According to the L.A. Times today - the domain name registrar Go Daddy (a/k/a godaddy.com) is going to launch a big push this Sunday during the SuperBowl to promote the .co domain name extension. We can’t tell yet whether Go Daddy has accurately figured out that there is a real demand for a new domain name extension or whether they’re making the kind of mistake Coca-Cola made a while back when they tried to introduce “New Coke”. But we do know that good .com domain names are getting harder and harder to register and – again according to the L.A. Times - Go Daddy will probably be paying something like $3 million for each 30 second commercial it runs during the SuperBowl. So….unless they are idiots they must be figuring there’s going to be a good return on that investment.
On the other hand, here’s a blog entry that claims the .co extension is just a waste of money.
So…is this a real opportunity or just a hype? We don’t know yet, but for the $30 being charged for a .co domain name ($28 if you buy six or more at the same time), it might be worth a small investment NOW (i.e., before Sunday) to:
(a) protect your company name and brands with a .co domain name if for no other reason than to block out your competitors and cybersquatters; and
(b) to think creatively about other .co domain names you might want to control as we move forward the next few years.
If you are interested in this but for some reason are not a Go Daddy fan, our local outside IT firm EBrothers Solutions, Inc. is an authorized Go Daddy re-seller that offers domain name registrations for the same price as Go Daddy - but with a local personal presence. You can visit them at www.ebsihosting.com.
We don’t exactly know where this is going to go, but we thought you would want to know sooner rather than later.
Please call (760/637-2400) or write (dbranfman@branfman.com) if you have any questions or thoughts about this.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
THE CARE & FEEDING OF DOMAIN NAMES: WEBINAR DE-BRIEFED
Yesterday we presented a webinar entitled "The Care & Feeding of Domain Names: Tips For Businesses & Lawyers" as part of the State Bar of California's Cyber Institute. Presenting via webinar is interesting/challenging because there isn't as much interactivity as in a live presentation. But we had a good group online including both private practice and in-house lawyers. Our theme was: these days it's not enough to just own one or two domain names for your business or your product; managing and maximizing the value of your brand(s) and domain names takes a conscious and concerted effort. The webinar addressed 11 concrete tips for accomplishing this. If you would like a copy of the PowerPoint we prepared, please contact us by phone at (760) 637-2400 or by email at info@branfman.com to request a copy.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
THE CARE & FEEDING OF DOMAIN NAMES: WEBINAR ON JANUARY 27TH
These days it's not enough to just own one or two domain names for your business or your product. Managing and maximizing the value of your brand(s) and domain names takes a conscious and concerted effort. That's why we're presenting a webinar entitled "The Care & Feeding of Domain Names: Tips For Businesses & Lawyers" on January 27, 2011 @ 1 pm Pacific. The webinar is being offered under the auspices of the State Bar of California's Cyber Institute. You can sign up here. [The State Bar is charging the fee - not us - and we're doing our part pro bono]. If you can't attend but would like a copy of the PowerPoint we've prepared, please contact us by phone at (760) 637-2400 or by email at info@branfman.com to request a copy.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Confessions of a January Hater (And What To Do About It....)
I have a confession to make: I hate January. Not just this January. Every January. Why? All the festivities between Halloween and the (forced?) frivolity of New Year's Eve are over. It's been two months since there was any major league baseball and still a month before Spring Training begins. That's why.
Plus this January we begin full year three of uncertainty about business in this country and the world since the Crash of September 2008.
But....having said that........I am reminded of a conversation that I had a few years ago with a client who is a full-time psychologist and a part-time inventor. He called to ask a trademark question and of course - he being a nice guy and all that - he began the conversation with "How are you?". Somewhere - out of nowhere - I responded: "I choose to be doing well today".
His (slightly perturbed) response: "Well, if more people said that I'd be out of business".
