apply in your case, but it's something worth looking into. Also there are law forums out there that you might be able to get more info/assistance without having to pay for it. If I may, I suggest checking out http://www.thelaw.com/forum/, it's not my site, but the owner is pretty active around vB and xF forums. Good luck, be sure to keep us updated as I would be very interested in what you find out.
Trademarking isn't a bad idea. The only reason I haven't trademarked my forums is the same reasons you outlined Scott. If you don't protect it, it's as good as not having a TM at all. In this day and age violating a trademark is as simple right clicking an image and uploading it to your blog. I don't have the resources, energy, or patience to fight that. For me, I looked at how much revenue my brand was pulling in at the time and if it was worth it overall. The math just didn't add up for me.
My community has been mine, I own the name - as in, business. I registered it at my court house a few years ago. I don't have the money to buy the full trademark just yet, but I'm thinking that I'm still protected since I legally own the name, and to use it.
