Why Use The Trademark Office – Turkmenistan is a Click Away!

Sometimes I simply can’t resist a quick scan of my spam folder before deleting it.  I have always had a private theory that as long as the p*n!s spams outnumbered the payday loan spams, the economy was still doing okay.

One spam message caught my eye: “Your TRADEMARK domain name is now available.”

Dear Sir / Madam,

We are Mumbai based domain name registration service providers and we offer domain name registration services worldwide for over 250+ different domain name extensions.

We would like to inform you that one of the most important domain name extension .TM (also known as Trademark Domains) are now available for registration.

Registration charges for .tm domain are USD 192.00 per year.

Please do let us know if you would like to process the registration for your trademark domain name.

Thanks & best regards,

Network Computers

Okay, yes I wasn’t quick enough to get in the the Micronesia (FM), Tuvalu (TV), or Cameroon (CM) scams concepts.  Or at least too ethical (which sounds so much better).  I’m sure the people signing up for their very own Turkmenistan domain (not to be confused with Kazakhstan by those who didn’t see Borat) have no idea what they are buying.   At least they don’t need to worry that someone in Turkmenistan may challenge their domain name – they are ranked 167th out of 169 countries in the Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index.  Very few people in Turkmenistan surf the web, let alone have web sites.

If you want to protect your intellectual property – check out your country’s intellectual property office and retain competent legal counsel.  If you want to fall for internet scams – stick to the ones spelled p*n!s so at least dictators don’t profit from your gullibility.