Website Trademark

[evropa]

I am interested to know the following:

If I were to start a website such as HI5 or Myspace am I required to register the websites name and trademark with anyone other then a domain company? If not, are individuals able to use my websites name + trademark on other websites?

Will I be responsible for any damage a user might occur while on my website?

What should I make sure I include in the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy when starting a community website such as HI5?

Tips and Suggestions?

[-i-dont-know-]

If it's going to be big it's probably wise to get a proffessional to right up your TAC and PP.

[evropa]

Okay, is there anything other then the TOS and PP that I should to include on the website?

[-i-dont-know-]

Looking around on other sites. You can't go too far wrong if you have similar ones to large sites eg. at the bottom of http://www.bbc.co.uk/

[evropa]

Thats what I was thinking. I just wanna make sure that to protect my websites name/logo all I had to do was make a note of in the terms of use?

[-i-dont-know-]

A current discussion about copyright you might find useful:
http://www.htmlforums.com/showthread.php?t=73583

[evropa]

Thanks for the link and all your help.

[-i-dont-know-]

Glad I could :D

[Horus_Kol]

One point - Trademarks are not the same as copyrights...

Copyrights are inherent on creation - however, there are some services which offer to hold evidence of when you created something so that you can contest any abuse of your IP in legal courts.

Trademarks must be registered - but are not appropriate for large designwork - they are better used on names and so on....

As far as creating a domain name - if you are working under a particular name (such as Microsoft) and then someone else starts using that name for a similar field, then you can sue for loss of business...

Currently, Apple Records and Apple Computers are fighting out issues in court because of changes in Apple Computers' products (namely, producing/distributing music) - despite having co-existed in different markets for many years.

[evropa]

Say if i registered HorusKol.com would anyone be able to use that same name for their business? Would I have to register it? If so do you know a website where I can find more information ie pricing?

[Horus_Kol]

if you were to now register that .com, then you could not prevent me from using my Horus Kol name or domain, as I have already had a .co.uk domain registered with that name for some years - proving priority on the name...

anything further than that, it all gets a bit difficult and mired in legal precedences and stuff... and you'd need to talk to a proper lawyer about that...