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Naming your Web biz
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February 29, 2000: 10:43 a.m. ET
Do your homework on copyrights, domain name registration
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Dear Jane: I'm in the process of starting an online business. I'm based in Quito, Ecuador. I've thought of a name for it, but how can I make sure no other company has the same name? Also, can I patent my company name? And, if by accident, I choose a name that belongs to another company, can they sue me?
Determining whether anyone anywhere in the world has your name will be a very long and expensive process, but you can start by registering the name you've chosen with an online registration company and register it in as many countries as you can afford to. If the registrations are available, that means no one is using the name, at least online.
NetworkSolutions.com and Register.com are registering names for U.S. Web sites and for sites operating in most other countries. You can't patent a company name, but you can copyright it. Copyright laws vary from country to country, so you will have to find out how to do it properly in each country.
You can trademark the name of a product or service to protect it from infringement. If you plan to do business in the U.S., you can find out about the process at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
If you just start using a name and hope for the best, you may eventually be contacted by the company that owns the name. Rather than suing you, their attorneys will probably send you what is called a "cease and desist" letter, asking you to stop using their name. If you don't stop, then they can file a lawsuit and ask a judge to stop you from using the name.
(Jane Applegate, a syndicated columnist and the author of 201 Great Ideas
for Your Small Business, covers small business for CNNfn.com.) 
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