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Cost of Donuts’ DPML trademark protection service to soar

by — Services 2 Comments

At least one registrar is increasing the price by 76% as new TLD company hikes price of brand protection service.

Top level domain name provider Donuts will significantly increase the price of its Domains Protected Marks List (DPML) on January 1, 2017.

DPML enables trademark holders to block certain second level strings across its entire portfolio of nearly 200 top level domain names. Trademark holders use the service to prevent cybersquatting on their brand names.

The company previously revealed that an increase would take place next year, but did not say how much.

While the company still declines to say how much the wholesale price is or what it will be next year, domain name registrar Hexonet recently informed customers of the upcoming price hike. Click here to read the story…

Company wants to trademark Pets.com, X.com and famous slogans

by — Policy & Law 18 Comments

47 / 72 Inc. is already drawing negative attention from celebrities because of its trademark filings.

A company has filed over 70 trademark applications in an effort to register trademarks similar to famous brands, popular slogans and terms used by celebrities and brand owners.

Mike Lin, who was an early employee at LinkedIn, told Domain Name Wire that 47 / 72 Inc.’s goal is to put these trademarks on t-shirts and other printable items.

Lin has spent $34,000 on trademark filing fees for trademarks such as Periscope, House of Mouse, Swiper No Swiping, Oh Snap! Chat., and even the names of Pokemon Go teams like Team Valor.

His company has also has applied for trademarks matching valuable domain names including Pets.com and X.com. Dot.com darling Pets.com now forwards to PetSmart.com and X.com was a predecessor to PayPal.

Lin told Domain Name Wire that he believes he can trademark these terms because their owners (in the cases in which there are trademarks) haven’t trademarked them for the same class of goods, namely online retail.

The applications have been filed on an intent-to-use basis.

A presentation about the company’s plans reveals many of the trademark applications it has filed, and predicts that the trademarks will be registered. Click here to continue reading…

Trademarks and Copyrights with Daliah Saper – DNW Podcast #83

by — Podcasts 2 Comments

A crash course in trademarks and copyright for domain name investors.

Domain Name Wire podcastWhat do domain name investors and domain developers need to know about trademarks and copyrights? Daliah Saper of Saper Law gives a quick crash course on today’s podcast, including trademarking a domain name. I consider myself well-versed in this topic, but I learned quite a bit. You will too.

Also: a long wait for more top level domains, GoDaddy earnings, Donuts Labs, say goodbye to .gb, and Mrs. Jones wants to go to Washington.

Subscribe via iTunes to listen to the Domain Name Wire podcast on your iPhone or iPad, or click play below or download to begin listening. (Listen to previous podcasts here.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:11 — 27.4MB) | Embed

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Vox Populi makes sucky argument for .sucks trademark

by — Policy & Law 4 Comments

Vox Populi can’t take no for an answer.

.SucksRemember when Vox Populi filed to register a trademark for .Sucks? We all pointed out that you can’t get a trademark for a top level domain name.

And that’s precisely what the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office told Vox Populi.

But the .sucks operator is undeterred, responding with some rather silly explanations for why it should get the trademark.

For example: Click here to continue reading…

FundMe.com and GoFundMe.com in trademark spat

by — Policy & Law 11 Comments

Two similarly-named companies are on a collision course.

Not to be confused with GoFundMe.

Not to be confused with GoFundMe.

The owner of FundMe.com has filed a lawsuit against personal fundraising site GoFundMe.com over the similarity of their names and trademarks, and a bit of nuance around types of crowfunding.

FundMe.com has a trademark related to business funding. GoFundMe is a site for personal or charitable crowdfnding.

Earlier this year, legal counsel for GoFundMe sent a cease & desist letter to FundMe.com regarding FundMe.com offering personal and charitable crowdfunding. Apparently someone copied a personal crowdfunding request from GoFundMe.com and put it on FundMe.com.

GoFundMe requested that FundMe.com stop offering personal crowdfunding services.

But once FundMe.com started researching GoFundMe’s arguments, it found that GoFundMe was apparently getting into the business crowdfunding space, which it believes infringes on its own trademark.

I’ve always thought GoFundMe.com was a horrible domain name choice. It looks like that’s coming to a head now.

You can view the lawsuit and cease & desist letter here.