Protect Your Law Firm Name or Suffer the Consequences
Yes, it has become necessary to copyright or trademark your law firm name and register your service mark (aka tagline). You'd think you already have a possessory interest or right of privacy in your own name. But that's not true on the Internet, as two law firms found out the hard way in recent copyright litigation.
What prompted my attention is Icann's creation of a universe of new web suffixes, or top-level domain names. Icann, which oversees the Internet address system, will approve new domain names like .law, .legal and .attorney, along with specific names like .sidleyaustin, .skadden and .mayerbrown, for example.
Suppose someone registers your law firm name? Icann says they'll have safeguards to prevent squatters and opportunists from using trademarked and copyrighted names. One thing is certain: today the protections you have without a copyright are slim to none.
Right now any competitor can use your name or the name of your firm as a keyword in their Google adwords campaign. This can cause the competitor's ad to appear above and on top of your own organic search listing. Google doesn't care if a competitor is being a parasite on your Internet leads by using your name -- unless the name is copyrighted. This actually happened to a prominent Milwaukee law firm, when a smaller competitor used the partner's personal names as keywords. It's a common, sleazy tactic, but it's not illegal.
Similarly, a Raleigh, NC, law firm discovered that a competitor had copied its website -- including their tagline, client testimonials, marketing text, design and images. The imposter website caused an immediate and measurable drop in the leads to the law firm's website. The brazen audacity of the imposter was over-the-top, and the law firm sued and settled the case in their favor.
I served as an expert witness in both cases, so it's not my place to go into detail. My point is that your competitors will stoop to tactics that are so low, you won't believe it. If you haven't copyrighted and trademarked your law firm, do it now or suffer the consequences.
Copyright 2011 Larry Bodine, all rights reserved.