My point, of course, is that so much of where we end up is a result of the choices we make - especially the choice about our attitude. I don't necessarily wake up every day with a smile on my face. But before I get rolling I make a choice that this is going to be the best day I can possibly make it. And, if necessary, I remind myself of that during the day. It helps, of course, to make the right choice when I look at the pictures of my family in my office and look around to see the people I work with everyday.
Surely there is lots we could be worried or glum about; and if we choose to focus on those things it's going to be a tough day/week/month/year/life. So my choice is to remember that I have a choice.
Thank you to all of you who read this who are part of our community of friends, clients, and professionals. Thank you for reading and thank you for your support. We all rise in the boat together and we look forward to a year of progress, growth, increased knowledge - and the beginning of Spring Training when the grass is green and the smell of fresh-cut grass reminds us of where we've been and that anything is possible!
Plus this January we begin full year three of uncertainty about business in this country and the world since the Crash of September 2008.
But....having said that........I am reminded of a conversation that I had a few years ago with a client who is a full-time psychologist and a part-time inventor. He called to ask a trademark question and of course - he being a nice guy and all that - he began the conversation with "How are you?". Somewhere - out of nowhere - I responded: "I choose to be doing well today".
His (slightly perturbed) response: "Well, if more people said that I'd be out of business".
My point, of course, is that so much of where we end up is a result of the choices we make - especially the choice about our attitude. I don't necessarily wake up every day with a smile on my face. But before I get rolling I make a choice that this is going to be the best day I can possibly make it. And, if necessary, I remind myself of that during the day. It helps, of course, to make the right choice when I look at the pictures of my family in my office and look around to see the people I work with everyday.
Surely there is lots we could be worried or glum about; and if we choose to focus on those things it's going to be a tough day/week/month/year/life. So my choice is to remember that I have a choice.
Thank you to all of you who read this who are part of our community of friends, clients, and professionals. Thank you for reading and thank you for your support. We all rise in the boat together and we look forward to a year of progress, growth, increased knowledge - and the beginning of Spring Training when the grass is green and the smell of fresh-cut grass reminds us of where we've been and that anything is possible!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Is THUMBDRIVE a Generic Term or a Registerable Trademark?
The question of what is or isn't protectible as a trademark comes up all the time. ESCALATOR, THERMOS, ASPIRIN and even HEROIN were all registered trademarks at one point in time, but for a variety of reasons they became unprotectible generic terms. On the other hand, KLEENEX®, FRISBEE®, and XEROX® still remain protectible trademarks. Go figure.
What about THUMBDRIVE for flash drives? Is it a protectible trademark or an unprotectible generic term? The U.S Patent & Trademark Office has just issued a very interesting ruling that answers this question.
Why is this important? Because it highlights the problems with choosing descriptive or generic terms as trademarks for goods or services. Yes, the applicant for the THUMBDRIVE trademark registration ultimately won. But it took several years and probably several tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to get there. Most entrepreneurs and small businesses can't waste that much time or risk that much money. It is therefore much wiser to choose a unique, clever, fanciful and easy-to-remember name for a trademark than a weak descriptive or unprotectible term.
What about THUMBDRIVE for flash drives? Is it a protectible trademark or an unprotectible generic term? The U.S Patent & Trademark Office has just issued a very interesting ruling that answers this question.
Why is this important? Because it highlights the problems with choosing descriptive or generic terms as trademarks for goods or services. Yes, the applicant for the THUMBDRIVE trademark registration ultimately won. But it took several years and probably several tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to get there. Most entrepreneurs and small businesses can't waste that much time or risk that much money. It is therefore much wiser to choose a unique, clever, fanciful and easy-to-remember name for a trademark than a weak descriptive or unprotectible term.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
10 FOR '10: BRANFMAN'S HOT IP TIPS #3
This is the third IP tip in the series. For previous tips scroll down:-
IP TIP #3: ONE IS NOT ENOUGH:
Most businesses these days own one – maybe two – domain names related to their business. But due to clever and unscrupulous cybersquatters, one domain name is not enough. At approximately $11 per year per domain name, it makes sense to allocate a few hundred dollars a year to occupy some Internet real estate and block out cybersquatters by registering a batch of domain names. So if for example your main domain name is groovysurfstuff.com, why not register groovysurfstuff.net, groovy-surf-styff.com, groovysurfstuffs.com, and groovysurfstuff.tv? How about obvious misspellings like grrovysurfstuff.com or groovysurfsutff.com? And then there’s always groovysurfstuffsucks.com. Spending a couple of hundred of dollars a year on your inventory of domain names is a lot cheaper than hiring a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter to a cybersquatter. And compared to the cost of a lawsuit? Small potatoes!
