Avoid Trademark Infringement When You Choose a Domain Name

A trademark is a distinctive name, symbol, motto, or design that legally identifies a company or its products and services.

The domain name — the word or phrase that identifies the Web site may qualify as a legal trademark if a company uses it in commerce or if the company notifies the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that them intend to use it in commerce.

It is important to know than domain registrars are not obligated to check if a domain name violates an existing trademark. If a company get a domain name that creates a trademark conflict it could lose it, if the trademark owner takes legal action against them. It is always better to do a trademark search before to register a domain name. 

How to conduct a trademark search?

Before to register a domain name, conduct a trademark search to find any trademarks that conflict with the name you want. If the PTO declines an application to register a trademark because it conflicts with an existing trademark, the government will still charge the filing fee. It is possible to do a trademark search on the Web site of U.S.

http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm , or you can hire someone to do it for you.