What TLDs have to do with TM?

Copyright notices should go out to all major brans as ICANN beings their gTLD process.

Too much web jargon for you?

Let me break it down.

The TLD, or top level domain, is everything to the right of the last period in your domain name.

www.example.com, the TLD is .com

www.example.edu, the TLD is.edu

http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm

ICANN is now going to permit applications for any number of iterations for new TLDs.

That means you could conceivable get .cars, .meat, .sex, etc.

You could also apply for .apple, .ibm, etc.

Most brandable corporations, especially ones with three letters in the name, are aware of the change. But I'm willing to bet there's going to be a slew of infringement cases hitting courtrooms as people try to capitalize on sleepy brand managers.

Certainly a boon of work for TM attorneys....

Google Bids Nortel Patents

How much would you pay for a bunch of patents? REmember, if you're google, you do'nt really need the patents, you could just rip em off and sink the small company you stole from in court over the course of 15 years.

Ok, that's not the best way to go about protecting patents and TMs', but how much would you pay for a slew of tech patents?

Google is bidding on Nortel's patent portfolio to a tune of 900 million. That's only bid one....

Going online with Apps and TM

I stumbled across this website, that many of you frequent often, that keeps tab on TM online (I believe they are broader than the internet though.)

http://www.chillingeffects.org/weather.cgi?WeatherID=648

Check out the interest charts ont he requests by many companies to Google regarding the unauthorized uses of TM in the Andriod market.

Some win, some dont.

March Madness

Errr, I mean the third month of the year madness sporting event!


http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=2276635c-2434-4ec9-855e-7a63fb98173b

Most patents in 2010?

IBM continued its streak of top spot with the most patents awarded to any company by the USPTO. IBM was first with 5,896 patents, Samsung came in second with 4,551 patents, and Microsoft was third with 3,094 patents. Also in the top 10, Intel was eighth with 1,653 patents and HP was 10th with 1,480 patents. Apple gained 563 new patents in 2010 and ranked 46th.

Utah Home of Interesting Search TM Suits

Are you familiar with this piece of legislation that's poised to be law? Utah is home of whacky things, but this one in particular will prove to be a game changer in th eonline world.

In particular, Google is the one affected. Essentially, anybody who wants to compete against a particular brand name online can do so with Adwords. You know, the ads on the side of google's search results? Well you can't actually put the brand name in the ad itself, but competitors can certainly compete for real estate for targeted brands.

Well big bran dnames don't like it, they've tried to force competitors out of the paid search engine. Geico actually tried to sue Google to force them to put only GEICO related search results in their natural organic placements. Essentially they tried to force Google to put all of their Geico web info for free at the top of the search results. They lost.

But it will still be interesting to see how the future suits going forward against competitors from brands.

This may be a case of Utah governors having little concept of how the internet works and unwilling to even adopt basic free market principles. But then again, this isn't an economics blog, but one discussing TM, patents, and the like.

Sarah Palin Tries to patent name

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/04/us-palin-trademark-idUSTRE7135WI20110204

True story. That's how vain she is. Well, actually it's a way to protect her income. But I do'nt care how ridiculous she is, and those who support her, the question I'm interested in is whether she'll eventually be successful in a TM.

"Registration is refused because the applied-for mark, SARAH PALIN, consists of a name identifying a particular living individual whose consent to register the mark is not of record," the US patent department said.

No word if she wants to patent guns, war, and capitalism.