Is It Safe to Create A Review Site?

Thomas Smale

12 years ago

You don't have to use the product name in your domain. Problem solved.

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ShaneBoyd 12 years ago

You really need to read the TOS when you sign up for the affiliate program. For example, you probably couldn't use the domain Nikex.com

But you could use the name AffiliateOwnagex.com

It just depends on your niche and what you plan on selling.

Personally, I've never heard of anyone getting into trouble by using the domain name for IM niches. In fact, it will be hard (or nearly impossible) to rank on the first page without having the name in the domain.
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Nics

12 years ago

So what you're really talking about is using a domain with a brand name in it. That is never safe. You always risk that they will come after you. There's nothing unsafe about creating a review site with unique content and honest reviews.

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Mark Alan

12 years ago

If you put a well known product or the name of a company in your domain name chances are at some point you are going to get contacted by an attorney. Personally, I wouldn't try to get away with a domain name like iphonereview something more generic like phonereview is good. Get your product names into your URLs by posts or pages so you end up with something like this phonereviews.net/iphone-review/ You still may get legal contact, but it is much less likely and you can simply change the name of that one page or one post in less than 30 seconds instead of throwing the whole domain away.

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trevstar22

12 years ago

Most of you advise not putting the product name in, which is
Interesting because it seems the vast majority of reviews sites
Have the product name in them . So are they at risk?

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SteveFinch

12 years ago

Originally Posted by trevstar22

Most of you advise not putting the product name in, which is
Interesting because it seems the vast majority of reviews sites
Have the product name in them . So are they at risk?

Yes it could be risky, but it can depend on what or who it is. If I was you, I'd err on the side of caution and avoid any brand names in your domain.

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Alexa Smith

Banned 12 years ago

I can hardly believe it - we're up to post 8 in the thread and nobody has used the word "trademark" yet?

This is mostly (not entirely) a trademark question.

If you use someone else's trademark in a domain-name, then you're breaching someone else's civil law rights, and living very dangerously indeed. Among the things that can and regularly do happen, when the trademark owner discovers such breaches of trademark, are:-

They can tell you take it down
They can take the domain from you
They can take from you any money you've ever made through the site
They can sue you for additional damages for flagrantly breaching their legal rights

Don't imagine that because "you're helping them to make sales" (as is often the case) they'll decide to be lenient. That isn't how it works. The point is that owning a trademark effectively confers obligations as well as rights on the holder: when it comes to trademark renewal time, if it can be shown that they've knowingly failed to protect their rights with regard to the trademark, that can be held against them. Some companies, for this reason, have the policy of pursuing all breaches of the trademark routinely and without reference to the motives/purposes/circumstances of the defendant.

That said, sometimes problems can be avoided simply by asking for permission.

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Mark Alan

12 years ago

The other side of the coin is you're allowed to use trademarks in a limited way. If you're putting it directly in the domain itself it would be difficult to claim fair use. However, generally speaking you can use it in a limited way such as a review critiquing the product or service in question
.

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I can hardly believe it - we're up to post 8 in the thread and nobody has used the word "trademark" yet?

This is mostly (not entirely) a trademark question.

If you use someone else's trademark in a domain-name, then you're breaching someone else's civil law rights, and living very dangerously indeed. Among the things that can and regularly do happen, when the trademark owner discovers such breaches of trademark, are:-

They can tell you take it down
They can take the domain from you
They can take from you any money you've ever made through the site
They can sue you for additional damages for flagrantly breaching their legal rights

Don't imagine that because "you're helping them to make sales" (as is often the case) they'll decide to be lenient. That isn't how it works. The point is that owning a trademark effectively confers obligations as well as rights on the holder: when it comes to trademark renewal time, if it can be shown that they've knowingly failed to protect their rights with regard to the trademark, that can be held against them. Some companies, for this reason, have the policy of pursuing all breaches of the trademark routinely and without reference to the motives/purposes/circumstances of the defendant.

That said, sometimes problems can be avoided simply by asking for permission.

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Green Moon

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Mark Alan

The other side of the coin is you're allowed to use trademarks in a limited way. If you're putting it directly in the domain itself it would be difficult to claim fair use. However, generally speaking you can use it in a limited way such as a review critiquing the product or service in question.

