Flipping a Brand Name Niche Site

[takeachance]

Hi there,

After some of your thoughts around the legalities of flipping a brand name domain I have back to the company.....

Over the past year I have built up a relativily successful site which makes decent sales through affiliate sources and adsense. Having many sites I am looking to move this one on to concentrate better on other projects.

The domain has the complete brand name within in with a small word at the end. i.e. brandnamewidgets.net

I would like to approach the brand name directly and see whether they would be interested in buying it but having looked at the cyber squatting and domain legals I might be stabbing myself in the preverbal foot. It is possible they may just take it off me anyway....

That said, I rank no.2 in big G just underneath the brand name so I would have thought they would have noticed me by now anyway. The brand name doesn't have the copyright thing anywhere so I am not really sure where the land lies in terms of ownership.

Any thoughts? is it wise to go directly to the brand name? (they could sure find it of benefit having the domain...)

 

[Edding200]

If it's not copyrighted then you should be safe. Sell it to the company or flip it somewhere.

If it's copyrighted and your registrar is godaddy then yeah, they could take it from you if they wanted. Other registrars like namecheap would be harder to take the domain from, so it depends. You can still try to sell it but maybe not to the company themselves.

 

[Karlos]

It's not copyright you need to worry about, but trademark. A company doesn't need to mark their site with a registered trademark symbol, or even just a TM. They acquire trademark rights simply by usage. They may not have taken action against you but I don't think they'd have any trouble in court proving trademark infringement.

Tread carefully.

If it's copyrighted and your registrar is godaddy then yeah, they could take it from you if they wanted. Other registrars like namecheap would be harder to take the domain from, so it depends.

Who you're registered with makes no difference. ICANN's UDRP applies across all registrars.

 

[Edding200]

Who you're registered with makes no difference. ICANN's UDRP applies across all registrars.

I only said it would be harder to have the domain taken away, not impossible. The registrar you use makes a difference if, like godaddy, they'd hand the domain over at the drop of a hat. Offshore registrars work differently so it's harder for the companies to take back brand name domains. Again, not impossible just more difficult.

 

[takeachance]

Ok, thanks for this guys - I thought I may be playing with fire by approaching the trademark owner themselves - as you suggest perhaps it just better to flip it on the open market and safer....