Is trademark in domain name black 'n white .. or gray

[Nodge]

I've spent a lot of time searching but still unclear.
Can I use a trademark in a domain name in some cases?
eg. yamahaacoustic or fordcarsales or toshibabigscreen or hondasforsale?

What about using a colloquial version .. like say, mitsi for mitsubishi or tbird for thunderbird?

Seems there are gray areas like detoit-mustang-repairs or Acerlaptopfix
or fenderguitarclub.

Has anyone got a handle on this? I'm not sure where the line is drawn.
Thanks.

[VegasGreg]

People do this a lot, but most of the big companies will eventually find you and demand you take the domain down and eventually sue you if you don't.

It tends to be a short-term business plan as you make money with them until you get caught. Not a good idea if you ask me.

[wahmsuzanne]

I know it's not exactly the same but I was sent a cease and desist for using the company name on the site ... i.e. in meta tags and on the page. *sigh* I added some wording up top of each page that I was not the official site and not associated with them or a representative and after several back and forth letters between me and their attorney I haven't heard back.

I have heard that if you use the name in the domain they will tell you to take it down and I've also heard they can "take" the domain from you.

I'll be curious to see what others have to say about this as well. *SmiLes* Suzanne

[Paul Schlegel]

Originally Posted by Nodge

I've spent a lot of time searching but still unclear.
Can I use a trademark in a domain name in some cases?
eg. yamahaacoustic or fordcarsales or toshibabigscreen or hondasforsale?

What about using a colloquial version .. like say, mitsi for mitsubishi or tbird for thunderbird?

Seems there are gray areas like detoit-mustang-repairs or Acerlaptopfix
or fenderguitarclub.

Has anyone got a handle on this? I'm not sure where the line is drawn.
Thanks.

You might start here:
Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress) - specifically #5

[The Brian]

Originally Posted by markquinn

You might start here:
Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress) - specifically #5

What he said. You should not use a trademarked name in a domain name. Period. Doing so leaves you wide open for legal action.

[Heuristic]

Sometimes you can get away with it for a period of time, but the odds are against you. Personally, I would hate to do a ton of work to get a site up and running and have to give it to a corporation after I lost a lawsuit - and that might be the least of your problems

Big corporations have spent a ton of money creating their brand and don't take this stuff lightly. They have lawyers that specialize in trademark infringement cases. If/when they sue you, you won't have a leg to stand on.

[JonMills]

Originally Posted by Nodge

I've spent a lot of time searching but still unclear.
Can I use a trademark in a domain name in some cases?
eg. yamahaacoustic or fordcarsales or toshibabigscreen or hondasforsale?

What about using a colloquial version .. like say, mitsi for mitsubishi or tbird for thunderbird?

Seems there are gray areas like detoit-mustang-repairs or Acerlaptopfix
or fenderguitarclub.

Has anyone got a handle on this? I'm not sure where the line is drawn.
Thanks.

I would avoid it. I told a case on this forum a while back of a friend of mine who did it and ended up having to close their site down

[Alexa Smith]

The law is pretty black and white.

The reality might be a little gray, if you have some specific reason to think you're not going to get sued. But the only way to be sure of that (and you'd want to be pretty sure before investing money, time and effort, wouldn't you?) is to ask permission, which is pretty easy to do, after all.

[hibernate]

If you have a large corporation come after you for any grey area you will lose unless you are willing to spend big bucks.
Examples
expedia went after domain expediate.com
Dunn and Bradstreet (dnb.com) went after dbn.com

More examples can be found on the National Arbitration Forum for Domain Name Disputes

National Arbitration Forum
Leave the search query blank and all decisions will be returned.

If you need to be in a gray area I would suggest not putting too many resources into that site and being prepared to lose it. You might make money in the short term and nothing is wrong with that

[seasoned]

IF you use a PROPER trademark and or a domain name in context, AFTER it is registered, it is a VERY black/white issue! Otherwise, it CAN be grey, but failure to use it for a proper purchase makes it closer to black/white. All that is spelled out in the UDRP.

