A domain name performs the same functions online, which a trademark serves in the offline business. While the trademark is striking graphic signifier of your product or company, the domain name is magnificent navigator to your company on the internet, and the virtual image of your business.
Domain names can be registered and protected as trademarks or service marks at the national and international levels, provided that the domain names do satisfy all conditions to be duly registered and protected like the trademark and service marks.
Any unique internet domain name which is capable of identifying and distinguishing goods or services of a company from that of other companies, and can also act as a reliable source identifier for the concerned goods or services on the internet, may be registered and thus protected as trademark, if it satisfies all other rules and requirements for registration which are commonly applicable to the trademarks and service marks. Again, for proper registration of a domain name as a trademark or service mark, this must be unambiguously unique from all other domains names and well-known trademarks on the internet, so that it does not mislead, confuse, or deceive customers of other companies engaged in the same or different fields, or violate public order or morality.
Thus, two threshold requirements in determining whether a domain name can be registered as a trademark are as follows:
- The domain name must be used as a trademark; and
- The domain name must be distinctive.
If both the conditions are satisfied, the domain name can be successfully registered and protected as trademark. If neither is fulfilled, the domain name is merely an Internet address and it will not be entitled to receive trademark protection.
