Trademarks, Domains and a GoDaddy Coupon

[GoDaddy coupon YES20 for 20% off godaddy hosting, godaddy promo code YES3 for $7.49 domain names.]  Many people do not know the difference between a domain name and a trademark. They are completely different, however a domain name can be a trademark in some cases.

The most interesting disctinction between the two is that there can only be one domain name, one exact domain name that is. In other words if the domain is hubpages.com no one else can ever register that domain. That is not the case with Trademarks.

With Trademarks two people can use the same name as a trademark under common law (meaning they have not yet registered it) and under federal law the same name can be regsitered as a trademark as well. There are requirements of course.

Did you know that Microsoft has over 20,000 domains in their portfolio and Verizon has over 10,000.  These companies and others are not hesitating to grow their domain portfolios, mainly because there can only be one owner of each unique domain, unlike trademarks.  The number one registrar in 2009 was GoDaddy and they have released a GoDaddy coupon to obtain a domain for just $7.49 if you use the promo code YES3, or 10% off any order if you use the promo code YES1 and the best deal is an entire year or hosting, or more, for 20% off if you use YES20.   A great customer retention strategy is to give the best pricing and service during a bad economy.  I applaud their efforts.

In order for two people to use the same name as a trademark they typically are regsitered in different categories.  In other words you may have the name hubpages for a website and someone else may have the name hubpabes for a new type of mountain bike tire.   Note I am talking about the word hubpages and not the domain hubpages.com.  Therefore since the two are in different categories they may both be registerable.

Also, two names must not be considered confusingly similiar.  Therefore someone with hubpages for a mountain bike tire and someone with bubpages for a mountain bike tire may not be able to regsiter as it is the same category and similiar sounding names.

Now if you have a trademark and someone got the domain you may be able to obtain possession of the domain.  You would have to look at the rules and procedures of the domain name governing authority ICANN.  Their rules are found here at the ICANN site as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.  The good news is that there is a procedure to get your domain that matches your trademark, the bad news is that it is not easy. However it is fair.