Domain Trademarks | Generic Name Not Entitled to Trademark Registration

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently ruled that hotels.com was not distinctive enough to qualify for a trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  The Internet trademark decision, although it pertains to a domain name, is quite consistent with trademark law as a whole.  It is long standing precedent that the addition of a .com domain designation, or any top level domain for that matter, does not make a generic term registerable.  Instead, the mark as a whole must be distinctive enough to qualify for registration, and therefore protection.

Brandjacking and Cybersquatting Continues to Grow

MarkMonitor® has reported that the online abuse of leading brands rose in 2008.  The report stated that 80% of the abusive sites in 2007 were still active in 2008.  Cybersquatting continues to rank highest as the means for exploiting brands.  MarkMonitor’s® Brandjacking Index investigates trends on how the most popular brands are abused online and the industries causing the most abuse.  It appears that the companies most successful in fighting abuse defend their brand at the highest levels of management.  It appears that the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom host the majority of brandjacking websites.  Phishing has increased tremendously in the financial services, up 135%.