analysis From a potential typo-trademark to a unique creative development spin

[Eric Lyon]

The topic of Trademark domains comes and goes with time, however, it is always emphasized relatively the same.

Regardless of country, when a brand is globally recognized by the top economic super powers, you have to be very cautious.

I generally suggest people stay away from blatant tm's and TM typos, even when a spin is available for safety.

namePros does have a policy that prohibits blatant trademarks or typos of trademarks from being listed in the marketplace. So please don't list that one here.

The above is a personal response of mine on a TM .com domain asset topic.

With that out of the way, let's take a look at an evaluation I did today with what looks like a typo-trademark on the surface, but had a creative spin hidden for a new brand to emerge, that could potentially help protect the asset owner from any brand confusion issues.

@kite26 - is correct in the fact that you should always be aware of exact match and similar trademarks already in use.

Note: You should never, ever, list a domain name asset for sale referencing a blatant established trademark as a reason to why your asset has any value or to justify the price. This shows intent to profit of a Trademark and can lead down a dark road.

Let's take a look at yours,

Asset Type:
Brandable / Potential-Typo-TM-Issue

Defining ********:
Google results show it's a misspelled word of ********. However, the urban dictionary popular for slangs not in world renowned dictionaries says:

Note: This helps give you some direction for unique and creative end-users, avoiding any conflicts with the blatant globally known ******* TM (********).

Note: That's bad news. It means that ********* isn't even a dictionary word you can spin on. It's a unique brand-word. This limits you to creativity or spinning the Urban Dictionary meaning, to be safe.

Revenue Model:
So, now that we got creative, how does it actually make the end-user money?

What should you expect to pay? A professional business plan consultant will generally charge between $3,000 and $15,000 for a complete business plan (although there are cases where $50,000 is justified).

Source

Let's say that they are new to the industry of consulting and help others set-up their business plan, find the grant that works best, etc.. That puts the start-up at $3,000 per client.

With a poor marketing budget, let's say they manage to bring on 2 new clients per month. That's $3,000 x 2 clients = $6,000 x 12 months = $72,000 in their first year of operation prior to taxes or overhead costs.

Opinion:
I think your asset is challenged because it's way too close to a globally recognized made-up-brand-word. However, if you spin it right and master the presentation in a creative way, it could work as a unique brand that does not infringe on another TM.

It's unfortunate, but because of the similarity to Big ******** Brand, there is no reseller liquidity at all. Way too much legal risk for most to play with it.

My thoughts below is mainly based on the potential creative end-user direction, since there is no liquidity and high-risk if not handled properly.

The hard part is identifying the potential end-user, gathering more research on their specific niche, formulating a presentation, negotiating, and closing.

Your asset does not have any reseller liquidity in today's market and you will have to do a lot of leg-work to find the right buyer and apply the hard parts I also mentioned above, which in most cases, investors fail at.

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