How do I protect my name?

Question

I use the name HeXagog on everything. I even started up some things bearing my name. Someone else has stolen my name. I need to take legal action so that he cannot use it any longer. Preferably without spending hundreds of dollars. This is extremely important. I have proof that I registered my domain before him, will that help? his domain is hexagog.com, mine is hexagog.ca. try whois-ing the two. mine was first!

Answer 1

Firstly, you should have registered under the .com sooner. The fact that you had hexagog.ca first doesn't mean that you have the right to hexagog.com. You can threaten to sue and this usually will make the other party reliquish the name but it would be advisable to sweeten the deal with a little monies.
It woudl be a good idea to talk to an intellectual property lawyer. Go to www.lawyers.com and look for a lawyer who will give you a free consultation. Call as many as possible and you'll come up with the best answers. You can take it from there.

Answer 2

What name

Answer 3

What you are talking about is basically trademark registration. But you can generally only protect the name if it is being used for some business or commercial purpose, and someone else is using the name in a way that interferes with your business.

But it won't cost hundreds of dollars to resolve a dispute like that. It will cost thousands, at a minimum.

Domain name disputes are an entirely separate thing, and handled through the domain registration agencies. But unless you have a registered trademark, it is unlikely that someone else will be forced to stop using the domain name even if identical.

Answer 4

You may need to file a complaint with the WTO. Here's an example of what a WTO judgment will look like, and what you need to prove: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0550.html

There is a lot of cyber-sitting by speculators trying to force owners of trademarks to pay them money to get what is (arguably, and now by convention) rightfully theirs. You may be a victim of this.

If you want to see how this works in practice, and how arbitrary and capricious it can be, look up news articles on the *.eu domains recently opened for application. There was a lot in the press; here's a Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.eu

As you will see, a trademark owner (either registered as such, or by usage) has rights as against a cyber-sitter. But clever site owners avoid the problem by registering in the beginning different permutations of their names (including *.net, *.biz, *.com etc.)