You’ve chosen a name for your brand and your website. But does your trademark also protect your domain? And what if someone else uses the same name? These are two different but complementary assets, and they should be planned together.

Trademark and Domain Name: What’s the Difference?

A trademark is an intellectual property right. It protects a name, logo or slogan for specific goods and services in a defined territory. You register it with your national intellectual property office; in Moldova, that’s AGEPI.

A domain name is the technical address of a website. You register it with a registrar, and it gives you no intellectual property rights. Registering a domain doesn’t protect your name as a brand, and registering a trademark doesn’t reserve the domain. They are two separate processes.

Domains are registered extension by extension. If you own mybrand.md, nothing stops a stranger from taking mybrand.com or mybrand.ro. To reduce the risk of cybersquatting, secure the extensions that matter to your business in advance.

How to Protect Your Brand Name: Check It, Then Register the Domain

First, search the trademark database for similar marks. A domain that is free isn’t necessarily legally available: it may infringe someone else’s rights. Then check the extensions you need.

If the domain is available, register it right away, before filing your trademark application. If the domain is taken, find out what its owner does before looking for an alternative.

Don’t register every extension at random. Choose the ones your business needs: the national one (.md), the international one (.com) and those of countries where you operate or plan to grow. File your trademark in the countries where you do business.

Domain and Trademark Disputes: What to Do

If someone has registered a domain containing your trademark, you have several options. For most international extensions, the UDRP procedure lets you request the transfer or cancellation of a domain registered in bad faith. National extensions have their own procedures. An amicable approach often works too: a letter to the domain owner. Going to court is a last resort.

If the domain predates your trademark, recovering it is much harder. An older domain doesn’t guarantee rights to the name on its own: you must be able to show that the website was actually in use. So keep evidence of how your domain has been used.

Need help choosing and registering a domain? reg.md is Moldova’s No. 1 domain sales service.