Andrew Melchior and I spent about an hour presenting and taking Q & A.  You can find the slideshare presentation here:

Trademark Symbol

1) So that Internet marketer does not register a domain name featuring someone else’s trademark, which domain may later be usurped by the trademark owner. ( A trademark owners will have substantive rights over a domain name owner in a domain name, which is identical or confusingly similar to the trademark owner’s trademark.)

2) So that Internet marketer does not insert someone else’s trademarks within the Internet marketer’s meta tags, thereby exposing the Internet marketer to a possible law suit. (The general rule seems to be that if you use another company’s trademark within your meta tags for any deceptive purpose you most likely will lose the suit, however if you have some legitimate reason to use the trademark it most likely will be considered fair use and therefore permissible.)

How to conduct a trademark search?

Here is what most lawyers would do:

A. The lawyer will ask the client: 1) what is the potential trademark that I am searching for? And 2) with what type of goods or services will you use the trademark?

B. The lawyer will then conduct what is termed a “knockout search” – a search of federally registered trademarks. The lawyer will probably conduct this search via the PTO’s (patent and trademark office) Web based search service. Most lawyers will also search popular search engines to see if other websites reference the proposed trademark. It is also wise to conduct a search for other domain names which might be utilizing the trademark. I would recommend using Allwhois.com because it can search WHO IS databases for multiple domain registrars.

C. If the knockout search does not turn up any identical matches, thereby failing to knock out the proposed trademark from contention, the attorney will most likely conduct a more thorough search by enlisting an outside trademark search service to conduct a more full search. Thomson & Thomson is a popular choice. This is also a fairly expensive service.

This process will give you a good idea as to whether there will be a potential trademark conflict.

So… I scratch your back you scratch my back. I tell you where to get FREE answers to legal questions by actual lawyers and you leave a comment telling me how great this resource is .

The website is www.lawguru.com and I use it all the time. For instance, my grandma called me just this weekend and said:

“Dave, I just had a ‘return to sender’ letter delivered to my house. The only problem is that I am not the one that sent the letter. It appears that the executrix of my deceased husband’s will is using my address on outbound letters concerning his estate. Can I open the returned letter?”

I do not practice Wills, Trusts, and Estates law so I did not know the answer. No problem. I went to the “Ask a Legal Question” section of the website and posted the following:

“My grandmother’s husband just died and his executrix (his daughter) sent a letter of eviction to one of his son’s, who lives in one of the deceased’s residents. However, she put my grandmother’s address as the ”from address” and the letter was never opened and has now been mailed back to me. Can she open this letter?”

About 6 hours later I received an email with the following answer:

“No. Just forward the letter to the executrix and ask her to stop misrepresenting her mailing address.”

The lawyer that answered my question specializes in wills, trusts, and estates law in California (which is where my grandmother lives). Now, if my grandma has additional questions she can get in touch with Mr. Phillip Lemmons (thanks for answering my question by the way).

The other nice thing about lawguru is that they post all of the other questions and answers so there is a wealth of knowledge available. You can simply go to “Search Past Answers” and begin searching by directory or keyword. So next time you have a question that you would love to ask an attorney, go ahead and do it!

I was not paid by lawguru to write this post and this is not legal advice!