Trademark Application of Dial-A-Mattress - Assignment Example

The search is not obligatory but is prudent for the following reasons; it will help the company in assessing whether the application has a probability for success, or if it would be a waste of money and time to try to register it in its current form (Pike 2004, 16).

Trademark laws permit businesses to defend the symbolic information that is related to their products and services, by thwarting the use of such data by competitors (Sherman & Lionel1999, 14). Sherman & Lionel (1999, 14) argue that for a person or a company to be able to obtain a trademark guard, a mark should be distinctive. Distinctive usually applies to any fanciful or coined term or word that does not directly look like an existing mark. No mark will be able to obtain trademark protection if it is a descriptive or common term used in the market. To obtain trademark security, a mark should be used in the market. If several marketers claim possession of a specific mark, the person or company that first used the mark will generally receive the protection.

Nevertheless, if the mark is recognized only in a restricted territory, it may not be protected in areas where it is not known to consumers. The several third-party websites used by online retailers selling mattresses or bedding feature internet addresses (uniform resource locators) ending in mattress.com or containing “mattress” and “.com have the right to protect their trademark and have the right to notify the board that that the intended domain name is infringing upon their trademark.

This is because If the domain name of Dial-A-Mattress has the potential of perplexing the public into believing the holder of the trademark is somehow affiliated with the other companies, they may bring violation claims against Dial-A-Mattress. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board would have to determine based upon the trademark regulations if the domain name, in actual sense, has the potential of perplexing the public. Registrants of the domain names can be able to protect themselves as well. If Dial-A-Mattress’s domain name does not infringe upon any trademarks, it may too be able to register the trademark.

Being able to register a domain name as a trademark is not trouble-free, but it can be successfully done (Shrikrushna 2010, 34). Even though it is not possible to register the “.com” if the use of the name is in line with the criterion of the law, it can be successfully registered.