Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I own a blog site that has a similar domain name too another site. My site would be named, for example, conditionsoflaw.info and another site would be theconditionsoflaw.com.

If we were both using The Conditions of Law as our trademark ame, would there be a way of protecting my rights to use The Conditions of Law as my trademark.

I was unaware of it at the time when I created my site, but my competitor was already using The Conditions of Law on his site. I am not attempting to restrict his rights to use the name but simple protect my rights too.  I feel I may have no ground to stand on if they were to dispute my use of the name and am hoping for any advise related to issues like this. Thanks

I don`t think your being "unaware" of something is a claim to a right. :-) It`ll depend on the other site, how long they`ve been around, and if they`ve copyrighted the name. If they have, you`re probably in trouble. So change the name before there`s a lot of money at stake.

For example, I wasn`t aware that a company is using the name of the company I just started. I have an idea to set up a computer repair shop, and called it The IBM Store. It`s not that I`m trying to prevent the other IBM from anything, I just want to protect my "right" to "own" the name, "The IBM Store." See?

What you thought, what you were aware of, and what you want really doesn`t enter into the legal situation in this context. I`m NOT an attorney, only using logical assessment.

On the other person site he has no copyright stated anywhere. I believe my only concern would be of his right to a trademark name such as The Conditions of Law, but he also does not state that anywhere as well.

I know this might be a hard question, but if I was to trademark The Conditions of Law, pending it was available, would that protect my rights to my site?

 You need to go to The United States Patent and Trademark Office www.uspto.gov and do some research there.  Do a trademark search (link on their site to TESS),  and register your name as your trademark.   They`ll let you know if you can or can`t, but if the other person hasn`t registered the tradename, then I`d be the first to register it.

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com