Of course, if it is NOT a proper trademark, it is more nebulous BUT, again, if it is used IN CONTEXT, it becomes more black/white.

Of course I am NOT a lawyer, and there ARE exceptions. A good example of an exception is nissan vs. nissan. Nissan motors should CLEARLY have LOST! WHY!?!?!?

1. It was NOT their full trademarked term(nissan motors)
2. It was NOT a proper trademark(popular name)
3. The domain name was registered BEFORE their trademark
4. The domain was used for a valid and UNRELATED purpose

Yet the judges STILL took their time!

and what of madonna vs. madonna? AGAIN!

1. It was NOT a proper trademark(popular name, title)
2. The domain name was registered BEFORE their trademark
3. The domain would be used for a valid and UNRELATED purpose

If the hospital had ownership, the singer shoudn't be able to fight it.

And AMAZON vs. Amazon Books

TECHNICALLY, if this happened earlier, amazon books should have won. But they clearly knew about amazon.com, and waited.

Steve

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by Nodge

Seems there are gray areas like detoit-mustang-repairs or Acerlaptopfix or fenderguitarclub.

Has anyone got a handle on this? I'm not sure where the line is drawn.
Thanks.

It is not a gray area ... it is trademark infringement and the company can take the domain away from you and/or sue you. Just because you see people do it, does not give it legal standing.

There are only a couple of exceptions that fall under fair use and none of them are commercial.

[JohnMcCabe]

There may be some very specific cases where use of a trademarked term would be legal. Using your example - DetroitMustangRepair - would probably be deemed fair use if:

1. You (the site owner/operator) were located in Detroit, and
2. You were promoting a business that specialized in repairing Mustangs.

Even so, I would have a prominent disclaimer that Mustang is a registered trademark of the Ford Motor Company. And use the superscript (TM) symbol everywhere else on the site.

From my layman's research, you should be okay.

However, as Steve (seasoned) pointed out, just being right might not be enough. Some companies will go after anyone who presents the least threat to their trademark, lest a competitor use that as evidence that the trademark holder isn't protecting their trademark. Failing to protect a trademark can void it, which could mean the loss of a valuable asset.

The safest route is the one Alexa points out - get permission and abide by the terms of that permission. Or bypass using the trademark.

Lawyers get rich in gray areas...

[Tom Goodwin]

Originally Posted by The Brian

What he said. You should not use a trademarked name in a domain name. Period. Doing so leaves you wide open for legal action.

I don't think this is absolutely true.

First, if you are promoting a product as an affiliate, and you have that product/brand in your domain name, the odds you would get in trouble for that so long as you are promoting that product is slim.

Second, if you have a trademark in your domain, I would still stay the odds of getting asked to take it down/cease and desist is relatively small.

That being said, in the nonaffiliate world, I wouldn't spend a ton on a new site with a trademark in it, but if you are doing micro niche sites where you have very little expended in terms of time or money, I do not think it is a big issue.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

There may be some very specific cases where use of a trademarked term would be legal. Using your example - DetroitMustangRepair - would probably be deemed fair use if:

1. You (the site owner/operator) were located in Detroit, and
2. You were promoting a business that specialized in repairing Mustangs.

That is not fair use at all ... it is commercial use and it is infringement of the Mustang trademark. Fair use involves non-commercial use. A parody site, a xxxxSucks.com site, a non-commercial fan site, a non-commercial site that gives an opinion on a product ... those are fair use. It's fairly obvious in an Internet Marketing forum and reading the OP, that the intended use is commercial and is infringement.

FAQ about Trademark -- Chilling Effects Clearinghouse

[Fun to Write]

I think it's too risky. I recently bought a niche domain that included a specific product name. I then got nervous and checked to see if it was copyrighted. There were copyrights on the name, but for other types of products.

