Starting anything without checking for trademarks can put you in trouble at some point of time or other. It may be possible that in your country the trademark may not be available but somewhere in other part of the world some third person may have registered a trademark that collides with your name.
A trademark owner can claim your domain if it means confusingly similar or infringes their trademark. Some trademark owners are very strict and forbit/dont allow their registered mark to be mixed with other word combinations. Be careful !
Doing a initial trademark search is a must before registering a domain name of your choice.
Always do a preliminary trademark search before you
* Registering a Domain Name
* Registering Business Names
* Selecting New Product or Brand Names
How to do a FREE Trademark Search
Initially it would cost more than $1000 to do a official trademark search through an attorney. The best less expensive way is to do it for yourself. Search the trademark databases available in different countries online although it is not 100% foolproof. I have published URLs to only specific important countries, the complete formation available at WIPO Trademarks Database site.
List of Trademark Databases Online
Madrid International Registrations
http://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/services
Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (CommunityTrademarks)
http://oami.eu.int/CTMOnline/Request...en_SearchBasic
Australia
http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/tradem...ch_index.shtml
Austria
http://www.patent.bmvit.gv.at
Brazil
http://www.inpi.gov.br
Canada
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/cipo/trade...ch/tmSearch.do
Chile
http://www.dpi.cl/tapa.asp?cuerpo=486
Czech Republic
http://isdvapl.upv.cz/servlet/page?_...chema=PORTAL30
Estonia
http://www.epa.ee/client/default.asp?wa_id=438
Finland
http://tavaramerkki.prh.fi/
France
http://www.icimarques.com/
(access subject to payment)
Germany
https://dpinfo.dpma.de
Hong Kong
http://ipsearch.ipd.gov.hk/tmlr/jsp/index.html
Hungary
http://elajstrom.hpo.hu/HPOAdatbazis...andler?lang=EN
Ireland
http://www.patentsoffice.ie/eregister/Query/TMQuery.asp
Israel
http://patentim.justice.gov.il/db1.htm
Japan
http://www.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/homepg_e.ipdl
Mexico
http://marcas.impi.gob.mx
(access subject to payment)
New Zealand
http://www.iponz.govt.nz/search/cad/dbssiten.main
Poland
http://www.uprp.pl/patentwebaccess/d...nguage=english
Republic of Korea
http://kipricd2.kipris.or.kr/eng/
Russian Federation
http://www.fips.ru/ensite/dbs/dbs.htm
Slovakia
http://www.upv.sk
Slovenia
http://www2.uil-sipo.si/dse.htm
Spain
http://www.oepm.es/
Sweden
http://www.prv.se/eng/trademarks/index_rseng.html
Switzerland
https://www.swissreg.ch/srclient/faces/jsp/start.jsp
United Kingdom
http://www.patent.gov.uk/tm.htm
United States of America
http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm
I searched online for countless hours to locate the online trademark databases of different countries. Just a thought that i could share my findings with DP people.
Any compliments much appreciated as it would encourage me to work more.