IP TIP #3: ONE IS NOT ENOUGH:
Most businesses these days own one – maybe two – domain names related to their business. But due to clever and unscrupulous cybersquatters, one domain name is not enough. At approximately $11 per year per domain name, it makes sense to allocate a few hundred dollars a year to occupy some Internet real estate and block out cybersquatters by registering a batch of domain names. So if for example your main domain name is groovysurfstuff.com, why not register groovysurfstuff.net, groovy-surf-styff.com, groovysurfstuffs.com, and groovysurfstuff.tv? How about obvious misspellings like grrovysurfstuff.com or groovysurfsutff.com? And then there’s always groovysurfstuffsucks.com. Spending a couple of hundred of dollars a year on your inventory of domain names is a lot cheaper than hiring a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter to a cybersquatter. And compared to the cost of a lawsuit? Small potatoes!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Theft Of Idea Claims:
It has been our experience that almost all screenwriters, when given the chance, will pitch their screenplay to a studio, production company, producer, or the like without fully understanding the legal consequences of this type of disclosure. When submitting a creative work to any third party, it is not only wise - but necessary - for screenwriters and their agents to be knowledgeable about the current legal standards for protecting a creative work. Copyright protection and “idea submission” laws are constantly changing and it is hard to know for sure how and if your ideas will be protected. Take the Benay brothers for instance. They collaborated on a screenplay in the late 1990’s entitled The Last Samurai. They took the right first step and registered the copyright in their screenplay with the U.S. Copyright Office. Their agent pitched their screenplay to Bedford Falls Productions, Inc., an affiliate of Warner Bros. Entertainment, and thereby created what the brothers claim was an “implied contract.” But, as fate would have it, the studio passed on their idea – only to later release their version of a film called “The Last Samurai” starring Tom Cruise.
The Benay brothers naturally filed suit against Bedford Falls and its affiliates for copyright infringement and for theft of their idea. Recently, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their claim of copyright infringement due to their failure to prove substantial similarity under their two-part similarity test: proof of extrinsic and intrinsic similarity. However, although the brothers lost their copyright infringement claim, they were able to convince the court that there might have been a breach of an implied contract to pay them for the use of their idea(s). In other words, the case will now be sent back to the trial court to determine if the tacit agreement made between the brothers’ agent and the folks at Bedford Falls was not honored and whether the Benays should be compensated for the use of their ideas.
Moral of the story: 1) Register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office; and 2) make sure your pitches to third parties are clear that your expectation is that you will be compensated if they use your ideas even if they don’t use your screenplay itself.
The Benay brothers naturally filed suit against Bedford Falls and its affiliates for copyright infringement and for theft of their idea. Recently, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their claim of copyright infringement due to their failure to prove substantial similarity under their two-part similarity test: proof of extrinsic and intrinsic similarity. However, although the brothers lost their copyright infringement claim, they were able to convince the court that there might have been a breach of an implied contract to pay them for the use of their idea(s). In other words, the case will now be sent back to the trial court to determine if the tacit agreement made between the brothers’ agent and the folks at Bedford Falls was not honored and whether the Benays should be compensated for the use of their ideas.
Moral of the story: 1) Register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office; and 2) make sure your pitches to third parties are clear that your expectation is that you will be compensated if they use your ideas even if they don’t use your screenplay itself.
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