I still decided to not use that domain. Bought another one using just the model number. I think it's better not to be looking over your shoulder wondering - are they gonna get me for this?

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by thmgoodw

I don't think this is absolutely true.

First, if you are promoting a product as an affiliate, and you have that product/brand in your domain name, the odds you would get in trouble for that so long as you are promoting that product is slim.

Second, if you have a trademark in your domain, I would still stay the odds of getting asked to take it down/cease and desist is relatively small.

That being said, in the nonaffiliate world, I wouldn't spend a ton on a new site with a trademark in it, but if you are doing micro niche sites where you have very little expended in terms of time or money, I do not think it is a big issue.

The odds are not that small. You can risk it. You'll most likely get a C&D first from an attorney telling you to take it down or transfer the domain. They can of course, sue if they want to.

I have seen many affiliate products that state in very clear terms that you may not use their trademark in any way ... not in ppc, not in ads, not in your domains. If you are unsure of use of a trademark, why don't you just ask the company that owns the trademark?

[Fraggler]

I will throw a spanner into the works. I got sent a cease and desist for using a trademark in a domain name with the email stating I was breaking all of these federal US laws and the company is such a well known American brand. I am Australian and the company has no trademark rights in Australia.

I believe the only course of action that they can take is to put in a dispute with ICANN... or they can come over to Australia and fight it in an Australian court. I repsonded and told them I have redirected the domain to a new one and added a disclaimer stating no affiliation with any trademarked companies on the site. They wanted me to give them the domain name but I simply ignore that request. The site is purely informational and there is no negative comments about any product.

From my own research, trademarks in domain names isn't a black and white case, especially on the global www.

[Debbie Songster]

Originally Posted by thmgoodw

I don't think this is absolutely true.

First, if you are promoting a product as an affiliate, and you have that product/brand in your domain name, the odds you would get in trouble for that so long as you are promoting that product is slim.

Second, if you have a trademark in your domain, I would still stay the odds of getting asked to take it down/cease and desist is relatively small.

That being said, in the nonaffiliate world, I wouldn't spend a ton on a new site with a trademark in it, but if you are doing micro niche sites where you have very little expended in terms of time or money, I do not think it is a big issue.

Your wrong - plain and simple

Just because you are an affiilate doesn't give you automatic permission to use it.
YOU might think its ok but the company won't and here's why

It causes confusion to the public.
If your site is called www.brandnamereviews.com people will think the site belongs to www.brandname.com. It causes confusion and you will lose in a court of law.

Where mark X is not identical to a registered trademark, the use of mark X may still amount to an infringement if it is "confusingly similar" to the registered trademark. Mark X may share elements of spelling or style that would lead a reasonable observer to believe the trademarks were related.

To the OP
The only safe way to use a trademark is to ask permission and receive it in writing. Otherwise stay away from it (use the trademark in a folder)

[Chris Koltai]

In a domain name, it's pretty clear cut.

My girlfriend tried her hand at affiliate sites about 6 months back. One of the sites she set up had "martha stewart" in the domain name. Before she even had any affiliate links up, about 24 hours after hitting 1st page, she got a C&D from a Mr. Christian Palmieri, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's copyright lawyer.

After much back and forth and a painful experience with 1&1 slowing down the process by days, we finally deleted the content and transferred the domain over to MSLO.

Funny thing is, that was 5 months ago that we ripped the content and transferred it, and up until about a week ago, the site was still ranking in 5th spot for the keyword with no backlinks. The new site (sans trademark) which we optimized for the keyword and loaded the content onto was sitting on the 5th page until we started building backlinks to it.

Kinda says something about the power of keyword-loaded domains, huh?

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

That is not fair use at all ... it is commercial use and it is infringement of the Mustang trademark. Fair use involves non-commercial use. A parody site, a xxxxSucks.com site, a non-commercial fan site, a non-commercial site that gives an opinion on a product ... those are fair use. It's fairly obvious in an Internet Marketing forum and reading the OP, that the intended use is commercial and is infringement.

