Is it really bad to have a domain that is similar to another one? I mean there are so many already it is hard to be unique. I don't want to mess up on the first step.

not neccesarily.. if your name is similar to a famous one for instance, you might get extra traffic from people looking for the other one, but misspelling it.. don't worry about it too much, but take care not to infringe any copyrights.

I agree you have to be careful about copyrights, and I'm not sure it's easy to predict how a court may perceive a name if it was very similar to another one.

On the other hand, I think some creatively similar names can be good, like Lamebook which is a shot at some Facebook contributors, not that I'd spend a lot of time on either site, personally.

Regarding the similar name copyrights... i guess if it was Nike and yours was Nikey, it might become an issue if you are also selling sportswear... Some of he big companies, like McDonalds, are very aggressive in persuing what they consider breeches of their copyright..

Nike would sue and they'd win, if your site and company began after them. If it was before, it would be an interesting court case that could go either way.

Orrymain wrote:


I agree, and I think we should all remember just how deep a company like Nike's pockets are when it comes to what they're willing to spend on lawyers and court costs.

I'd avoid any possible problems with a company like that.