copyright/trademark questions

[Realist]

i'm COMPLETELY stumped here... does anyone know what these 2 can do for you

does owning "dreamweavercafe.com" already mean you own the copyright to the name and if it does... what does it mean...

can anyone else sell "dreamweaver cafe" t-shirts or does one have to have a trade mark or can you just sell "dreamweavercafe.com" shirts... how are they different

if i have a trademarked name does that mean no one else can use it without permission by me

is there a difference between "somerandomname.com" and "some random name" when it comes to selling goods and registered ownership

any help would be GREATLY appreciated... my head wouldn't hurt any more lol

[bhimpfen]

Originally posted by Realist
i'm COMPLETELY stumped here... does anyone know what these 2 can do for you

does owning "dreamweavercafe.com" already mean you own the copyright to the name and if it does... what does it mean...

can anyone else sell "dreamweaver cafe" t-shirts or does one have to have a trade mark or can you just sell "dreamweavercafe.com" shirts... how are they different

if i have a trademarked name does that mean no one else can use it without permission by me

is there a difference between "somerandomname.com" and "some random name" when it comes to selling goods and registered ownership

any help would be GREATLY appreciated... my head wouldn't hurt any more lol

Copyright usually applies to the images, and content your site has. Trademark is a property of a corporation or person. No one can use that name and use it in anyway.

Example: Office is a trademark of Microsoft. Meaning that Office software is by law legally Microsoft and no one can use that name.

This might help you more:
http://www.funnystrange.com/copyright/trademark.htm

[kristoficus]

See the 12 days of christmas song - someone owns the copyright to one of the lines and if you so much as breath it in front of the copyright owner, you could be fined.

Yes, crazy as it sounds, its true. The world today...crazy

[Cappy]

"Go Here" and "and Here" Both of these should help Realist. They may not handle all of your questions but it is a great start. The first is a thread that was discussed and has the second site that i listed but further in that thread is another resource. That is why I posted both links.
Good Luck.

[Realist]

just to let you guys know i've decided what i need is a trademark and i'm going through with it

i'll keep you guys updated and let you know how it goes

thanks for the links and the advice

[Phil_The_Rodent]

Hmm. Seems to me that a trademark is the way to go, because just thinking it through, I'm not sure you can ever "OWN" a site name. Don't you "lease it" or something to that effect? Who owns all the site names anyhow? Does someone "own" the internet?

[:.ChAngeling..]

I would think that the person who owns the site name would be the person who made it... so no one else would be able to make a site with the exact same name as yours, for example. That's what I think, anyway... I don't know a whole lot about stuff like that.
No, I'm pretty sure no one "owns" the internet. The President of the Internet, hmm...

[El Matador]

i thougth AL Gore owned th internet.... noo my bad. he invented it....

[fotodog]

http://www.loc.gov/copyright/

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/tmlaw2.html

There are distinct differences between copyright material and trademark.

It's not easy, but these are the best links I know of.

Good luck

[Phil_The_Rodent]

I'm reminded of an anecdote from the 80s where TSR (makers of D&D and so forth) wanted to drop a copyright on the term "Nazi" for an Indiana Jones (I believe) game. If I recall correctly, they were actually granted it for a short period of time until they went after someone for using it where all of a sudden the lunacy of it became clear...