FAQ about Trademark -- Chilling Effects Clearinghouse

According to the site you reference, the example I cited:

There may be some very specific cases where use of a trademarked term would be legal. Using your example - DetroitMustangRepair - would probably be deemed fair use if:

1. You (the site owner/operator) were located in Detroit, and
2. You were promoting a business that specialized in repairing Mustangs.

falls exactly under the definition of Fair Use (#2, quoted below)...

"Fair Use

There are two situations where the doctrine of fair use prevents infringement:

1. The term is a way to describe another good or service, using its descriptive term and not its secondary meaning. The idea behind this fair use is that a trademark holder does not have the exclusive right to use a word that is merely descriptive, since this decreases the words available to describe. If the term is not used to label any particular goods or services at all, but is perhaps used in a literary fashion as part of a narrative, then this is a non-commercial use even if the narrative is commercially sold.

2. Nominative fair use
This is when a potential infringer (or defendant) uses the registered trademark to identify the registrant?s product or service in conjunction with his or her own. To invoke this defense, the defendant must prove the following elements:
* his/her product or service cannot be readily identified without pointing to the registrant?s mark
* he/she only uses as much of the mark as is necessary to identify the goods or services
* he/she does nothing with the mark to suggest that the registrant has given his approval to the defendant "

EDIT:

As far as using a word that happens to coincide with a trademark, even though such use has nothing to do with the trademark, falls under this quote:

"Trademark owners do not acquire the exclusive ownership of words. They only obtain the right to use the mark in commerce and to prevent competitors in the same line of goods or services from using a confusingly similar mark. The same word can therefore be trademarked by different producers to label different kinds of goods. Examples are Delta Airlines and Delta Faucets."

[Tom Goodwin]

Do people ever actually read posts on here? Its like digital point in here on the weekends.

Did I ever say you had automatic permission to use a trademark in a domain? Give me a break.

I never once said you would win a court of law. I never said that as an affiliate you had the right to use the product you are promoting in the domain. I know for a fact it doesn't, as a I am a practicing lawyer who does his fair share of IP work.


What I as talking about was the the real world of using a trademark in a domain name.

Originally Posted by Debbie Songster

Your wrong - plain and simple

Just because you are an affiilate doesn't give you automatic permission to use it.
YOU might think its ok but the company won't and here's why

It causes confusion to the public.
If your site is called www.brandnamereviews.com people will think the site belongs to www.brandname.com. It causes confusion and you will lose in a court of law.



To the OP
The only safe way to use a trademark is to ask permission and receive it in writing. Otherwise stay away from it (use the trademark in a folder)

[Tom Goodwin]

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

The odds are not that small. You can risk it. You'll most likely get a C&D first from an attorney telling you to take it down or transfer the domain. They can of course, sue if they want to.

I have seen many affiliate products that state in very clear terms that you may not use their trademark in any way ... not in ppc, not in ads, not in your domains. If you are unsure of use of a trademark, why don't you just ask the company that owns the trademark?

I have never seen one lawsuit without a C&D request first for products that were promoting a product. If you have "joeschmoeisascam.com", then sure, you can be in serious trouble. But, you are just not going to get sued out of the blue for using a brand name in a domain name. It hasn't happened and it ain't gonna happen.

[davezan]

Hmm, I guess the OP essentially got the answer to the question.

At the end of the day, it boils down to likelihood of confusion...and who one is
potentially dealing with.

[Ernie Mitchell]

This has been an educational thread.

I’m not concerned so much as purposely pushing the envelope and receiving a C&D letter (or worse) for doing so. I’m concerned about protecting a couple of domains that I am building businesses around. After reading this thread I’m thinking I may need to put trademarks on some of my domains for my own protection. It would be terrible to spend three or four years building a brand as the core of your business only to receive a chest thumping letter from the legal dept of a big company, especially if that company had only recently filed for a trademark.

