Using Keywords With Brands In

What's everyone's opinion on this ?

Is it ok to use keywords that include trademarked brands to build CPC Adsense optimised sites using a EMD

For example :

Keyword might be something like :

Nike Slippers

and your EMD would be :

nikeslippers.org


Is using brands in keyword and EMD sites a nogo for everybody ? Or not a problem, would like experienced Adsense users advice please. Are there trademark issues ?

I'm not sure about adsense rules in particular,
but as long as your website is either:
1) reviewing/information based
2) selling actual nike shoes

There are zero trademark issues.

I thinks its not problem cuz your actually producing free publicity to the company, in your case NIKE.

anyone had any problems with google doing this ? or is everyone doing it ?

Unless you have a bona fide reason to use the trademark term then Nike can sue you or more likely, apply for the domain to be transferred to them. If the site makes you money in any way (and the courts and domain authorities have freely interpreted this) then you can't use it.

An example of when you can (potentially) use a TM is if your name is Nike Smith. There are very few examples though of bona fide use.

fieldinspector said:

Unless you have a bona fide reason to use the trademark term then Nike can sue you or more likely, apply for the domain to be transferred to them. If the site makes you money in any way (and the courts and domain authorities have freely interpreted this) then you can't use it.

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This is completely, unequivocally incorrect. In fact, you may use competitors/brandnames for nearly anything so long as it's not considered libel or slander, which do require a somewhat high degree of evidence to prove (libel in particular).

Not only can you use trademarks, you can use them in DIRECT comparisons even in unsubstantiated quality claims.

Some nice precedent:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/29/us-tiffany-ebay-idUSTRE6AS3YJ20101129
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/articles/content/2006011001.html
http://www.duanemorris.com/alerts/PA_Trademark_Counterfeiting_3440.html

Not only are you patently incorrect, but it's clear to me you probably should find a different line of work... something fast food related.

In fact, trademark claims don't even protect most counterfeiting unless substantial evidence is provided that the counterfeit seller knew it was counterfeit beforehand.
And even in THESE cases, it's rare that a monetary damage judgement is issued, 99% of the time injunctions are the only result.

Expertpeon, fieldinspector is correct about domains being taken under dispute. I've lost 3 domains to 3 different companies over trademark infringement. Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen, and you'd be a fool to waste your time fighting it out with a multimillion dollar corporation over a $8 domain and a few bucks /mo in revenue.

I think that you can get you Ebay Partner Network account pulled if you use trademarked keywords in the domain name. So in this example, even if Nike couldn't swipe the domain from you, they could hit up EPN and get your entire account banned.

I remember reading something on this a while back where any brand names need to be after the third trailing slash, so http://nike.slippers.com/ would be a no-go as well.

I dunno what the Adsense policy is on this, but I always plan to put Adsense/Ebay/Amazon on almost all of my sites in different ways so I never put trade names in the domain.

Expertpeon said:

This is completely, unequivocally incorrect. In fact, you may use competitors/brandnames for nearly anything so long as it's not considered libel or slander, which do require a somewhat high degree of evidence to prove (libel in particular).

Not only are you patently incorrect, but it's clear to me you probably should find a different line of work... something fast food related.

In fact, trademark claims don't even protect most counterfeiting unless substantial evidence is provided that the counterfeit seller knew it was counterfeit beforehand.
And even in THESE cases, it's rare that a monetary damage judgement is issued, 99% of the time injunctions are the only result.

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Not talking about counterfeits, just about domain names... I am a law student so I know what I am talking about. I could go into the particulars of TM law and the domain dispute process but we would be here for days. Moral of the story is, if you have a domain with a TM and are making a profit from that domain, the TM owner could sue you (unlikely given the costs involved) or launch a domain dispute to take ownership of the domain (which is a lot cheaper than using the court system).

Also worthwhile to note that I study law in Australia and our judicial system is different to that in the US. However in relation to domain names the dispute process is fairly uniform across the world.

I've had a profitable site up for over a year, that has ... Here's your clue... The worlds most valuable company's number one product in the domain name. I've been monetizing with only adsense. No problems so far

fieldinspector said:

Also worthwhile to note that I study law in Australia and our judicial system is different to that in the US. However in relation to domain names the dispute process is fairly uniform across the world.

