do you guys register a trade mark for your websites?

pk698

Active member
So I'm starting a site and wasn't sure what to do in terms of protecting my intellectual property. For those who own a website, do you register a trademark/servicemark for your sites?
 
I haven't registered any trademark since no intellectual property should be protected in my website.I will register one when I'm growing to Google, Facebook, twitter etc.:D
 
I registered SneakyDave as a word mark about 12 years ago, it is now listed as "abandoned" for some reason. At the time, it only cost $250 and a little conversion with a legal person about what to categorize the term as.

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=75677146

More info on applying for a trademark:
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/index.jsp

What kind of intellectual property are you trying to protect? Your content? look and feel? Or ???

I don't think a trademark or copyright will prevent any of your intellectual property from being pilfered, unless you plan to spend a lot of money protecting it.
 
I probably wouldn't do it unless you're really vain (the only real reason I did it), or until your site is popular enough that it requires it. It may make more sense to create an LLC for your site itself if you plan to create a business venture out of it, just to protect yourself personally. But I'm not a legal expert.
 
If you have a registered company and your site is part of that company property, I think it's a think you can consider.

If you have a hobby web site and want to just look more professional than your competitor, I think it's a waste of money.

Trademark something for the right reason, and don't confuse it with copyright
 
If you ever have something really crucial towards copyright and being your intellectual property, and want to disclose it online, you first enclose the works within an envelope, send it to yourself via your countries mail system, and never open it. That way you have your countries postal stamp dated onto the sealed work before you have published it, and that holds up in a court with more authority than an argument over dates published.

That is one cheap method lawyers will tell you to use if you don't want to go through intellectual property costs and such, ie. a new startup fits the profile.
 
That's no longer needed, and very old fashioned.
You don't have to write down copyright to claim it.
But it's a solid way to confirm in the future it's your work.
 
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