Role of fictitious names as they relate to products & domains for a business entity


1

I own an LLC-based out of California in the bay area. While I own the basic domain for my company, I intend to launch my entity's first project using a different domain/name. That is, it's still owned and operated under the wing of my company, but the project name is not the same as the company name. Same is true for the domain. e.g., MyCompany.com vs MyProduct.com.

Given this, do I need to register the domain of the product as a fictitious (dba) name associated with the company? Or is it sufficient to simply specify company ownership in my site's domain whois info, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and maybe the About Us sections? Additionally, if it is recommended that I file a fictitious name specific to the project, do I need to include the tld? (MyNewProject.com) Or is the high level name sufficient (MyNewProject)

I don't know if this effects anything, but the project's monetization is affiliated-based... Simply sending leads.

Thanks!

Edit: Just to clarify a little more, I intend to release numerous projects under the LLC, each with different names. Just starting out with this first project though :)

Legal Domain

asked Apr 11 '11 at 04:05
Blank
Stranded Panda
8 points
Get up to $750K in working capital to finance your business: Clarify Capital Business Loans

1 Answer


0

Relax! There's nothing to stop you registering any ".com" domain name that you can find -- you don't need to have any association between your business name and the domain name.

You do want to include your company details in the whois data, however, and it is definitely a good idea to include the company name in the legal small print.

If you want to secure traffic to your site through an SSL certificate (for https:// traffic) then you must have your current company details listed in the whois record. You'll need to provide appropriate documentation when you purchase the SSL certificate -- registrars differ, but an example is here.

answered Apr 12 '11 at 00:08
Blank
Jeremy Mc Gee
371 points

Your Answer

  • Bold
  • Italic
  • • Bullets
  • 1. Numbers
  • Quote
Not the answer you're looking for? Ask your own question or browse other questions in these topics:

Legal Domain