Could this get me in trouble?

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taketheride

Junior Member

Mar 3, 2015

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #1

I found an incredible expired domain. It seem to have belonged to a big foreign company and has been used only for redirect to their new homepage for several years. The expired domain that I'm looking at buying is just 3 letters, while the companys new one consists of their full name. Can a three letter domain name really be copyrighted or trademarked? Couldn't it mean anything?

For example:

elm.org = the expired domain I want

electriclatexmoney.org = the companys current domain

Could I get into legal trouble if buying and using their old expired domain as a PBN site (which will have nothing to do with the original sites purpose)?

 

ThopHayt

Elite Member

Jul 25, 2011

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #2

There are very few lawyers here mate, I'd not take advice from a stranger here. These matters are very iffy.

 

asap1

BANNED

Mar 25, 2013

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #3

Buy it and if its trademarked give it back.

 

wisdomkid

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Jun 20, 2011

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #4

You can buy it, but am 70% sure that the company will PM you, since it's a business name, and the best part is that you can sell it on flippa or other domain auction websites.

But buy it, it won't hurt.

 

lord1027

Elite Member

Sep 20, 2013

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #5

Well, is it a trademark? for example 'wordpress' is a trademark, but 'wp' is not.

 

BHW-News

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #6

I can hear hundreds of PC's searching for an expired 3 letter company domain as we speak...

 

jo080711

Regular Member

Jan 7, 2015

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #7

Depends on how much it costs.

I've definitely bought some domains like that. In my opinion, you should be good as long as you repurpose it. The average person doesn't research a domain's history before buying it. So for all they know you just bought "elm.org" and started adding articles to it.

If you put up their old content or start pretending to be the company you'll likely run into trouble.

 

randybishop

Elite Member

Aug 23, 2013

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #8

I would buy and sit on it and see what happens.

 

A

andrecampbell

Junior Member

May 23, 2014

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #9

You have nothing to lose by buying it. The worst that can happen is that you sell it back to the company.

 

bartosimpsonio

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #10

I'd buy it instantly.

 

netmatrix

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #11

bartosimpsonio said:

I'd buy it instantly.

Click to expand...

Agreed, buy it instantly (if there's no trademark). I'd also consider setting up a homepage along the lines of...

ELM.org - Welcome to Electrical Lighting Manufacturing - Website coming soon!

 

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then4280

Newbie

Jul 31, 2015

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #12

You can buy it if it's letting you.

 

SkyrocketSEO

BANNED

Nov 5, 2012

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• Jul 31, 2015

• #13

So, OP, domain is great because it is 3 letters.ORG or because it have a great link profile or both?

 

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taketheride

Junior Member

Mar 3, 2015

143

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• Jul 31, 2015
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #14

Thanks for the advice! I ended up taking the domain, was a bit hesitant because it's a tld which is not used very much, and quite a bit more expensive than the regular ones. From reading your suggestions, I think I'll just hold on to it for a while and see what happens, then I'll build a repurposed PBN site with some other meaning of the acronym if I don't get contacted for some time

 

T

taketheride

Junior Member

Mar 3, 2015

143

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• Jul 31, 2015
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #15

lord1027 said:

Well, is it a trademark? for example 'wordpress' is a trademark, but 'wp' is not.

Click to expand...

I tried searching a couple of places to find if it was trademarked, but could not find anything. But from what I understand, that doesn't mean it isn't.

SkyrocketSEO said:

So, OP, domain is great because it is 3 letters.ORG or because it have a great link profile or both?

Click to expand...

It's because of the link profile. Didn't really think much about it being three letters until I considered the trademark thing. I'm not sure the three letter aspect is that big of a deal since it's not com org or net.

 

Last edited: Jul 31, 2015

bartosimpsonio

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• Aug 1, 2015

• #16

BTW. OP, a 3 letter domain can't possibly be copyrighted unless it's something truly unique and specific. Are you sure it's available?

 

C

CarloTav

Junior Member

Jun 19, 2015

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• Aug 1, 2015

• #17

Would be very hard to trademark something like that. I doubt the company can do anything unless you start to pretend to be them or something similar.

 

HoneyHelper

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Jun 29, 2015

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• Aug 1, 2015

• #18

Buy the domain and sell the same to that company

 

J

JCmcclain

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Nov 14, 2014

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• Aug 1, 2015

• #19

Long story short, I had a domain that was the initials of a company and their attorney sent me a "cease and desist". Based on that, the worse that can happen is you give up the domain (not sell it as others suggested) or retain an attorney to fight it.
Good luck

 

nakamura

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• Aug 1, 2015

• #20

I remember my dad did something similar like that. But he just wanted to park the domain and then sell it to the company. End of the song was he had to give it away, but it was still worth a try. Funny thing was: He is working for this company. 8)