Own domain names to stop the misappropriating of your personality. Apparently the premier’s personality was recently misappropriated by an Alberta Blogger.
In light of daveberta’s recent receipt of a letter from our premier (whom I am afraid to name here). daveberta registered the domain name edstelmach.ca, soon after he was appointed premier of our Province (notice I didn’t say elected). daveberta then forwarded the domain name to his own blog space, where he is know to have differing opinions than our government. He in fact, uses the premiers name quite freely, when he is writing about the premier. Some might say that it is appropriate use of the name. The whole issue begs the questions – Is it your own name or do you own your name?
In any case, he is under threat of suit by the Premier’s lawyer. You can read the letter from the lawyers at this link. In daveberta’s blog he comments;
“…I am still surprised that the +150 staffed Public Affairs Bureau failed to complete the simple task of registering a $14.00 domain name ”
Even Jim Campbell, with the Alberta PC’s conceded it was a mistake not to register the domain name.
A point well made, I thought. Now, I don’t necessarily recommend running out and registering every domain name possible, but do consider managing your tradename and your “personality” on line.
If you have a unique domain name, or if you are trying to find a great domain name, consider checking the alternative extensions of the same name. I once used a domain name, in the early days of the internet, that was singular. The same domain name, but plural, lead to a porn site. I dropped the domain name. I recommend that at minimum, my Canadian clients, select the .com and .ca version of their domain names. Check to see who is using the other versions, including singular, plural and with hyphenation. You may be accidentally associated with other domains that are your competition or that promote products or ethics that could harm your corporate image.
We also, refer our clients to the Federal Government’s trademarks database. Check that your domain name and business name does not conflict with any registered trade names. While you are there, consider registering your own trademarks or trade names to protect the ownership of your domain names. If you own a domain name, and someone else later registers a trademark for the same name, you stand a chance of losing the domain name to the registered trade name holder. Many people who open a corporation feel that their corporate name is instantly a protected Trademark. This is not necessarily the case… Provincial registration of a named corporation does not relate to a proper trademark registration, which is a Federal service.
Do you own, and protect, your corporate and domain names? Do you think that it was appropriate for daveberta to use the premiers name in a domain name pointing to his blog site? Did the premier over react, or is he right to demand the transfer of ownership of the domain name to his own benefit?
