Trademark

[breakaway]

If I make 5 cartoon characters, each with a unique made-up name that no one has ever used in anything, and I use their names to sell things like t-shirts, posters etc, will that be considered a trademark since it is being used for commerce?

Also since it's on the Internet, would my protection cover any country that has internet access to my site?

 

[FlyingRon]

It's a trademark if you use it as a brand in commerce, yes.

We don't do international law here. Often you have similar protections internationally. Trademark enforcement however after the cursory "cease and desist" letter usually devolves into civil lawsuits that can be costly to pursue domestically and prohibitively internationally.