Applying for Federal Trademark Protection

Once you settle on and register a domain name, you should apply for trademark protection with the Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). While you don't need to register your trademark with the USPTO to establish your rights to your domain name, doing so strengthens your power to enforce your rights against anyone else who tries to use the name to market similar goods and services, and prevents someone else from registering the same name with the USPTO. This may prevent a lot of headache in the future.