The first .COM, "Symbolics," was registered on March 15th 1985. Two years later, its total number was barely one hundred.
Even though some of today's best global brands were among the first to secure their .COM back then (kudos to Xerox, HP, IBM, Intel, AT&T, GE), it wasn't until well into the Internet boom that the one million mark was reached, in 1997.
Today, the number of domain names that exist hovers around 200,000,000 (likely surpassed by the time you've finished reading this... sentence).
But, at over 80 million, .COM is still the biggest and best. It remains an integral part of our lives, globally recognized, and easily the strongest "brand" out of the 260+ gTLDs and ccTLDs that followed it. It's the extension of choice, from a user perspective- automatically assumed, and no matter what your web browser, the default extension. Let's be frank, "Amazon.Org," "eBay.Biz," "Match.Name" or "Monster.Jobs" just doesn't quite roll off the tongue as nicely. More...
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Categories: Digital, Trademarks, Verbal Identity, Verbal Identity News
As consumers demand, more than ever, to be in the brand driver’s seat, we see more brands engage consumers in a formal courtship on social networking sites. One in five tweets is estimated to be brand-related and according to Razorfish, 40 percent of Facebook users friend brands. It’s a testament to why brands need to pay attention to possible trademark infringements in the social media space.
Today would a great day to review or create your trademark monitoring policies. You need to enforce your trademark rights or you risk losing them. However, it can be such a knee-jerk reaction to immediately fire-off a cease and desist letter when you encounter possible trademark infringement on social networking sites. It may not always be right thing and you need to remember your reputation, your rights, and the rights of consumers. Brands can experience consumer backlash if they are perceived as overreacting to protect themselves.
Here are two questions every brand owner should ask when managing their trademarks in the social media space. More...
The naming experts have already weighed in and trademark enthusiasts are busy focusing on the issue of Fujitsu’s senior U.S. trademark for the name. But one overlooked aspect of the “iPad” story is Apple’s failure to secure the “iPad” domain name(s) in time for its recent product announcement.
Apple paid (rumored price–lots!) for iPhone.com back in 2007, and it owns iPod.com, iMac.com, and iTunes.com. In the past, it has been aggressive in securing ownership of domain names containing its trademarks.
However, as of today’s date, iPad.com still remains a portal for clients of the mysterious “Enero 6 Corp.” (Conspiracy theories abound…) More...
Parody may be protected by the First Amendment, but don’t count on everyone having a sense of humor. In what seems like a case of Goliath vs. David, The North Face has filed a federal lawsuit against The South Butt, attempting to stop it from marketing and selling its parody apparel line, and seeking unspecified damages.
The South Butt was founded by 18-year-old Jimmy Winkelmann, who claims he started the clothing line as a joke (“to get people thinking about the alternatives”), and to help with the cost of college tuition. Last October, The North Face successfully opposed a trademark application by The South Butt for its name+logo (see Abandoned TM record).
Young Jimmy appears a sympathetic character, and perhaps The North Face needs to manage its PR better – but I don’t think this is a blatant case of a mighty corporation attempting to crush the little guy. More...
Indeed they do, if the actions of author Philip K. Dick’s estate is anything to go by. One Isa Dick, daughter of the sci-fi author, is alleging that the name of Google’s new mobile phone, Nexus One, infringes on their trademark rights, namely a character in the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (later made into the movie “Blade Runner”) called “Nexus 6.” The character is a version of an android model, while Google’s new phone happens to use an operating system that’s named… “Android.”
To be fair, Dick’s claim doesn’t come out of nowhere. Verizon Wireless licensed the Droid name from “Star Wars” creator George Lucas for use with its Motorola phone – but this is because Lucas actually owns trademarks for the name. To quote the actual trademark records, he owns the name in connection with “interactive entertainment software… ; providing news and information programming in the field of entertainment relating to motion picture films, and to science fiction via a global computer network and other electronic networks…; communication services, …by telecommunications networks, wireless communication networks, the internet, information services networks and data networks; wireless communications services…” More...
