they need to know about my operation. And if each day I continue to receive emails at my email address toastyscott468@gmail.com, would there any reason I should spend $185,000 for the gTLD? For most small businesses, there probably isn't. To do so might feed my vanity but not necessarily the restaurant's bottom line. What may be important, however, is to
protect my trademark "Toasty Scott's," which I use for restaurant services. "Trademarks" are those words, logos or slogans which are used to identify the source of particular goods or services. If my trademark is used nationally, I can fi le an application to register it in the United States, with a $325 fi ling fee per class (diff erent goods and services are placed in diff erent classes). If my name or trademark is used locally, most states allow for the registration of trademarks within the state (and the fi ling fee is usually under
rights arise from actual usage: not from registration. Th erefore if you have been using "Toasty Scott's" as a restaurant name for the last ten years, you already have a trademark (whether I know it or not). In most cases, you might then stop someone from using the same or confusingly similar name within the geographic area wherein you are doing business. Th e signifi cance of a federal trademark registration is that you have national priority for your trademark as of the date the application is fi led. From our perspective, the protection
$100). Th at price is defi nitely fair. Th e good news is that trademark
of your trademark is probably more important—and a lot more aff ordable— for restaurants and bars than dropping nearly $200,000 on a gTLD which may or may not bring a return on capital investment. So where do you spend
your money? Spend it on building your business and perhaps on protecting your trademark rather than top level domains that may never live up to expectations.
Scott Peterson is a Chicago-based partner in the law fi rm of Holland & Knight.
www.cheersonline.com
APRIL 2012 |
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