Domain advice

StarBright01

Hi, I've just bought a domain and I want to register it so nobody buys a variation or similar domain name hoping to sell the same item. I've never done this before so I havent a clue where to start. It's a .com domain. There is so many documents online on trademarks, copyright etc you could easily get bogged down in it all!! Any advice of where to start??

jimmii

Is this something you have made or invented? If so then you may be able to patent/copyright it to give you some protection. If someone did decide to copy you it can be very expensive to try stop them your beat bet is to try build some brand loyalty and become a clear market leader before someone else comes in.

You can get all the protection you want but if a Chinese company come in and start making it you've got no chance of stopping them better to try focus on the things that can't be copied rather than the product that can.

Right now the only way to stop people registering similar domains would be to register them yourself.

StarBright01

No it's nothing we have invented or anything like that- I came across patentsoffice.ie and there are so many companies listed in the trademark search database on it, I just wasn't sure if I need to do something similar in case somebody else did that with our name. Sorry I probably sound stupid but I've never done this before!

mneylon

The only way you can completely block people from registering similar domain names is to register them yourself.
That doesn't scale well and even Fortune 500 companies have issues with this.

It sounds like you are starting out so focus on the obvious ones
If, for example, the primary domain was "dog.tld" then register "dogs.tld"

Registering the string across every domain extension isn't really feasible, as there are over 600 domain name extensions

Trademarks etc., won't stop people from registering a domain name, but they will help you should you wish to lodge a dispute later

jimmii

Luc01 wrote: »

No it's nothing we have invented or anything like that- I came across patentsoffice.ie and there are so many companies listed in the trademark search database on it, I just wasn't sure if I need to do something similar in case somebody else did that with our name. Sorry I probably sound stupid but I've never done this before!

I don't think there is really anything to give you the sort of the protection you want to be honest. If you're buying products to resell why you should someone else be stopped from doing the same? You can trademark your trading name to stop anyone passing themselves off as you the only thing you could would be to try get the producer to sign a deal making your the exclusive retailer for the product in Ireland/UK/Europe etc to get that I would imagine you would need to guarantee some pretty big numbers though which is going to be tough if this is your first time.

If its a product that is perishable then a loyalty scheme is a good way to get people to return to you rather than buying elsewhere if its a non-perishable that people are likely to only buy once then be sure to make your service top class so that you get word of mouth referrals.

Make sure to get your SEO going really well too do that even if new rivals emerge you will still feature really well on searches.

bolopapa

Just register the domain name in about 4 or 5 most used extensions..Org, com, ie, info. Nothing can really protect you like that when it comes to domain. You may end up buying this extensions for a very high price set by domain flippers in the end. Worry about product development first.