Hot answers tagged name
9
Unfortunately your question is way too vague, each case is unique. Also you didn't originally say which country you are in.
There are a couple of facts which should be considered (assuming USA):
1) Do they have a federal trademark? You should get a copy on-like for free from the Patent & Trademark Office. They may be bluffing?
2) Does their trademark ...
8
Two letter domain names are rare, and (relative to domain prices) very expensive. All of them. The length of the domain name is one of the top criteria for the price of a domain.
Two letter domain names in dot com are referred to as LL.com (for Letter Letter), and I doubt you will find any LL.com for under $50,000.
You can check Sedo.com listing and the ...
7
I wouldn't worry about it. I think hardly anyone will make the connection.
If anyone does, well, how much cuter can it get than a baby saying "I love you". People like cute so any connection like that would probably help rather than hurt (unless your doing something like a web app for mixed martial arts, but even then who knows).
7
Change the name.
If the names are similar and you're in similar spaces, customers looking for you are likely to find them first. That's a problem.
Further, you'll be competing with them head to head in Google. If they have any sort of community, twitter/blog presence, etc, they should come up ahead of you for quite a while.
Also, you'll have to deal with ...
6
What you mean by 'allowed'? I don't think there is any law against using a semicolon or any other special character in a business name. As you point out, many dot.coms do. And there's Yahoo! with an exclamation point. And the Toy'R'Us example already cited.
I'd say that if the semicolon helps accomplish your intent, I don't see why not. Of course, you ...
6
I would wait until you know your startup is going to make it. Once you know for sure that it's going to work then it's a good idea to protect yourself. If you still don't know if you have something and you're not profitable yet then I think it's too soon.
Only you know what threshold means "yes, this worked, we have made it". I would do it then though.
...
6
Would depend on the perspective user/customer base. Does it contain people who would likely be offended, or consider such antics childish? If yes, then it would be advisable not to do it. If you were marketing to me, I wouldn't care much about cuss words in the companies name, or somewhere on your website and other literature. But my dad would. You'd ...
5
Any good hosting company will have a well-established and clear set of terms, including any of: Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, Service Level Agreement, and a Privacy Policy.
Terms of Service generally establish the rules by which the company is obligated to serve you according to what you pay for, and what is advertised, etc.
Acceptable Use ...
5
The problem with .ly domain names has nothing to do with the domain name registrar. It has to do with the government that controls the .ly extension. If the country that controls the .ly suffix behaves irresponsibly, it doesn't matter what registar you use. It can still be taken away from you on the whim of that government.
4
How I choose a domain name:
Pick some words I like (Books + forum = bookforum, bookergy, bookable, bookspeak etc)
Jot them all down in a Google Spreadsheet and check domain availability
Move my favorites that are available to the top
Types of Domains
Use words that describe your product (ZenDesk, GetSatisfaction, DropBox)
In my opinion - You're ...
4
pfiou.... This is almost the hardest part ;-) in one of my startup we changed the name 5 times in one year!
The domain name should be available in .com
The name should be easy to remember for someone who doesn't know you and what you do
Careful about spelling, sometimes by collapsing two word (for your domain) it could be read differently
Does it work in ...
4
If you are working with .com, .net, etc (non-country-specific top level domains) you should be ok as long as you have a genuine business in operation and not violating any trademark or engaging in domain squatting like behaviour.
If you are dealing with country specific TLDs, you need to consult the local domain associations. For example in Australia the ...
4
In the USA:
If you register a trademark, you don't necessarily have to register the company name, although it is normally done. A product or service name is likely to be different from the company name.
A trademark can be for the name of a product, a company name, a logo, or some combination of these.
A trademark protects you from other people using marks ...
4
I'd personally say no because it sounds cheap, kind of like a 'pile them high, sell them low' philosophy as used in budget stores. I'm not sure that is what you would want to aim for in financial services where something that inspires confidence and wealth would be more appropriate.
Here in the UK we have chains of shops called 'Poundland' (were everything ...
