Using the name Google in your domain name....

12 replies
Does anyone know if you can use the name google in your domain name legally?

Meaning, I have seen many people with products like "googledominator" ect......on and on, but I was curious as to if you could legally, if it was available use the name google in your domain name, for instance if I has a product that I wanted to sell, and I called it Google Dominator, could I use the name googledominator.com without getting in trouble?

I do not have a product like that but I am curious as to what is and is not allowed, since so many people have products that have the word google in them.

Thanks for any advice....

P.S. or do you have to have a second tier page, like say mywebsite.xxx/googledominator.html in order to do this legally?
#domain #google
  • Profile picture of the author waltermulder
    Good question. I heard some stories that some internet marketers lost their domain name with Google in it when it became popular and google got to know about it. And I can imagine using the term google is indeed infringing their copyright.

    As it's a protected brand name I think it's up to google to decide if they silently let you get away with it. But it might also lead to legal consequenses in the future.
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  • Profile picture of the author waltermulder
    a workaround could be using gdominator instead of google dominator and only use a simular logo to Google's on your salespage like gsniper and gcashsystem did
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Wells
      Originally Posted by waltermulder View Post

      a workaround could be using gdominator instead of google dominator and only use a simular logo to Google's on your salespage like gsniper and gcashsystem did
      So you are saying that someone could buy lets say a domain, like for example, googledominator.com and then point that domain to "gdominator", and if the domain URL googledominator is typed in the websearch window then its automtically redirected to the the legal domain of "gdominator"?

      Basically you are not really using the domain googledominator.com? Or are you in there eyes?

      So, many people are doing these shifty type of things, I am amazed that if its illegal to do, that someome would take that kind of legal risk, especially as an IM going up against the likes of Google, which is basically the bread and butter of IM'ing. Meaning they hold the web presence life and death of all the IM'ers in their hands.

      They could punish whomever they want and bury their domains in BFE if someone got on their badside....
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by EWGQDD View Post

        So you are saying that someone could buy lets say a domain, like for example, googledominator.com and then point that domain to "gdominator", and if the domain URL googledominator is typed in the websearch window then its automtically redirected to the the legal domain of "gdominator"?

        Basically you are not really using the domain googledominator.com? Or are you in there eyes?

        So, many people are doing these shifty type of things, I am amazed that if its illegal to do, that someome would take that kind of legal risk, especially as an IM going up against the likes of Google, which is basically the bread and butter of IM'ing. Meaning they hold the web presence life and death of all the IM'ers in their hands.

        They could punish whomever they want and bury their domains in BFE if someone got on their badside....
        No ... you should not register googledominator.com. You should register gdominator.com. Google can take googledominator.com away from you even if you just redirect it. They could also sue you if they wanted to. It's not a matter of legal. It's not a felony or misdemeanor. It is a civil matter and it is trademark infringement. You won't go to jail over it, but Google could make you very unhappy.
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      • Profile picture of the author waltermulder
        Originally Posted by EWGQDD View Post

        So you are saying that someone could buy lets say a domain, like for example, googledominator.com and then point that domain to "gdominator", and if the domain URL googledominator is typed in the websearch window then its automtically redirected to the the legal domain of "gdominator"?
        er... no I meant that you could save yourself trouble by registering domains with g in it instead of google
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        • Profile picture of the author Steve Wells
          Thanks again guys, I was not really planning on anything of the sort, because I have no products to sell like that, but I was curious how people are getting away with it?

          Again thanks....
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          • Profile picture of the author davezan
            Originally Posted by EWGQDD View Post

            but I was curious how people are getting away with it?
            Not all traffic violators get caught. Those that do tend to pay a price.

            Granted, there are very few and exceptional cases. The idea here is if you're
            going to register and use a domain to exploit someone's trademark, you likely
            will invite trouble from an especially aggressive and protective party like 'em.

            Originally Posted by sambavammi View Post

            you should not have much trouble unless you get BIG
            But you can still have trouble even if you're small, especially when it is Google
            being talked about here. Search for domain-trademark disputes involving them
            and you'll see how aggressive they can be.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    No, not legally unless you plan on doing a non-commercial Google fan page or non-commercial GoogleSucks.com type of site, which would fall under Fair Use.

    Google has been aggressively going after trademark infringers, so it's pointless to register a domain with Google in it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Wells
      Thanks for your comments, just curious and had to ask........
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  • Profile picture of the author waltermulder
    The funny thing though is that I managed to run a google adwords campaign for one of my domains with the name google in it and they accepted it. The campaign only ran for a week though
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  • Profile picture of the author waltermulder
    Graphics is more tricky. You could even trademark a graphic that has the same colors of google but a different lettertype. That's what I meant with a google look-alike logo in the sales copy of your website
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  • Profile picture of the author sambavammi
    you should not have much trouble unless you get BIG
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