by Gabrielle A. Holley, Esq.
To dot com or not to dot com? Are we tired of asking this question yet? One answer is, ownership of a domain name that corresponds to your trademark, while not necessarily constituting trademark use, is an important part of a comprehensive trademark portfolio. But I hear a collective sigh from the United States Patent and Trademark Office as yet another examining attorney drafts yet another office action telling the applicant that the top level domain ("TLD") name portion of their trademark (.com, .net., .org) is a descriptive non-source indicator, and that while TLDs are non-source indicators they do serve tell consumers that the user of the TLD or its content has something to do with the internet, making the TLD even more descriptive and non-registrable.
