It seems like nearly every term is becoming a trademark term but it also seems that when companies are filing for trademarks for a term, they often leave out the simple, yet very important idea of registering the domain name to match the trademark! This is just silly because it is important to protect that term online as well.
It is almost always cheaper to register (hand register) or purchase a domain name from the current owner BEFORE you launch a marketing campaign using a specific term.
Let me use a recent campaign that Subway® recently launched on 2-4-2010. Subway filed a trademark for the term Footlong Nation™ and also launched a campaign with a contest for its customers using the term Footlong Nation Appreciation. During the filing process and even up to the time they launched the campaign, the shorter and easier to remember domain name FootlongNation.com was available to register for about $10.
Subway launches the campaign and somebody other than Subway registers the domain name FootlongNation.com on 2-15-2010 .
So now if Subway wanted an "easy way" to direct it’s customers to the contest by using the domain name FootlongNation.com, they are going to have to either pay the person who purchased the domain name or file a UDRP / WIPO to legally get it! Both are going to cost a great deal more than $10 and take a lot longer amount of time!
Yes, somebody other than Subway also registered the longer version of the campaigns name, FootlongNationAppreciation.com (on 2-9-2010) as well.
Subway decided to use a sub domain for the contest but the problem with doing this is you are only covering one aspect of website traffic and that is Search Engine traffic. Direct Navigation is covered by owning the exact match term and adding .com to it. It is becoming much more natural for people to see or hear a term and find it on the web by adding .com to the exact term.
IMO, Subway should of purchased FootlongNation.com and used it to help promote its campaign. FootlongNation.com makes A Lot of sense to the target market, matching the campaigns "name". Owning the longer version FootlongNationAppreciation.com would of been a safety registration for those that would type the full name of the campaign so they went to the correct location Subway would choose. Both domain could simply use 301 redirection to the sub domain used or could have been used on a microsite.
The problem, Subway didn’t purchase either! This was a mistake IMO and they will lose some traffic because of it. (all because of a $20 mistake). Secondly, I think it is MUCH easier to provide your customers with an easy to remember domain name to find the contest.
With some trademark filings, the matching domain name may already be in use or simply owned by somebody, so if you want to purchase it, you will have to contact them directly to do so. If you are going through the troubles and cost of filing a TM, I think it is wise to own the domain name as well.
