You have to be one big fan of a company or product to establish a World {What-You-Cannot-Live-Without} Day. Well, a sticky situation with the well-known hazelnut spread Nutella may have you rethinking your public affection. Back in 2007, Sarah Rosso (Nutella Fan) established World Nutella Day to celebrate her affection for Nutella. Within the past… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Domain Names
Subscribe to Domain Names RSS FeedInherently Distinctive Restaurant Interior?
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Food, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, TrademarksWe recently focused our attention on a very unique-looking, dare I say distinctive, retail store exterior design; for a quick reminder, see here. The recent craze for self-serve frozen yogurt shops – where you pay by the ounce (or perhaps, by the pound), has us focused today on a pretty darn unique interior retail environment: This is… Continue Reading
What Drives eCommerce? The Answers May Surprise You
Posted in Domain Names, Marketing, SoapBox, Social Networking–Dan Kelly, Attorney A couple of weeks ago, Forrester Research issued a report called “The Purchase Path of Online Buyers in 2012.” The report has a great deal of interesting information, two pieces of which underscore points I have hammered here for a while. First, the report notes that “[d]irect traffic is critical to sales:”… Continue Reading
3 Ways to Handle an Unfortunate Domain Name
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Domain Names, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts- Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlash I was researching some potential domain names for a client recently when I came across several listings of “Worst Domain Names.” I had some fun visiting a few of these sites, and I noticed a difference in how the domain owners leveraged their “unfortunate” domain names. There seem to be… Continue Reading
Beware the Paralyzing “Whac-A-Mole” Trademark Mentality
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Infringement, Marketing, TrademarksTrademark enforcement against infringing domains on the Internet is frequently likened to playing Whac-A-Mole. Just as soon as you eliminate one, up pops another, and another, etc. Dan’s post from last week on the most recent land rush on the Internet – with the creation of almost infinite Internet real estate — may be a warning that this comparison… Continue Reading
New “Generic” Top-Level Domains Need a New Name
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Technology–Dan Kelly, Attorney In case you did not yet hear the news, ICANN at long last revealed this week the new applied-for strings in the new gTLD program. If you are unfamiliar with what this is, ICANN will be expanding the number of available so-called ”generic” top-level domains (gTLDs) for use in Internet domain name addresses. A… Continue Reading
Can a Domain Name Amplify Trademark Confusion?
Posted in Domain Names, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks–Dan Kelly, Attorney There has been at least one interesting trademark-related story in the wake of the Rush Limbaugh flap. Health insurance company Humana Inc. and its subsidiary Concentra Health Services, Inc. sued Preval Group, LLC for an injunction against Preval’s use of CONCENTRA in connection with a “memory pill.” Humana raised the issue of… Continue Reading
Some “Inside Baseball” on New gTLDs
Posted in Domain Names, Trademarks–Dan Kelly, Attorney I have just made the happy discovery that the good folks over at FairWinds Partners, operators of the Domain Name Strategy blog, have another blog called gTLD Strategy. In this post this week, they have hinted that there may be more “.brand” applicants in this round of gTLD applications than many people… Continue Reading
.Anything?
Posted in Domain Names–Sharon Armstrong, Attorney Today ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, better known as the company that basically runs the Internet, begins accepting applications for generic top level domains. Most users know top level domains such as .com, .org, .edu…and even .xxx. Now, under this new program, organizations can apply to use virtually… Continue Reading
Top-Level Domain Names as Trademarks
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Marketing, Trademarks–Dan Kelly, Attorney The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently issued a precedential decision upholding the Trademark Office’s refusal to register five applications for the mark .MUSIC in connection with a variety of goods and services, holding that .MUSIC is merely descriptive of the goods and services. A PDF copy of the decision is here. A company… Continue Reading
Putting the Shoe on the Other Tootsie
Posted in Agreements, Branding, Dilution, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Food, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademark Bullying, TrademarksThere was a time when a certain kind of small business owner – strapped for cash — with a meager promotional budget, easily could be tempted to adopt a “clever” name, as a “short-cut,” to “play off” a well-known, iconic brand, but in the end, he or she probably was convinced by counsel that doing so would be… Continue Reading
First in Time on the Internet
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Marketing, Social Networking–Dan Kelly, Attorney Yesterday, Laura provided some good marketing reasons for grabbing your company’s brand name(s) and/or trademark(s) on various social media sites while the marks and brands are still available. I am not a marketing professional, but I agree with everything that she has said, and I’m here to provide some “legal” reasons for… Continue Reading
Adult Domain Space Opt-Out Ends in a Week
Posted in Domain Names, Marketing, Trademarks–Dan Kelly, Attorney Time is running out to take defensive action for opting registered trademarks out of the forthcoming “.xxx” domain space. Depending upon the registrar that you use to do this, an opt-out application is due by October 28, 2011, will cost around $300, and will prohibit third parties from registering opted-out trademarks as… Continue Reading
ICANN, You Can, We Can All Have Our Own Top-Level Domain
Posted in Domain Names–Susan Perera, Attorney Earlier this week ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) approved a major change to top-level Internet domains (TLDs). Soon we will no longer be limited to the standard 22 top-level domains including .com, .org, and .net. In fact, your brand could soon be its own top-level domain. For example,… Continue Reading
Think Harder Concrete Campaign Targets Soft Competition
Posted in Advertising, Domain Names, Marketing–Dan Kelly, Attorney But for seeing a billboard last week like the banner below, it would never have occurred to me that cement producers really needed to advertise, but the Portland Cement Association has impeccable timing, as it is pothole season in Minnesota, and billboards like this are up all around the pothole-ridden Twin Cities. … Continue Reading
Fellow Zealots:
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Domain Names, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Social Networking, Trademarks—Karl Schweikart, partner and co-creative director, 45 Degrees/Minneapolis It’s validating to discover that branding is not a topic just for designers to geek on. As a partner in a design firm focused on brand identity work, I find the community Duets has pulled together to be a vibrant and informative group to hang with. I… Continue Reading
All This Talk About “Trademark Bullying” . . . .
