| Oct. 15 2008 at 5:42 PM |
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Hi,
This is my first post 
My friends and I came up with this idea of a website that we're planning to launch initially in our country (Philippines). We came up with a domain name, yooshops.com. We thought it was nice and started building the website. A few days later, I found out about another website that's already running, ushops.com. If you read yooshops and ushops, they sound the same. And our ideas for yooshops have some similarities with what ushops does too.
So I'm asking for your suggestions on what to do. Should we go on with our domain name (yooshops)? If we do, will there be any legal complications?
This is our first try in building a web startup by the way. So we could really use your help/suggestions 
Edited by: kemuri - Oct. 15 2008 at 5:46 PM
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| Oct. 15 2008 at 7:28 PM |
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This one is hard to say. They are different enough that it would be doubtful that you will run into legal problems. On the other hand, you want to be unique on the internet, and since the names sound the same, it may be better to try another.
Do you have any backup names? If you do, go to a site where you can purchase domain names and plug the name into the field and check if it is in use.
Additionally, if you do come up with the perfect or near perfect name for your business, purchase ALL of the related sites. Get the .com, .net, .org and the one that would relate to your country. This is very important as you do not want someone approaching later when you are wishing to buy the others and they present you with a huge price tag for the domains. Another benefit to purchasing all of the related domain names is that they become important assets of your business.
Kathleen
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| Oct. 15 2008 at 7:32 PM |
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sounding alike is enough to cause a problem in some situations.
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/
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| Oct. 15 2008 at 7:40 PM |
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Thanks guys,
@patentandtrademark I thought so too. Just wanted to make sure since I don't have enough knowledge in legal stuffs.
@sullivanka That's my problem, we're having a hard time thinking of another name. That yooshops name took quite a while too.
Do you guys know of any website where I can find good ideas for domain names?
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| Oct. 15 2008 at 7:52 PM |
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Hi James
I was hoping someone would give a definitive answer on the legal question. This is very good for me know as well, as I build blogsites.
Kemuri
It is very difficult to come up with domain names. So many are already in use. Maybe someone here could help. What is it that you will have on your site?
Kathleen
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| Oct. 15 2008 at 8:02 PM |
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"....And our ideas for yooshops have some similarities with what ushops does too....."
PatentAndTrademark (above) has had a number of topics about this kind
of issue. Seems to me that although there wouldn't be much trouble
based ONLY on the spelling, when you add in the similarities in what
you're actually doing, that would be an issue.
At this early stage, why beg for trouble? A domain name is pretty
inexpensive, so just get a different one. Okay, so it was hard to come
up with the one, but would it be easier if you ended up with a lawsuit
and cease-and-desist notice?
Craig Landes
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Defining the undefinable. "There are 10 kinds of people in the world---those who understand binary numbers and those who don't." - Unknown
International Society of Curmudgeons
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| Oct. 15 2008 at 8:12 PM |
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@sullivanka
Our site will have similarities with ushops, but it's going to have different feature sets due to the market that we're focusing on (Philippines).
@CraigL
Good point. It's back to the drawing board I guess.
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| Oct. 17 2008 at 7:14 PM |
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Windy's brand hamburgers is probably confusing similar to Wendy's brand hamburgers (which is bad).
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/
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