The Legal Direction Trademark Journey

Like many of you, before I settled on a company name, I made sure the domain name was available. I should have purchased it right then and there, but I wasn’t ready to spend money yet.

When I went to buy the domain name a few weeks later, it was gone. The site I used to search availability of the domain name tracks searches and sells the results. Someone cyber-squatted me.

I was willing to pay a small “stupid tax.” I offered the guy (generic term here) $500 to release his $12.99 domain name. Not a bad ROI for three weeks’ work,

I thought. He (generic) thought differently. He offered www.legaldirection.com for $4,500.

Since I hadn’t started yet, it wasn’t critical to me to have that exact name. I bought nclegaldirection.com, legaldirectionnc.com before I settled on thelegaldirection.com. I also could have gone with legaldirection.co.

I filed a federal trademark application for Legal Direction for legal services. If I obtain a registration, no-one else in the country offering legal services can use a mark that is confusingly similar to Legal Direction. This could mean that whoever ends up with thelegaldirection.com may not be able to offer legal services under that name. (I hope it pans out that way.)

Every few months, the trademark owner contacts me. He says he has someone else who is interested in that domain name, but since mine is so close, they want to offer it to me first. Lately, I’ve been asked what my final offer would be.

I am no longer interested. I found an alternate name, have marketed it well, and have staked out my little corner of the internet.

If you have questions about your company name or trademark, I’d love to talk it over with you.