Protecting your business name?

J

jawilder

Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
2,331
Last year I finally chose a name for my making adventure and was urged by my wife to go ahead and buy the domain name, which was available at the time. Well, I didn't and the name has now been taken by someone else who also makes knives, along with other forged tools.

Is there anything I can do to protect the name so that my potential customers don't confuse his work for mine?
 
Sorry bro, it's kinda first-come first-served when it comes to that.

It's not expensive to register a domain name like, say "James Terrio" or "TerrioKnives" and hang onto it, because it's not a very popular or common name. However, I know of at least three knifemakers using "Wilder" in their name or mark, and I'm 99% sure I know who "snagged" your name. Good for him... that's just good business, baby.

Actually trademarking a business name is a bit more complicated.
 
Well ain't that a bummer Jason. Moral: ALWAYs listen to your wife! She clearly has questionable judgement in men but is otherwise smarter than the both of us put together. Go ahead...admit it.:D

I had a look at that URL/site and gather he's a young buck working hard to make a decent tool at a fair price. No BS just straight up enthusiastic effort. Hard to be personally upset with the guy. Same road - different mile marker you know. Actually wonder if he's aware of this forum?

What to do?

No good answer here but I suppose you could add on "J", "Works" or "Custom", etc and have another round. I know, sucks right? Bet somebody will chime in with a better option.

Or if you're in a hurry just ask your wife...

Best to you
 
The only time you might have a beef with someone taking a domain you want is if you had a trademarked name like Coca Cola and someone went in and bought cocacola.com. Even then, in some cases if you can show you have a popular brand but no trademark, you could get the domain handed over to you. But that is rare.

By the way, wilderforgeoftexas.com is available. I'd use namecheap.com to register it if I were you. Avoid GoDaddy at all costs.
 
james terrio said:
Why? I'm curious.
Click to expand...

The biggest reason is their TOS followed closely by their customer service. I along with others I've known over the years have lost domains registered at GD and no one there seems to be able to tell us why (plus they want to charge you for the privilege of telling your that they don't know what happened). In a nutshell, the TOS you agree to will outline that whatever happens, it's not their fault and they're not responsible and it's all on you ;) It also states somewhere in there (at least it did several years ago when I last read it) that they can take your domain if you violate their TOS for any reason...and they have lots of reasons.

Then you have the fact that they are one of the slowest hosts in the market....

Poor customer support (or did I mention this already?)

They don't have the easiest user interface to use

And a list of other reasons. But for me (who at one time had over 200 domains) I just can't live with their overly restrictive TOS and taking chances on having my domains hijacked.

GoDaddy is one of those businesses that appeal to newbies due to their mass marketing but in reality offer few real advantages of other companies. But the Average Joe doesn't know any better. Experienced webmasters avoid them like the plague.

Just do a search for "reasons to avoid GoDaddy" for more reasons if you need them.
 
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