I’m also thinking that I should start hosting a three or four of my core domains even though I may not be ready to use them for a few months. It “appears” that even a one-page site saying “coming soon” and stating the product and product name (name to be trademarked) would serve to establish a date line precedence.

Perhaps I’m jumping at shadows. Any insight would be appreciated.

It would also be interesting to know what the cost is to register a trademark. When I registered my assumed names from the state attorney general’s office I saw where I could apply for a trademark BUT that is no doubt ONLY for a state trademark. On the Internet a person would have to reach far beyond the state.

[absolutelee]

Think about it like this. A company like Disney has spent literally billions on developing their business (including the name Disney), and here you come along and profit from that.

[Tom Goodwin]

I just wanted the entire video. Basically it is a scare video, IMHO. Should have come out around Halloween perhaps.

I have no doubt that in the vast majority of cases you would lose in court for having someone else's trademark in your domain name.

The question still comes to the practicality of all of this. I would like to see one example of anything higher up the food chain than a cease and desist letter for using a trademark in a domain name (other than examples where they were badmouthing the trademaker owner, of course).

I don't think it exists, but i'm waiting to be proven wrong.

So, people can obviously weigh their risk to return ratio, but for me, there is little risk to having a trademark in a domain name if I don't invest much time or money in it and I am willing to give it up if I get a C&D letter.

Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting

For some of you in some doubt
about this issue, it would serve
you well to watch this video
upon this subject.

Afterwards, ask yourself if it is
really worth it to gain a few
extra dollars....whilst running
the risk of being sued big
time...

An interview with a domain
lawyer:

YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.

[fir3d]

what about if i wanted to open a fan site like disneyiscool.com would they still take legal action?

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by thmgoodw

I just wanted the entire video. Basically it is a scare video, IMHO. Should have come out around Halloween perhaps.

I have no doubt that in the vast majority of cases you would lose in court for having someone else's trademark in your domain name.

The question still comes to the practicality of all of this. I would like to see one example of anything higher up the food chain than a cease and desist letter for using a trademark in a domain name (other than examples where they were badmouthing the trademaker owner, of course).

I don't think it exists, but i'm waiting to be proven wrong.

So, people can obviously weigh their risk to return ratio, but for me, there is little risk to having a trademark in a domain name if I don't invest much time or money in it and I am willing to give it up if I get a C&D letter.

Well, there's the case of Android Data who is thinking about suing Google for it's infringement of the Android trademark, which Android Data owns. Google was rejected for Android due to Android Data's trademark, but used it anyway.

But naturally, companies are not going to sue every little peon cybersquatter that comes along. If there's nothing in it for them to sue, they will simply take their trademark back from you.

To me it's not how much you can get away it ... it's a matter of whether or not cybersquatting is an ethical business practice. I guess you'd have to own a trademark and had some squatters infringe it before you would see it from a different perspective.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by fir3d

what about if i wanted to open a fan site like disneyiscool.com would they still take legal action?

Generally, parody sites, fan sites, and a "review" site such as HughesNetSucks.com are fair use as long as they are non-commercial. DisneyIsCool.com could be used as a Disney fan site for non-commercial use, but what is the point if it's non-commercial? I could understand HughesNetSucks.com because they really do suck and a disgruntled customer may want to share that with the rest of the world, but I wouldn't bother with a fan site that you can't monetize.

[GeorgR.]

Its really a gamble, but chances are VERY high that sooner or later you will get a CD letter from their lawyers. I wouldnt touch a big name like "toshiba", "disney" etc. with a long pole. The worst thing which might happen: You might keep your site for a year or so w/o problems...you get some nice traffic and THEN you get the CD letter forcing you to shut down an established site/domain. <-- very bad

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by fir3d

what about if i wanted to open a fan site like disneyiscool.com would they still take legal action?

Disney is notorious for protecting their trademarks like a mama grizzly with a new set of cubs. There are a few companies I might skirt the gray areas with, but Disney is not one of them.

