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I think we almost have to. If you don't grab your trademark now then someone else might, and you don't want someone squatting on it with dodgy content :/ They

by Kavan 15y ago

I think we almost have to. If you don't grab your trademark now then someone else might, and you don't want someone squatting on it with dodgy content :/ They are super expensive though, 10x the price of a .com.

cynest 15y ago
> They are super expensive though, 10x the price of a .com. Not unless a reseller has the .com. This assume you aren't going for something clever though.
SwellJoe 15y ago
Trademark does not require you to own every TLD to protect the mark. If someone does something that is confusing with your trademark, you can sue them. It'd be stupid to waste money on every TLD; there are going to be hundreds of them eventually. There's no reason to voluntarily give your money away for no benefit to you. If someone tries to extort you by abusing your trademark, cross that bridge when you come to it by suing the offender.
- Kavan 15y ago
  It can be super costly to legally gain control of a domain that contains your mark (tens of thousands of dollars). And there is no guarantee you will win it back. Trademarks are registered by country/territory, so even though you may have the mark in the US, it doesn't mean that someone else can't use it in another country. My concern is that many people on HN are building brands, and the last thing you want is someone buying yourbrand.xxx and covering it with porn. If you have an established brand, you almost have to buy the .xxx.
  - SwellJoe 15y ago
    "It can be super costly to legally gain control of a domain that contains your mark (tens of thousands of dollars). And there is no guarantee you will win it back." Why would you want to "win it back" in the case of yourbrand.xxx? It's worthless to a non-porn brand. "My concern is that many people on HN are building brands, and the last thing you want is someone buying yourbrand.xxx and covering it with porn." Why would this be a concern? It's not worth anything to a pornographer to, for example, register virtualmin.xxx and cover it with porn (except maybe for extortion value). I could see "google.xxx" or "twitter.xxx" being a problem, but in those cases, they'd want to sue for trademark infringement. The domain name is irrelevant. "If you have an established brand, you almost have to buy the .xxx." If so, it's a license to extort money. I'm just not going to participate in that sort of scam, and I don't think anyone else should, either. All the people that do are funding further efforts in the same direction.
    - Kavan 15y ago
      Household brands like Twitter, Google, Nike, Zara, Walmart, Ford and KPMG will IMHO pay. This is not binary, it is a continuum. Will TechCrunch buy theirs? Will AirBnb, Path or Zaarly? It is a risk decision for these businesses. For a relatively small amount of money companies are removing the potential brand and legal cost risk of not owning their .xxx. The more important your brand the more likely you will be to pay. I totally agree with you that this is 'extortion', but just because it may not be right, doesn't mean we won't be affected by it.

by Kavan 15y ago

cynest 15y ago

> They are super expensive though, 10x the price of a .com. Not unless a reseller has the .com. This assume you aren't going for something clever though.

SwellJoe 15y ago

Trademark does not require you to own every TLD to protect the mark. If someone does something that is confusing with your trademark, you can sue them. It'd be stupid to waste money on every TLD; there are going to be hundreds of them eventually. There's no reason to voluntarily give your money away for no benefit to you. If someone tries to extort you by abusing your trademark, cross that bridge when you come to it by suing the offender.

Kavan 15y ago
It can be super costly to legally gain control of a domain that contains your mark (tens of thousands of dollars). And there is no guarantee you will win it back. Trademarks are registered by country/territory, so even though you may have the mark in the US, it doesn't mean that someone else can't use it in another country. My concern is that many people on HN are building brands, and the last thing you want is someone buying yourbrand.xxx and covering it with porn. If you have an established brand, you almost have to buy the .xxx.
- SwellJoe 15y ago
  "It can be super costly to legally gain control of a domain that contains your mark (tens of thousands of dollars). And there is no guarantee you will win it back." Why would you want to "win it back" in the case of yourbrand.xxx? It's worthless to a non-porn brand. "My concern is that many people on HN are building brands, and the last thing you want is someone buying yourbrand.xxx and covering it with porn." Why would this be a concern? It's not worth anything to a pornographer to, for example, register virtualmin.xxx and cover it with porn (except maybe for extortion value). I could see "google.xxx" or "twitter.xxx" being a problem, but in those cases, they'd want to sue for trademark infringement. The domain name is irrelevant. "If you have an established brand, you almost have to buy the .xxx." If so, it's a license to extort money. I'm just not going to participate in that sort of scam, and I don't think anyone else should, either. All the people that do are funding further efforts in the same direction.
  - Kavan 15y ago
    Household brands like Twitter, Google, Nike, Zara, Walmart, Ford and KPMG will IMHO pay. This is not binary, it is a continuum. Will TechCrunch buy theirs? Will AirBnb, Path or Zaarly? It is a risk decision for these businesses. For a relatively small amount of money companies are removing the potential brand and legal cost risk of not owning their .xxx. The more important your brand the more likely you will be to pay. I totally agree with you that this is 'extortion', but just because it may not be right, doesn't mean we won't be affected by it.