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[sjmms]

Straight out of the gate let me say I may be in the wrong forum - If I am please let me know.

I want to start a reume wrting business and have a website as well. I want to call the business...well Ill call it  www.XYZ.com (wich from what I can see is not taken and I cant find any businesses with that name) My actuall llc (wich i would be collecting the payment for services) Is named differnt ****Marketing Services, LLC. I would like to have that business name (XYZ.com) be a "devision of ****Marketing Services, LLC. That is what I want to do , here are my questions...

#1: Can I advertise as xyz.com and collect payment under my seperate name llc?
#2: Can someone come along and start a business with the same name (wxy,llc or other extension), then sue me for the rights to that domain since My actuall llc is a complete other name?

I did the bet I could to explain that in a way that can be understood, please welp!

[JSonnabend]

The name under which you provide services is a trademark, and assuming no one has a conflicting senior use, then by using it, you establish trademark rights in it.  You should register those rights federally, but that's a different issue.

In most states, you have to file a "fictitious name", "d/b/a" or similar filing if your name in trade (e.g., the mark we discussed above) is different from the formal legal entity (e.g., your LLC).

- Jeff

[sjmms]

Straight up Jeff - This is exatly the direction I was looking for, I really aprreciate it. Although I consider this matter in question closed if anyone else would like to share their "two cents" thats great too. Awsome , again thank you JEff!

[Spielman]

Jeff is dead on with the analysis. The one thing you should consider is having appropriate "terms of service" on your web site, which clearly identifies the business entity and establishes an appropriate contractual relationship. In fact, if you are going to accept payments online you should consider having a click-through agreement.
If you look around you will see that it is completely common to have a dba for domains. The more you do up front to take the rights steps and protect yourself, including filing a trademark, the easier it can generally be when a dispute arises. Please note, just filing your business name with your individual state does not mean that it is free from trademark complaints by third parties. The states generally could care less that you filed a business name. They don't cross check with the federal trademark register.

Good luck.
Darren Spielman
www.ComplexIP.com

[Kaitlin]

Amen to both earlier posts.  Great that you're checking all this out ahead of time, sounds like you're off to a good start.

One thing I'll add is re the choice of trademark/domain name.  Am assuming you'll be getting a search done to make sure you have priority with the name you choose for the mark, but want to add a caveat re the sort of name you pick.

In my experience, new businesses all too often lean toward descriptive names for their trademarks--reasoning it will help the business to have the name describe what the services are (and of course in the context of internet searching hoping keywords in the name will help attract hits to the site). 

But the more a name approaches a description of the service, the weaker it is for trademark purposes.  Stronger marks are those that are "suggestive" -- i.e. they hint at the service without being literally descriptive -- or those that are arbitrary (like "apple" for computers) or fanciful (like "xerox").  You can find articles such as this one on the relative strength of trademarks by googling "strong trademarks".

[artchain]

In my experience, new businesses all too often lean toward descriptive names for their trademarks--reasoning it will help the business to have the name describe what the services are (and of course in the context of internet searching hoping keywords in the name will help attract hits to the site). 

But the more a name approaches a description of the service, the weaker it is for trademark purposes.  Stronger marks are those that are "suggestive" -- i.e. they hint at the service without being literally descriptive -- or those that are arbitrary (like "apple" for computers) or fanciful (like "xerox").  You can find articles such as this one on the relative strength of trademarks by googling "strong trademarks".

Kaitlin, this is a good point regarding trademarks, but as you note, it's in direct conflict with the requirements for a strong domain name.  The domain name is a very important factor for search engine optimization.  A name like "Beverley Hills Plastic Surgery" or "Orlando Auto Repair" would not meet the needs of a strong trademark, but would in fact be a great name for SEO purposes.

Depending on the business, having a strong trademark, or any trademark at all, may be less important than good search engine placement.

Without knowing the specifics of the business, it's impossible to make that judgment, but I did want to point out the conflicting needs of trademarks and SEO.