Don't believe me? Try this search:

"disney sues" - Google Search

[Tom Goodwin]

I am well up to date with the "facts." Perhaps you need some more education?

Go to lawschool and then come back and we can chat. OK? No one is debating the facts.

I'm not sure why anyone is up in arms with instructions that each person show make their own risk/reward analysis. If you want to smoke cigarettes, fine. There is a risk, and if you are OK with that risk, then go ahead. I'm still looking for proof of the actual risk. I have yet to see it.

Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting

In the extreme, extraordinarily bad
advice.

It's easy for someone like you to
write that out in about 2 minutes
without thinking of the repurcussions
of the advice given.

You have nothing to lose whilst
advocating that it is perfectly okay
in your considered opinion, yet some-
one taking your advice as fact could
get themselves sued upto $100,000
plus, finishing them off for life and
losing everything they own, including
their home and everything they have
worked for.

My advice to you is to get yourself
a little more clued up on the facts,
before making such stupid remarks.

Nods curtly.


Mark Andrews...

[Tom Goodwin]

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

Well, there's the case of Android Data who is thinking about suing Google for it's infringement of the Android trademark, which Android Data owns. Google was rejected for Android due to Android Data's trademark, but used it anyway.

Note sure what this example is supposed to be. Doesn't seem to be an example of someone coming out of the blue to sue someone over a domain name without some precursor action, but then again, lawschool was a few years ago for me.

No point of debating this any more. No one is debating any of the facts. It is like that thread titled "stop profile spamming...you are better than that" that went crazy a couple of months ago. Some people are nits, some are not.

[fir3d]

just wanted to get some more ideas from people, if I am thinking about opening a site with a trademark in the domain but not to sell any products but it will have adsense as monetization and a link to the original website in the sidebar how illegal is that?

[davezan]

Originally Posted by thmgoodw

Doesn't seem to be an example of someone coming out of the blue to sue someone over a domain name without some precursor action

Oh, you mean a party who'd sue without even sending a C&D first? Microsoft
and Dell did that if one searches for a few of their cases, but I guess that is
because they can afford it.

Anyway, I agree it depends on the practicality of it. Especially if they intend
to make money off it somehow, and if they're maybe outside a complainant's
physical reach.

Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting

You should never register a trademarked
domain name full stop.

That depends on why one's considering that. Not everyone does everything or
something just for the money, although that is essentially a point the OP was
asking as this is a forum about making that.

One ought to not consider registering something like M1cr0soft dot tld and put
in ads if they don't want to waste their $9/year registration losing it in a UDRP
action. OTOH, some people register domains to either poke fun (e.g. Falwell
disputes) or put up gripe sites.

(Makes me wonder why Mr. Nissan continues to spend defending his rights to
Nissan.com against the Japanese automaker, considering he can hardly make
money out of it. But oh well, that's his choice.)

If anything, it goes to show domain-trademark disputes are black...white...or
gray or whatever color or shade one wants to brush it with. Not as simple as
life as some people tend to believe, although one can find just a few common
fact-patterns.

(Oh, and just posting since I have a little more free time. Heh.)

[DogScout]

Well, I am a stupid. I 'took on' Disney once. Not with a domain name, with using Mickey on a site page.

It was an obvious parody with Mickey explaining copyright law in layman's terms. I am pretty sure they didn't like it as the page got constant hits from a lawyer's office IP daily, but they never did anything about it in the 4 years or so it was up. (I don't think I will ever do that agian, though I am always tempted, again because I have more rebel in me than sense. Lol.)

It just seems not worth the trouble to use trademark names or misspellings in domain names. You end up spending time and money getting them to produce an income and can lose it all with a single letter EVEN if the TM holder doesn't end up going for the $100,000 judgment.

What wasn't mentioned in the video is, if a judgment is awarded and you cannot pay, your income can be attached, currently at the rate of 25% (in this state).

