Domain Naming Laws?

Anyone ever run into Domain Naming Laws. Can 2 competitors use a domain name that contains the others domain name. Something like this

Competitor 1 - xxxxxx.com
Competitor 2 - RRRxxxxxx.com

Same type of business, website don't look a like.

I have always been told it's ok, just as long as you don't make it look like the other to confuse the average consumer.

The reason for the similar domain name is that the domain name basically describes the business activity and services.

What do you think?

By no means am I a an attorney or able to give legal advise...But anyways you should really be careful when chosing a competitors name for a domain. You should see if any part of the domain is trademarked. Getting into trademarked names can be really bad especially when you're from north america.

With domain names the more generic the better e.g. laptopreviews.com, discountproducts.com etc. etc.

Avoid trademarks. The worst example is if you were to register coca cola or similar you would have no reasonable grounds to try and use it.

As far as I am aware you get cease and desist orders at worst from a legal point of view at which you just take down the site / content. Also if paranoid you can try and go really anonymous and offshore in which case nobody can do anything unless you are doing something really bad like fraud.

I too am not an expert but there is one over here:


You can also get his ebook for free if you sign up to his new site I believe that is really good reference.

Hope this helps

They can actually do a little more and seek damages potentially caused by the use of the domain. They can also seize any revenue generated by using the domain as well as restitution and the punitive damages associated with violating a trademark.....Again I am not a lawyer and not qualified to give legal advise.