Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I recently bought a website and will be applying for a trademark, pretty simple. Here's where I'm lost......

 

The website I wanted was already taken, therefore I put the word "the" in front of the website I purchased and also have already paid money through go daddy for when the original one expires next year I could have the opportunity to use it.

The website owned by someone else has nothing on it and there's no one conducting business with the name. Here's my question, do I trademark my website name using "the" in front of the other words or do I trademark the original idea?

 

Example:

Let's say someone owns hotidea.com and it's not in use, nothing is going on with the name. My only option is to purchase "thehotidea.com". Should I go ahead and trademark hotidea.com or thehotidea.com?

 

Thanks!

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From the little I know about trademarks, putting "the" at the beginning of a name does not change the name.  Have you looked at your states trademark website?  They may have clear rules of what counts and what doesn't. 

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I help entrepreneurs to start and run the small businesses they always dreamed of owning so they can fire their bosses and gain the freedom they deserve.

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No company is small enough that it can afford to ignore trademarks. Register your trademark today starting at $149 + Gov't fee.

This is something you need to contact a trademark attorney about. Here's a couple:

 

http://www.lexero.com/practices/trademark-law/trademark-registration

http://www.gerbenlaw.com/service-type/trademark-registration/

 

Don't take anyone's word on something unless they are a lawyer. There's just too much misinformation out there.

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Lexero Law Firm
1200 G Street, NW Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005
202-904-2818

I agree with the sentiment that you will need to contact a trademark lawyer no matter what, but from my understanding simply putting the in front of a name does not change its meaning. 

 

Also, I believe that copyrighted content within a website only pertains to what actually appears on the site itself. That is to say that if you registered a different domain name that you hold claim to the information contained within and not the domain name itself.

 

If the domain name happens to coincide with the name of a corporation, I believe then you may run into problems. 

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