And Spite. Register Your Trademark for Spite: The Legal Direction Trademark Story

Although I’m well aware of the benefits of filing a federal trademark registration, I had no intention of filing one for my company name or logo. However, 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 for the availability of domain names tracks searches and sells the results. Someone cyber-squatted me.

I was willing to pay a small “stupid tax.” I offered them $500 to release this $12.99 domain name. Not a bad ROI for three weeks’ work, I thought. They thought differently. They 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 or legaldirection.law.

Every few months, the cyber-squatter contacted me. They said they had someone else who was interested in that domain name, but since mine is so close, they wanted to offer it to me first. They asked what my final offer would be to reclaim my original domain name.

My “final offer” was to file a federal trademark application for Legal Direction for legal services. The next time they called me, I politely informed them that anyone in the US who bought that domain name would not be able to use it for legal services. The calls stopped. That domain is currently for sale.

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

I filed a federal trademark application out of spite, and I still think it was as valid a reason as any other.

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