Domain registration confusion

Hi, before registering domains, it's good to check keywords if those are trademarked.

Upon checking uspto.gov found "make money" has multiple LIVE trademarks.

If someone was to say register johnsmakemoney .com, will it be an infringement as it contains the words "make money" ?

Because there can be multiple financial companies in the US/world providing the SAME services, right? For example, email marketing has getresponse, aweber, constant contact, etc.

If it is generic term "makemoney" as part of your domain name, it would not be an issue. Example "comeletusmakemoney" dot com, etc would not be an issue.

It's funny that somebody managed to trademark "Make Money" in the first place... Although Instagram managed to trademark "gram" so how's that for ya.

What you should do is consider your risks.

• Are you afraid of the trademark owner taking over your domain name?
• Are you afraid of being taken to court?

The two above mentioned are not the same and involve different procedures. Obviously, it's best for you to consult a lawyer in your jurisdiction but in common practice unless you infringe on the business of the trademark owner you should be fine. In any case the trademark owner will have to take active action and prove that your usage of this somewhat generic wording infringes on their trademark. There is no automated process where someone will "punish" you or take away your domain name without a lengthy, convoluted and costly process.

0xxi3 said:

It's funny that somebody managed to trademark "Make Money" in the first place.

Click to expand...

Not just somebody but many. Do a check at uspto

They didn't trademark the generic "make money" term they trademarked their phrases with it like "MAKING MONEY MAKE CENT$" so using "make money" in your own phrase is just fine

For example, using " time makes money" or "lets make money today" w.e. won't get you in trouble
but using "making money make cent$ every day" will

If you are not imitating them and just have the phrase, I think it's fine