Consequences of domains with trademarks in them?

Hi there,

I was just wondering if someone could tell me the consequences of having a domain with a trademark in it? I know you can get sued by the company if you don't hand it over, but before any legal issue arrises, do they have to first contact you and ask you to hand it over?

I ask because I've purchased a few domains recently with trademark names in them, a couple I'd use to review the products and then redirect potential purchases through affiliate links, and the other has the name of a company in + "supportphonenumber" and I thought I could include all the numbers for that company around the world and monetize it through Adsense, since it was a popularly searched keyword!

There wouldn't be a big effort required in setting up any of these sites, but I wouldn't bother if I knew there was even a small chance of being taken to court over it... if they have to "ask nicely" before anything "major" happens, I'd be fine, I'd just hand it over!

Thanks in advance for your advice

i think they ask nicely just because it's much more cost effective than just hitting the court for starters.

Dont bother setting the sites up, since they will be gone fast, just contact the trademark company and offer to sell the domain to them for whatever price you see fit, it will happen eventually, if the company is big enough.

Next time don't buy.

pisco said:

i think they ask nicely just because it's much more cost effective than just hitting the court for starters.

Dont bother setting the sites up, since they will be gone fast, just contact the trademark company and offer to sell the domain to them for whatever price you see fit, it will happen eventually, if the company is big enough.

Next time don't buy.

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Ah, no point whatsoever setting up sites on domains that include Microsoft, Dell, or Windows 7 in them lol?

I wish I'd put some thought into it before then... but at least it's a useful lesson.

I had a problem with Zynga and putting their game titles in the domain a few months back, and their lawyers sent me the threatening email to hand over the domain to them.

I sent the details to the lawyers and heard nothing for two months so i didn't bother to take down the website i had created. Then suddenly Zynga themselves sent me a threatening email and i offered to send them the domain details, they just asked me to take down the website content and not use it.

The funny thing is that there are still domains ranking high with Zynga game names within the domain name, so there is obviously a way to get round this legal action i.e offshore hosting, hiding your domain registration details.

There are loads of domains around with android in them as in google - I was wondering the same thing because I bought one with android in, but I decided it must be OK. I dont think G will mind if I put adsense on it since I'm saying good things about their stuff.

JackSparrow said:

I had a problem with Zynga and putting their game titles in the domain a few months back, and their lawyers sent me the threatening email to hand over the domain to them.

I sent the details to the lawyers and heard nothing for two months so i didn't bother to take down the website i had created. Then suddenly Zynga themselves sent me a threatening email and i offered to send them the domain details, they just asked me to take down the website content and not use it.

The funny thing is that there are still domains ranking high with Zynga game names within the domain name, so there is obviously a way to get round this legal action i.e offshore hosting, hiding your domain registration details.

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Thanks, appreciate your experience! I have Whoisguard on all of the domains, but I presumed if there was a legal issue, Namecheap would have to provide my details anyway?

It was a very impulse buy, I saw a list posted here and thought that these domains have keywords which are searched a lot, and even thought I wouldn't be able to compete with the actual company's providing the products, I thought I could still make something through Adsense!

In my case a few months ago, the trademark company made a complaint to hostgator (hosting), and not really the godaddy (where i had registered the domain name), so hiding your domain reg won't really save you, an offshore hosting might.

I know we are in BHW, and BH is the main thing, but trademarks can evolve to something more serious than a mere affiliate account ban or something like that.

Had some of those urls in the past and sure enough, lawyer emails for taking it down.

Had 5 of those sites, 5 threats so i aint touching those anymore

don't buy any domains like that..
you will get problem when your site has get a good possition..
like me..!
imho... forget it.. but if you want to get money with a few months.. then no problem if your domain disappears.. i think you can try it..

If your site gets popular enough you might expect a C&D letter, that's about it. However; don't use a trademark in your main money maker URL. If you have doubts about the validity of a given trademark you can do a search on TESS for free.

Gotten C&Ds aplenty. They ask for the domain. You hand it over. No problem. However, I have gotten some very unjustified C&Ds as well. If you are violating a TM, just hand the domain over. Typically no further probs.