But Menhart points out that it has been trademarked before: In 1996, a California attorney registered such rights, which expired in 2000, opening the door for a new application.
Menhart's original application asked that he be granted exclusive rights to the term - which he first used commercially a year ago - as it relates to a laundry list of legal services, including "providing information relating to legal affairs." That would have allowed him to sue others if he was granted the trademark.
He's already sent what he called a "friendly letter" to Illinois attorney Michael Grossman pointing out similarities in their blog titles - Grossman's was CyberBlawg, Menhart's is CyberLawg - and asserting his rights to the name.
Grossman declined to comment other than to wish Menhart well. He has changed his blog's name, however, "for a number of reasons," he said.
A few years ago, Menhart made waves as a law student by filing at least nine lawsuits under a Maryland law against alleged e-mail spammers nationwide. He asked for awards of between $3,000 and $168,750. Technology advocates lauded his efforts, while e-mail marketers derided them.
Eventually, one of Menhart's cases led a Montgomery County judge to declare the Maryland law unconstitutional, which was later reversed, but not before the decision made headlines nationwide and Menhart became famous in certain circles. He has taken the notoriety he received from press coverage and turned it into a boutique business, he said Tuesday.
Protecting that business is what was on his mind when he filed for trademark registration, he said.
In the meantime, he has attached the symbol "" to both his firm's name and his blog. It indicates that he treats them as trademarks, but does not specify official rights.
"The notation scares away people who don't know any better. ... It means nothing official," said Ned T. Himmelrich, an attorney with Gordon Feinblatt LLC in Baltimore. Himmelrich had not heard about the cyberlaw flap.
And soon no one may care, once word of Menhart's application amendment makes its way through cyberspace.
"That protection is of significantly less value than owning the word cyberlaw," Goldman said. "It goes from being a very aggressive move to being one that's probably very inconsequential for everybody, including him."
tricia.bishop@baltsun.com
