I want to buy a domain which contains name of a luxury car: Any legal problems with this?

[madison_avenue]

I want buy a domain with the name of a well known luxury car in, will this cause any legal problems. Can I put company brand names into domains or am I risking a legal comeback from the Car company?

[mohammad111]

I don't really know but I would recommend keeping away from the company Brand Name.

[kenj]

I think you are taking a risk by doing this. You might getaway with nicknames such as "Beetle" or "Chevvy". I think to use a real name would break trademark law. But I am not a lawyer - maybe you could check with one.

[Oscar D]

I agree with the above statements. If you get busted and are asked to remove the site then all that time promoting and creating the site will be a waste.

This is just what I think, but as said I suggest you research it a little further, maybe there is a way to get around it

[TristanPerry]

It'd be a registration in bad faith and they company could 'easily' get the domain off you (in that you have no rights to the domain)

Of course, there's a pretty high chance you won't get caught (and/or the company won't actually care)

Just depends on whether you want to risk it or not.

Many people (who own brand-name/TM domains) seem to think that, because they haven't had a cease-and-desist order on their domain, that there's no law surrounding this.

This is, however, incorrect. This is a law in that you aren't able to do it, but the 'issue' here is whether or not the company will take action over the registration. Companies usually don't, but it depends on the company - eBay are quite aggressive with these things, whilst some companies (especially if it's a "fan"-site or information site about a company or its products) won't really care.

[Alexa Smith]

If they have a name worth stealing for your own commercial gain, then they can afford a lawyer!

[madison_avenue]

Thanks for your input guys. I have seen plenty of sites which contain brand names like 'Toyotas4u' etc, but for the most a part, these are tiny sites and I don't think the big boys are bothered about swatting away these flies. However there is enough legal ambiguity for there for me not to go down that route.

Of course it still leaves me free to legitimately use the brand name in the meta description, page titles, keywords etc so I don't think it's that big of a handicap not a having the branded domain name.

[sbucciarel]

Using trademarks of course is not advisable. They can easily take the domain from you after you put work into it. It is cybersquatting and most big companies will protect their trademarks.