Small business owner asks small business advisor Alice Jacobs:

Q: I am planning to launch an online business that markets a specialty product. I checked to see if the domain name I wanted was available. Unfortunately, the only addresses left for me to choose from are limited to one of the the new endings, .US…

An application for RED BULL for tequila is rejected by the TTAB on the basis of prior registrations for RED BULL for scotch whiskey and malt liquor.  Although apparently there aren’t manufacturers who sell tequila and whiskey or malt liquor, the public might assume that there are.  Via the Finnegan firm.

Konica and Minolta announced yesterday that it will merge to form Konica Minolta Holdings.  Congratulations to:

Registrant:
Jinhee Lee
   Rm. 101-1210, Ssangyong Apt., 702, Changsin-3 Dong Chongro-Ku
   Seoul

   Domain Name: KONICAMINOLTA.COM
   Registrar: HANGANG Systems,Inc. dba doregi.com

   Administrative, Technical, Billing Contact:
      Jinhee Lee  Applelee@lycos.co.kr
      (02)-762-7483
      
   Record created…

I’m sorry I missed this when it came out in September.  Here’s an article from Telephony (via ICB Toll Free News) regarding the practice of mis-spelled toll free numbers (as in 1-800-OPERATER instead of 1-800-OPERATOR).

Here was a strange Sixth Circuit case  from 1996 in which Holiday Inn, owner of 1-800-HOLIDAY was not…

Via BNA Internet Law News, an article regarding the ABA attempting to define the practice of law, so as to allow states to enforce statutes that prohibit the unauthorized practice of law.  A pending defintion: “the application of legal principles and judgment with regard to the circumstances or objectives of a person that requires…

I am struck both by the brazenness of the domain name registrant in this story, and the writer’s failure to make any kind of comment that this person is admitting to actions which carry hundreds of thousands of dollars in statutory damages. The article seems to be saying “Commit cyber-squatting – you’ll make some

On the one hand, kanes-furniture.net might infringe the trademark rights of Kanes Furniture.  On the other hand, given that kanes-furniture.net appears to hae been instrumental in channeling consumer complaints to the Florida AG which led to a suit against Kanes Furniture, there is an element of retaliation to this trademark suit which led to the…

From the article referenced in the next item:

“We need to put in speed bumps to keep people honest,” said Jack Valenti, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America, which is lobbying federal regulators to require many devices to incorporate technology that prevents consumers from sending digital media files over the Internet. “If …