Posted in Domain Names, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademark Bullying, TrademarksApparently has led to the creation of a new blog entitled Trademark Bully — Kindly Back Off! The TrademarkBully.com domain was registered just days ago, by someone who has shielded their identity (doesn’t real blogging require transparency?) and it resolves to a WordPress Blog, with a couple of initial posts from yesterday. It also reveals the blog’s intended… Continue Reading
The Coming Boom and Bust of Internet Real Estate
Posted in Domain Names–Dan Kelly, Attorney I have blogged numerous times in the past about domain name related issues that are concerns for brand owners: domaining, typosquatting, and the planned roll-out of new gTLD domains. This last issue–the expansion of the top-level domain space from a relative handful of top-level domains (like .com, .net, .org, etc.) to a… Continue Reading
Typosquatting: Not Just a For-Profit Problem
Posted in Domain Names, Infringement–Dan Kelly, Attorney Last week, I went to the Internet to look up some information. I opened the browser and hastily typed “wkipedia.com” in the address bar and was met with this page: I stared at it for several seconds, during many of which I seriously thought that Wikipedia had updated its home landing page and… Continue Reading
Trademark Truncation Alert: B1G
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Trademarks, TruncationThe New Year will be ringing in a brand new trademark truncation, ironically caused by a recent expansion. Just so you know, it’s not a new type of Gatorade (G01, G2, and G03), excuse me, G. So, what can this latest trademark truncation represent? Apparently, the truncating trademark owner has not yet secured the most obvious domain,… Continue Reading
A Study On Omitted-Letter Domain Name Typos
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Loss of Rights, Marketing, SoapBox, Trademarks–Dan Kelly, Attorney In the past on these pages, I have been hard on Apple Inc. for apparent missteps in securing trademark rights to some of its more well-known products (iPhone, iPad). Last week, Apple landed a victory on the domain name front, winning a Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Procedure (“UDRP”) decision for the… Continue Reading
Trademark Case to “Watch”: Rolex Sues Rollx Vans in Minnesota
Posted in Branding, Dilution, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, TrademarksAnother interesting trademark case was filed last Thursday in Minnesota federal district court, captioned Rolex Watch U.S.A., Inc. v. Associated Partnership Ltd., d/b/a Rollx Vans and d/b/a www.RollxVans.com. Here is a pdf of the Complaint and the attached Exhibit. The crowned plaintiff really needs no introduction. On the other hand, the defendant Rollx Vans is… Continue Reading
INTELligent Trademark Enforcement?
Posted in Dilution, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademark Bullying, TrademarksWhat is the difference between a semiconductor computer chip maker and an electrician? Not much, at least when both have the word “intel” in their business names, according to a Complaint (complete with Exhibits) filed last Thursday in Minnesota federal district court, by Intel Corporation a/k/a Chipzilla, against a pair of Elk River, Minnesota electricians doing business… Continue Reading
The Mark of a Real Trademark Bully
Posted in Dilution, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Trademarks, TTABSeems as though there is a lot of discussion and news reports these days about bullying and how to put a stop to it: School bullying, workplace bullying, and cyber-bullying, to name a few of the most common types. Fair enough, as I recall, my seventh grade PE teacher was a real bully. However, for those… Continue Reading
Duets Blog Authors
Steve Baird
Just so you know, I'm all about brands and the law, both professionally and personally. I regularly annoy family and friends in retail stores by focusing on product labels—not to buy the product, but to read the fine print and ask, "Who owns these brands" and "Did they really register those marks?" More...
Brent Lorentz
Although I wish I could say my path to the law was the result of a lifelong dream or calling, it was more the result mere curiosity and an affinity for leather-bound books. More...
Tiffany Blofield
Although my initial career path was to be one of the Supremes (not the musically talented ones with platform shoes and sequins, but rather, the nine wearing sensible shoes and pressed black robes in DC), I will likely stay in Minnesota as I have never lived anywhere else. More...
Brad Walz
My law career started on the ice…as a defensive hockey player (we’re not talking professionally…and if I were, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into law). More...
Derek Allen
In hindsight, writing about creativity and the law may have always been in the cards for me. I began training for a career in litigation at an early age by finding ways to disagree with pretty much anyone about pretty much anything. In my longest-running “case,” I argued with my middle school math teacher, Mrs. Jabs, for the better part of four years over whether, even if I got the right answer, I had to show my work to get full credit. More...
Martha Engel
Although my interest in gadgetry and my aptitude for math eventually led me to become an engineer, my ad executive father and artistically gifted mother fostered an appreciation for the creative from a young age. More...
Anjali Shankar
When I was in elementary and middle school, I loved writing short stories. Creativity and imagination seem to come naturally to people when they are young. More...
Timothy Sitzmann
I have always considered myself to be a creative person. Full disclosure: I'm not claiming that I've created anything good, merely that I have created things that exist.More...