If you are self-employed it is my understanding that the IRS will help collect that amount. Much like they do in child support cases.. Though I could be wrong about that part. It is only hearsay from possible bad information I have gotten in the past, but the 1st part is a fact. (As I understand judgment law...and no I am not a lawyer, but have had fun with a few. )

[Ernie Mitchell]

If anyone is interested, I just had a conversation with the US Patent and Trademark Office concerning costs connected with filing for and being awarded a Trademark or Servicemark.

Filing fees are $325.00 per class and an additional $100.00 if you have not previously used the mark/name. The defination of "class' is the industry category the trade or servicemark applies to. For instance tennis shoes and air conditioneers would be two seperate classes requiring two $325.00 fees. It takes three to six months for a mark to be approved or refused.

[pixelrage]

My trademark had a grand total of around $550. Keep in mind, it's a recurring fee - every 5 years you have to shell out more money. It's not cheap, either.

[yves]

Originally Posted by wahmsuzanne

I know it's not exactly the same but I was sent a cease and desist for using the company name on the site ... i.e. in meta tags and on the page. *sigh* I added some wording up top of each page that I was not the official site and not associated with them or a representative and after several back and forth letters between me and their attorney I haven't heard back.

I have heard that if you use the name in the domain they will tell you to take it down and I've also heard they can "take" the domain from you.

I'll be curious to see what others have to say about this as well. *SmiLes* Suzanne

I started a thread about this recently as I was wondering if it is ok to use a brand name on a site (not in the domain name) just information on various brands of products for adsense sites.

So are you saying the company contacted you just because you used their brand name somewhere on your site? What was the nature of the inclusion of the brand?

That's a bit worrying.

[Kay King]

It's not a worry if you avoid using brand names trademarked by other people.

I had ONE short article on a website about a physical product of a manufacturer. Two weeks after putting it online I got a letter to remove it as a trademark violation. The page was complimentary to the product and was not monetized in any way. (The site itself had about 40 pages of content at the time).

I hadn't even thought that it might violate trademark rights - never occurred to me but I did have the product name in the page title because that is what the content was about. Did I remove it? - sure did, same day.

A business built on "what I may be able to get by with" will never be solid or sustainable.

kay

[JohnMcCabe]

I've used brand names within content before with no problems. I do take a couple of steps to protect myself, though.

First, if the name is trademarked, I make sure I include the (TM) symbol.

Second, I have a statement acknowledging the trademark owner and declaring that I'm using their trademark solely to identify their product.

If I ever do get the C&D on one of those content pieces, I will remove the reference to the trademark. If that means taking the content down altogether, so be it.

[ketanco]

what if you buy a domain before it is registered trademark. and also use it for another unrelated purpose?

[Debbie Songster]

Originally Posted by ketanco

what if you buy a domain before it is registered trademark. and also use it for another unrelated purpose?

There are many different products that are named the same and each will "own" the trademark but in their respective industry only.

I would research the name in question and see if its been trademarked in your "industry"

Do a search in TESS -- http://tess2.uspto.gov/

This is a good resource to bookmark as well
Trademarks Home

When you search trademarks / tradenames you will see that they will be registered for a specific purpose (industry) or product line.

[WSOHelp]

I was into old classic Buicks at one stage in my life so I built a site with the word Buick in the domain name (still own it). I was worried so I sent them an email asking for permission. Not only did they say it was cool but they really liked the site and asked me if I would like to put my link on their "enthusiast's page". I now have a back link from Buick themselves(!) and guess what? Yep, it's my most clicked on link and has been for over 5 years.

I'm also into Hot Rods so I bought "Fordcoupe.com" on a whim. Before putting anything on I thought I better do the right thing and ask Ford - they said no.

Not sure if that helps but the Buick story is interesting in that sometimes brands in names can work out well. Faily isolated case though I'd guess.

[scsheldon33]

Awesome discussion here. Learning a lot. Thank you for this thread.