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maaaate - if you ever need a favour just ask.

interesting debate. Comeone there must of loads of adsense experts who can comment on this ...

assuming any site setup with a EMD with a brand in it is going for .com .org or .net, does that effect things to.

I'd hate to setup a cool niche and have it make money, and then later down the line loose it in a domain dispute. But maybe that's a risk that everyone takes... ???

I'd wager most EMD's people work with don't involve a brand name.

Crazy said:

Expertpeon, fieldinspector is correct about domains being taken under dispute. I've lost 3 domains to 3 different companies over trademark infringement. Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen, and you'd be a fool to waste your time fighting it out with a multimillion dollar corporation over a $8 domain and a few bucks /mo in revenue.

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You've lost? meaning you went to court, and that was the judgment?
Or did you receive a letter in the mail and you handed it over?
Did your registrar hand it over? did you sue them for doing so?

Not talking about counterfeits, just about domain names... I am a law student so I know what I am talking about. I could go into the particulars of TM law and the domain dispute process but we would be here for days. Moral of the story is, if you have a domain with a TM and are making a profit from that domain, the TM owner could sue you (unlikely given the costs involved) or launch a domain dispute to take ownership of the domain (which is a lot cheaper than using the court system).

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hahaha a law student where exactly? unless it's T10 I'm not impressed (I myself got into Columbia and turned it down based upon simple cost-benefit analysis).
Law students don't know shit about legal matters, but I'm sure you can write an amazing brief from 100 yr old torts.
It'll take a lot more than "I know what I'm talking about I go to a for-profit law school" to convince this HYPS alum.

I'd love to see the claimant sending domain seizure notices to offshore registrars. Please dig through nexlex and find me such a tort (hell find me any example of this happening, ever)

Interesting cases:
"peta.org: An organization entitled "People Eating Tasty Animals" obtained the peta.org domain name, much to the disgust of the better know People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. This domain name was suspended, but as of May 2000 the domain name was still registered in the name of People Eating Tasty Animals."

"taiwan.com: The mainland China news organization Xinhua was allowed to register the domain name taiwan.com, much to the disgust of the government of Taiwan."

"The holder of the See's Candy and See's Candies trademark sued the registrants of seescandies.com and seescandy.com. The registrants of these domain names had not provided sufficient contact information for the trademark holder to find them in order to serve the complaint. The court denied the trademark holder's request for a temporary restraining order, but granted the trademark holder the right to conduct discovery to determine the identity of the defendant in order to make service of process possible. The court acknowledged a general interest in allowing innocent parties to participate online without fear that someone will attempt to discover their identity. The court concluded, however, that where a plaintiff can show that its claim would survive a motion to dismiss, then the plaintiff can establish a right to determine the identify of the party causing the harm."


An injunction was NOT filed, even without the possibility of reaching the registrar. Even to this day, seescandies is www.sees.com. Damn, your claims just keep getting sillier (I haven't looked into infringement torts related to domain names much, but it is funny how few end in "repossession").

I'm just curious why paypalsucks hasn't been taken down by PayPal. My friend bought a domain name with PayPal in it and PayPal was all over him. It did not put PayPal in a negative light in any way. Was PayPal just trying to scare him? Was he allowed by law to keep the site up? If so, why hasn't PayPal sued paypalsucks? I have read both sides of this and some say it's allowed unless there is libel, while others say courts are cracking down and are going in the favor of the company with the brand name.

If paypalsucks isn't making any money from their website, they can get away with anything. There are companies who will let people get away with having their trademark name on the domain but there are also companies that will sue you for damages. But most companies will just threaten you.

dragonrage01 said:

If paypalsucks isn't making any money from their website, they can get away with anything. There are companies who will let people get away with having their trademark name on the domain but there are also companies that will sue you for damages. But most companies will just threaten you.

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I'll bet my last dollar that paypalsucks is National Merchant Bancard. Call it a strong hunch.
paypalsucks has a letter on their site from PayPal telling them to take the site down, but I guess nothing ever came of it because the site is still up.

redrubies said:

I'm just curious why paypalsucks hasn't been taken down by PayPal.

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My very limited understanding is that for it to be trademark infrigement you would have to be trying to mislead the public into thinking you were representing said company, which of course such a domain name wouldn't be.

I would be more worried about a DMCA.

I was looking at a domain recently with a brand name in, and did a search and saw a copy of the letter to Google referening dozens of removals and so decided to go the easy route and register a more generic name.