Teton-Valley.org

Members of the congregation were asked to contribute articles on their favorite places, things to do, hobbies, recreational activities, and other interests. This would be a valuable “insiders” perspective that was not trying to promote or market anything in particular.

It is more a word-of-mouth approach for those who want to know what people who live and work in Teton Valley are willing to share about where they live.

The site got off to a great start and ranked on Google’s page one almost immediately, unfortunately leading to its early demise.

Teton-Valley.org Threatened To Be Sued

Here’s the story. The church used the title for their website “Teton Valley News”. The local newspaper of the same name saw the site as direct competition to their commercial, profit orientated website.

They quickly unleashed their corporate lawyers on the church claiming trademark infringement in a lawsuit. After legal counsel, the church was confident they had not violated any law because no one can lay claim to a geographical name.

Teton Valley can not be legally registered as a trademark by anyone. However, the minimum cost to defend themselves against the large corporate entity would be $25,000. Being a small church who could not even support a full time pastor, the Deacon’s decision was easy.

They decided to change the name to Teton Valley, dropping News from the title. The case never got to court and the church never signed an agreement to not use Teton Valley News and still owns several domain names including Teton-Valley-News.com.

Lesson Take Away

Another valuable lesson learned. Make sure any domain name chosen does not impinge on someones trademark, slogan, brand, etc. Unlike geographical names, companies do have legal protection from others trying to take advantage of their corporate property.

A good example would be snagging the domain name Pepsi.com if it happened to be available. You would not only be forced to turn it over to Pepsi company, but you could be fined and responsible for all legal fees.

This is why we always check the legal aspects of any of our clients domain name choices before registering it.