4
"Shit my dad says", very successful Twitter account ... probably wouldn't have been as successful if it was "stuff my dad says"
The impact of a profanity can be much more significant.
"we give a shit" has more of an impact then "we care a lot"
So, no it isn't always bad. Doesn't mean it's great, but it's not always a bad idea. I personally enjoy swearing ...
3
I wrote this in reply to another question, but it's still relevant here:
Igor, a naming and branding agency, has an excellent 122 page guide on
creating product and company names. They rightly call the process
"building the perfect beast".
"The best product and company names require the least advertising.
They are advertisements."
A name ...
3
I'm sure there are some downsides, but from a Trademark perspective they are really good. The less descriptive your name and more unique your name is, the stronger the trademark will possibly be if you eventually file for a trademark with the Trademark Office. In fact, if it is 'merely descriptive' it isn't really eligible for a trademark.
3
Whenever I need to think of a new name for a project, I make an Excel list for it. As I think of names, I add them to the list, check to see if the domain is available using GoDaddy, check if someone else is ranking for that name in Gooogle, and then check to make sure I can get the usernames on social networks using NameChk.
I then look at all my options, ...
3
This can be a sticky issue. There are many such sites, both positive and negative, and commercial and non-commerical. For example:
http://www.google-watch.org/
http://topiphonenews.com/
http://wellsfargosucks.com/
These are trademarks and fall under trademark laws. That is different from copyright.
Some trademark owners are more protective than others. ...
3
I agree with Renesis that this is a sticky issue, but I want to clarify a few issues.
Trademarks, which is what you are dealing with here, are used to prevent consumer confusion. The analysis to determine if someone is infringing on another's trademark is fairly complicated. Sites like wellsfargosucks.com are usually okay because the URL makes it clear ...
3
If your business is a sole proprietorship, then you, an individual, are the "legal entity", and the name you provide is your full name.
Please note that in answering this question, I have not researched whether Apple's applicable terms and conditions permit you to register as an individual.
Disclaimer: This information does not constitute legal advice and ...
3
I think you may be unclear about how personal liability works in a company situation.
When you register a company and enter into a contract in the company's name, the company is the legal entity that is liable for fulfilling it's obligations under the terms of the contract. If the company fails in its obligations and is sued, it is the company's assets that ...
3
Absolutely you could get into trouble, and you wouldn't have much of a defense, either. The trademark specifically protects the company's right to use that name for commercial purposes. Selling products is a commercial purpose. You won't find websites such as best-deals-on-sony.com for precisely that reason.
3
It is possible you are infringing another's trademark. More important than registering the name with Apple is clearing it and registering it with the government. It may not matter that there are slight differences in the two names. If it is likely to cause confusion, registering it with Apple and offering it for sale may be infringing acts.
During any ...
3
Would the typical user that would find it clever or appropriately provocative also be likely to pay for the service it provides?
Would the typical user willing to pay for the service view it as offensive or a weak-minded attempt at shock-value?
Are you looking for profit or attention? They are not always associative.
e.g. "Shit my dad says" gets a lot of ...
2
I'm a big fan of the OnStartups article about this, have you seen it?
http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/12156/How-To-Pick-A-Company-Name-Tips-From-The-Trenches.aspx
2
Amazon has nothing to do with shopping
Apple is a fruit
Mint? fot financial services?
Yahoo? internet portal?
The magic is not finding a name that will be both original and will immediately TELL your customers what you're all about before they even pay a visit...
The magic is building a brand, on a seemingly random word, and making sure LATER every person ...
2
I like to separate this into two -- domain registrars and DNS hosts. Most commercial vendors offer a mix of both, but I like to keep the feature sets separated while thinking about the features.
For registrars, the things I look for are:
How many Top Level Domains (TLDs, like .com, .uk, .de, .es) they have; and which I need.
Price.
Support. All other ...
2
I believe there are very few single syllable domain names left unless you want to use some outrageous spelling.
You may have decided to pursue the branding option from the start, but it worth reminding others that there are still many opportunities for SEO domain names for your product/service. A tool such as Market-Samurai can help you identify ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
