Rajinder writes: "I just registered a new website and my concern is that I don't want to lose it should someone else register a business name using the same name as my website and challenge me! Is it true if the name has been in use for some time without question and becomes well known during this period that it become a registered product of the owner or the entity using it?"

A business name and a Web site address (domain name) are two separate things. I might register a business name of Susan Ward Inc., for instance, but that would give me no automatic rights to the domain name susanwardinc.com or vice versa. To try and get around this problem, people often register both, or at least try to select a domain name very similar to their business name. They also try to protect their domain name by registering all the likely other domains. So if I had registered susanwardinc.com I would also register susanwardinc.biz, susanwardinc.ca, etc.

It is not true that a name will become a registered product through use at any time. This only applies to trademarks and even then only confers certain rights. (See Trademark Registration in Canada for details about these common law rights.) In short, if you have registered a domain name and keep your registration current, you can’t lose it – but there’s nothing to prevent other people from registering similar names.

For more information on domain names see How to Get and Register a Domain Name.

For more information on registering a business name, see Business Registration.