Some good advice.. http://www.commlawblog.com/2011/12/articles/intellectual-property/icanns-new... Once it’s finally implemented, the URS will provide a very streamlined process, considerably faster and cheaper than the UDRP (and vastly faster and cheaper than the litigation route). With the availability of such a process, trademark holders now have more incentive to take steps to protect their most important identifiers. I’m not advocating that every business flood the USPTO with trademark applications for any catchphrase or nickname that comes to mind. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that, at a minimum, unique business names and prominent “brands” be protected with federal registration. Let’s say, for example, that you’re a radio station owner. You have one major identifier: your call sign. You may also have a key slogan that you feature even more prominently that your call – something like “Hot 99 - Rocking the Valley”. And maybe you also have some wacky morning drive DJs using locally-popular personas that you helped create and cultivate (f’rinstance, the fictional but awesome“Crazy Ira and the Douche”<http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/exclusives/crazy-ira-and-the-douche-...>). A federal trademark application costs $275 to file, not including a couple of hours of legal time, give or take, to put together and file. You could probably register all three of the identifiers – call sign, slogan, character names – for well under $5,000. And that protects you for 10 years, as long as you continue to use the marks in question and maintain your registrations. -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org -------------------------------------------------------------- -