How to locate an infringer on the internet

Hello!

Welcome Back! Happy Holidays! Today's topic will discuss how to find the owner of a website that is using your intellectual property without your permission. I always get calls from clients regarding a website that is unlawfully using their trademarks or copyrighted material. In the majority of these cases, the website owner's information is not readily available. Here are a couple of ways to locate the infringer.

1. Look up the owner's information on whois.net. Whois.net will allow you to type in any domain name and they will provide the registrant's (owner) information. Most times, the name of the owner or company is readily available. However, there are instances when aliases are used. In this case, use the following method:

2. Contact the Internet Service Provider and inform them of the infringing activity and they will provide the owner's contact information or they will contact the owner on your behalf.

I hope this information was helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please leave one.

Can You Trademark a Common Name?

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Thank you for visiting! Today's post will address whether you can trademark common or generic names. I briefly discussed this issue in a previous article you can find here. Basically common or generic names, or words or phrases that are merely descriptive are not sufficient for trademark registration with the USPTO. See TMEP §1213.05. However, if a combination of common or generic names create a unique name, tag line, or coined phrase, then the USPTO considers them unique enough to be a trademark. See the example below:

Go and Daddy separately are two common or generic words. Alone neither are sufficient for trademark registration. However, the combination of "Go Daddy" together is a unique name that is trademarked!

So when choosing names for trademark registration, do not be afraid to use common names together to create a unique name or phrase. As long as your name has not been previously used by another individual or entity, and you are using the name in commerce, trademark registration is feasible.

I hope this information was helpful. If you have any questions, please leave a comment.

How To Protect Your Intellectual Property Online

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Welcome Back! I hope everyone is having an awesome day! Today I am going to discuss how to protect your intellectual property on the internet. Here are a few practical tips and tools you can implement right now to ensure your intellectual property is not stolen.

1. Include a section or link on your website that clearly states the terms of use when someone wants to use your material. See the examples below:

For Copyrights

All Content on Site X are protected by U.S. Copyright. This site is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You are free to site or quote material on this site if you first obtain our permission and if you properly attribute the material back to Site X.

For Trademarks

Site X's name and logos are all registered trademarks of the X company. All Rights are Reserved. You must obtain our permission before using or displaying any of our registered trademarks.

2. Watermark your copyrighted images. A watermark can contain an image across the photo with your copyright notice or the name of your site.

3. Do keyword searches of your trademarks and be vigilaint about contacting infringers and demanding they remove your intellectual property from their sites immediately.

4. For as little as $249.00 per trademark, use a company like Mark Trend to track and monitor possible and actual trademark infringement on the internet. Using a montioring service like Mark Trend will save you money and most imporantly time. They do all the work for you.

I hope this information was helpful. If you have any questions, please leave a comment.

Google's Policy for Keyword Advertising: Beyond the U.S.

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Welcome Back! In my previous post I discussed Google's Policy for Keyword Advertising. Specifically, I discussed how Google's Policy was different in the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland than in countries outside of these territories. Why? Well it depends on how "trademark owner" friendly laws are in certain countries.  Below I will discuss some "trademark owner" friendly laws in France and Austria.

In France, one court found Google liable for trademark infringement in allowing trademarks to be used a keywords by Google Advertisers.  Viaticum & Luteciel v. Google France, Court of Nanterre, Oct. 13, 2003.  The court conluded that a "likliehood of confusion" existed when consumers searched for the rightful trademark owner's products and instead a search produced a competitor's or imitator's products.  

In Austria, the court found that use of trademarks in keyword advertising is trademark infringement.  The court concluded that infringement existed when the search resulted in the competitor's or infringer's advertisement appearing before the trademark owner's advertisement.   Also if the trademark owner's trademark appeared in the text of the advertisement, then trademark infringement existed.   AdWord-Urteil aus Osterreich OGH, Beschluss vom 20.3.2007

So what is the final conclusion? As I have previously stated, advertisers should be overly cautious in deciding to use trademark as keywords in advertising. Depending on the country or the region in the US, you may be liable for trademark infringement.