Each month, Inventors Digest submits inventor questions to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office commissioners. This month’s query:
Can I trademark a website domain name through the USPTO?
Here’s what Commissioner for Trademarks Deborah Cohn had to say:
A: You may be able to register your mark composed of an Internet domain name if your mark functions as a source identifier. Consumers must perceive it as more than just a website address.
To function as a trademark or service mark it must identify or distinguish your products or services from the products or services of others.
Generally, when a trademark or service mark is composed, in whole or in part, of a domain name, neither the beginning of the URL (“http://www.”) nor the top-level Internet domain name (“TLD”) (e.g., “.com,” “.org,” “.edu,”) have any source-indicating significance.
Instead, those designations are merely devices that every Internet site provider must use as part of its address. The USPTO will look at the mark as a whole with all the elements to determine whether we can register the mark.
We cannot tell you here whether you will be able to register your particular domain name as a trademark or service mark.
After you file your application, a USPTO examining attorney will review it for compliance with rules, statutes and fee requirements.
If there are no problems with your application, the USPTO will send you a letter that tells you the status of your mark as it proceeds toward registration.
However, if there are problems with the application, the examining attorney will send you a letter detailing any refusals and requirements. You will have an opportunity to respond.
More information on how the USPTO examines domain name trademarks can be found in Section 1209.03(m) of the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) at http://tess2.uspto.gov/tmdb/tmep/1200.htm#_T120903m.
