How To Name Your Company:

Trademark Your Domain Name & Domain Name Your Trademark

Step 1 - Choose a good company name.

It's difficult to choose a good company name. It's also easier to say what you should not do rather than what you should do.

A bad strategy is to choose a company name that is already taken. 
Many states, such as Massachusetts (http://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corp/CorpSearch/CorpSearchInput.asp), let you search their corporate name records via the web, but beware. Even states that have this functionality do not include assumed names in this database. Most towns require unincorporated businesses (such as sole proprietorships) to apply for a business certificates and register their company names with the town clerk. But this assumed name (also called "doing business as" or dba) data is generally not available at the state level or via the web. To find information about corporate names in your state, find your state's web site (http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/), then find the corporations division, which is usually a division of the Secretary of State's office. Unless you're looking in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania or Virginia, in which case it would be the Secretary of the Commonwealth (http://bensguide.gpo.gov/support/faqs.html). But there I go splitting hairs again.

A better strategy is to choose a company name that is neither generic nor descriptive. Don't name your bookstore "Bob's Bookstore," or "Affordable Books." Instead, choose a name that is suggestive of the qualities your company stands for. If you are selling data backup services, perhaps include "elephant" in the name, since elephants (allegedly) have good memories. If you are starting a bus company, consider the fact that "greyhounds" are very fast dogs, but don't use it, it's taken.

An even better strategy is to choose a distinctive company name that has nothing to do with what your company does. "Apple" is a good name for a computer company because computers have nothing inherently to do with apples. "Amazon" is a good name for a book store (or for a stuff store) because books have nothing inherently to do with the Amazon River. Names of the founders of companies also fall into this category. Think "Dell" computers or "Hewlett Packard" printers.

The best strategy is to choose a distinctive company name that is a brand new word. This is, of course, the most fun and the most challenging. Made-up words can sound cool or they can sound like names that didn't make the final cut for the Seven Dwarfs. There are companies that specialize in helping companies choose names, but you may end up with a name you don't like.


Step 2 - Choose a good domain name registrar. 

You're now on the web site of one of the best Domain registrars online.

Step 3 - Register your company name as one or more domain names.

Domain names should be registered in the name of the company. And the company's name, address, phone number, and e-mail address should be EXACTLY the same as in the state's corporate database (or the town's assumed name database). Note that these e-mail addresses will become public, so you should pick an e-mail address that is ONLY used for this purpose, and you should make sure that your company will ALWAYS have control over this e-mail address.

If you register multiple domain names, you should make sure that the information for each domain name is EXACTLY the same, down to the character. 

You should consider registering different versions of your domain name. I recommend that companies register their company name in the "big three" Top Level Domains (TLDs) (i.e. .com, .net, and .org). Registering multiple domain names is cheap insurance to protect against possible infringing use. For the same reason, register both the singular and plural versions of your domain name. Finally, you may want to prepend "www" to your domain names and register all of these too, since omitting the dot between the "www" and the domain name is a common error made by Internet users. This is why, for example, Amazon.com has also registered "wwwamazon.com."

Step 4 - Register your (future) trademarks as domain names.

You should also register your product names, service names, and future trademarks as domain names. I include the "future" designation because marks don't become trademarks until they are being used in commerce to identify the source of goods or services. This is a long way of saying that you should register your trademarks as domain names.

Step 5 - Set up a web site and start using your marks as trademarks.

It is often easier to register domain names than to actually start using marks as trademarks.  Once you have identified all of the marks that identify the source of goods or services your company is offering, publish those on your web site and put "TM" after each mark. Trademark rights attach when you first use a mark, and no registration is required to used the "TM" symbol. When it comes time to register your trademarks federally, you'll need a sample (or "specimen") of the mark being used as a trademark in interstate commerce. Since the Internet is inherently interstate, pages from your web site showing your marks in use can now be used as the specimens for your federal trademark applications.

Step 6 - Register your trademarks.

In order for trademarks to be registered by the USPTO, they must be 1) not descriptive, 2) not generic, and 3) distinctive. So if you have followed my suggestions for picking a good company name, then you've also chosen a good trademark. There are other considerations as well, but these are the main requirements.

Can you trademark a domain name? The short answer is that it depends if you are using your domain name as a trademark. Is your domain name being used to identify the source of the products or services you offer? If so, and if it passed the other three tests above, then you may be able to secure federal registration for it.