questions about domain names and copyrights

[SRH]

i was curious if any of you guys had expirience with either...

there is currently a website with the same name of my business but formatted differently with dashes between the words vs word against word... and on there website it says copyright www. name with dashes.com.... i checked on some domain search engines and the domain for my name is available...how does this work with the copyright and format on the other website?

[Ralph]

chances are he does not actually have a trademark on the name.

Copyright is more or less a reminder not to steal anything from the site. This refers to content.

Should he try to trademark the name, he may have an edge on you if he can show he had used the name before.

Is he a competitor? If not I would not worry about it and just register your name...

[slightlybent47]

Try whois.net and see if that helps.

[fastredrider44]

I have a friend in a very similiar situation. He just got a call the other day with a guy saying he was gonna be contacting his lawyer yada yada yada. Ones a powdercoating business and one's a polishing business. The guy all offensive about it has established his name and website as Sample Name. Why can't my friend have his name as Sample Name Powdercoating, since they're not even remotely close location wise, nor deal with the name product?:confused:

[SRH]

i had my lawyer look into the name and everything came back ok...but i happened to notice that copyright. thanks for somewhat clarifying what i was curious about ralph