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 called theDot Communications… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: gTLD
The Coming Boom and Bust of Internet Real Estate
Posted in Domain NamesI 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 world where it… Continue Reading
Domain Name Update
Posted in Domain Names, MarketingPot luck post today, but all related to the wonderful world of domain names: The .com top-level domain (TLD) turned 25 this week. The first .com? Symbolics.com. I find it deliciously ironic that, by all appearances, the domain now appears to be owned by a domainer. (If I may be permitted to paraphrase a famous, fictional… Continue Reading
Latest gTLD Applicant Guidebook Open for Comment
Posted in Domain NamesI assume that most readers have heard that the universe of Internet domain names may be expanding next year. Instead of being limited to a finite number of relatively mundane top-level domain extensions like ".com" and ".org," ICANN is planning to allow for the registration of any string of characters to the right of the… Continue Reading
Dotcom or Dotcm? Top-Level Typos Now Available
Posted in Domain NamesBack in April, I explained a little bit about how typosquatters can capitalize on direct navigation Internet traffic. I offered an example of the "omitted letter" typo: www.kellggs.com. Well, one omitted letter typo variant of .com is becoming widely available: .cm. The TLD ".cm" is the country code top-level domain ("ccTLD") for the country of… Continue Reading
New gTLDs: Internet Chaos?
Posted in Domain Names, SoapBoxI am earnestly trying to reserve judgment on the prospect that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN" — the proverbial "man behind the curtain" of the Internet) is actually going to go through with its roll out of opening new generic top-level domains ("gTLDs") to anyone (a TLD is the thing that… Continue Reading
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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...
Dan Kelly
You can call me a “non-traditional” attorney, which is a polite way of saying that I did not attend law school straight out of college. I spent five of my first six years after college as a junior high school teacher. The other year I worked as an engineer for a large corporation. More...
Sharon Armstrong
Voted most likely to become an actress while in pre-school, I don’t think I surprised anyone by becoming a lawyer, the steadiest professional gig open to those with a flair for the dramatic. 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...
Susan Perera
Born into the world with an aptitude for science and an affinity for art I found my career path quickly chosen for me. More...
Joy S. Newborg
When I took a personality/career test in high school to determine which path in life I should follow, I was told I should either be in broadcast journalism or law. So after I went to undergraduate school for broadcast journalism and film/television, I went on to obtain my law degree from the University of Minnesota. More...
Laura Gutierrez
An attorney I am not. Though told to become one, I don't possess those qualities needed to be an effective one (I lack confrontation skills, and although I can write a great argumentative essay, I can’t argue outside a sheet of paper). More...