Quick Question Re Domains

[Rosie Cottis]

A quick question and probably a stupid one, but just to check ...

I know it's not a good idea to register a domain containing a trademark e.g. chevrolet-cars.info because the owners of the trademark can require you to give it up to them.

But is it OK to have a trademark in a subdomain or subfolder? e.g. chevrolet.cars.info or cars.info/chevrolet? So the actual domain would be cars.info (I wish!)

Would that be OK? Or could Chevrolet still tell me I was not allowed to use their trademark anywhere in my URLs?

Rosie

[Michael Oksa]

Not a stupid question at all, Rosie.

As long as you are providing factual information (no libel), then I think you should be fine.

I went to About.com and they have several pages that have the same format you just mentioned.

My thinking is that a domain name is like real estate, but the subfolder is like the furniture. Someone can kick you out of your house, but you still keep your furniture. Hope that analogy makes sense.

All the best,
Michael

[Rosie Cottis]

That's a great analogy Michael! :-)

Thanks,
Rosie

[davezan]

Currently the closest dispute to such is the Jews for Jesus v. Google case. But it
was settled before the judge could decide on it.

If anything, it depends: a) who you're potentially dealing with, and b) if they are
that determined. IMHO it ain't worth litigating, but...everyone's free to try it out
if they're up to it.

[Martin.Avis]

Legal advise is one thing, common-sense opinion is quite another. I'm qualified to offer the latter, but someone qualified in the former could probably blow me out of the water. The law and common-sense are uncomfortable bedfellows.

Having said that, I would have thought that using a trade name in a URL - other than in the principle domain name would constitute fair use.

If you were to write an article entitled '10 Facts About the Latest Chevrolet Cars' and put it on a directory, most WordPress bloggers would automatically have the title as the file name - and thus part of the URL.

Once it is out in the wild you have no control over who uses it or how, so good luck to any lawyer who wants to slap a C&D order on you.

But as I said, I'm speaking about common sense and not lawyer-think.

Martin

[Chris Drinkwater]

Do you want the potential hassle though? Just imagine how much time (not to say money) you could waste in a dispute with one of the big boys... Not for me