Mark is right that you can sometimes use trademarks without infringing on the trademark owner's rights, but it is very hard to tell where you can draw the line. And its very risky if you guess wrong.

Clearly, you can write a review about a product and give the name of the product, even if it is trademarked. Its one thing for witches and wizards to speak of He Who Must Not Be Named, but it is very difficult to write a usable review a Product Which Must Not Be Named.

On the other hand, it is very easy to name a website without using the trademarked product name in the domain name. There are WIPO decisions that go for and against Complainants depending on the specific facts, but even if you win, you have the cost of the fight.

If you plan to make money off the site, whether through advertising. affiliate commissions. direct sales or otherwise, you would be smart NOT to use the trademark in the domain name.

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RashmiP 12 years ago

Genuine review sites are very helpful to customers like angie's list. Good and quality reviews make sense, but today you will mostly see spams everywhere in reviews, which is very frustrating.
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trevstar22

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I can hardly believe it - we're up to post 8 in the thread and nobody has used the word "trademark" yet?

This is mostly (not entirely) a trademark question.

If you use someone else's trademark in a domain-name, then you're breaching someone else's civil law rights, and living very dangerously indeed. Among the things that can and regularly do happen, when the trademark owner discovers such breaches of trademark, are:-

They can tell you take it down
They can take the domain from you
They can take from you any money you've ever made through the site
They can sue you for additional damages for flagrantly breaching their legal rights

Don't imagine that because "you're helping them to make sales" (as is often the case) they'll decide to be lenient. That isn't how it works. The point is that owning a trademark effectively confers obligations as well as rights on the holder: when it comes to trademark renewal time, if it can be shown that they've knowingly failed to protect their rights with regard to the trademark, that can be held against them. Some companies, for this reason, have the policy of pursuing all breaches of the trademark routinely and without reference to the motives/purposes/circumstances of the defendant.

That said, sometimes problems can be avoided simply by asking for permission.

A good point, although I would add that many products reviewed are
not trademarked like book titles and info products.
Still I have not heard of any warriors who have gotten into trouble on this
So I repeat. Are there any warriors who have legal static over their
Review domains?

Thanks

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ArielT

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I can hardly believe it - we're up to post 8 in the thread and nobody has used the word "trademark" yet?

This is mostly (not entirely) a trademark question.

If you use someone else's trademark in a domain-name, then you're breaching someone else's civil law rights, and living very dangerously indeed. Among the things that can and regularly do happen, when the trademark owner discovers such breaches of trademark, are:-

They can tell you take it down
They can take the domain from you
They can take from you any money you've ever made through the site
They can sue you for additional damages for flagrantly breaching their legal rights

Don't imagine that because "you're helping them to make sales" (as is often the case) they'll decide to be lenient. That isn't how it works. The point is that owning a trademark effectively confers obligations as well as rights on the holder: when it comes to trademark renewal time, if it can be shown that they've knowingly failed to protect their rights with regard to the trademark, that can be held against them. Some companies, for this reason, have the policy of pursuing all breaches of the trademark routinely and without reference to the motives/purposes/circumstances of the defendant.

That said, sometimes problems can be avoided simply by asking for permission.

What do you think about trademarks on pages or post that appears in the URL? Would It be also a breach?

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matt78

12 years ago

Originally Posted by ArielT

What do you think about trademarks on pages or post that appears in the URL? Would It be also a breach?

Trademark name would be a problem when it's in a domain name like Androidreview.com. But it's okay if if it appear in URL like tabletreview.com/android-review

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Alexa Smith

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by matt78

Trademark name would be a problem when it's in a domain name like Androidreview.com. But it's okay if if it appear in URL like tabletreview.com/android-review

This is my impression, too.

I've seen an internet lawyer here commenting that (a) having someone's trademark in a domain-name and having it in a url are two very different things, and (b) he wasn't aware of anyone getting into really serious trouble for having it in a url.

This is second-hand information only and of course I'm not a lawyer though willing to play one on TV for a suitable fee, but even then only a defense one.

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trevstar22

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

This is my impression, too.

I've seen an internet lawyer here commenting that (a) having someone's trademark in a domain-name and having it in a url are two very different things, and (b) he wasn't aware of anyone getting into really serious trouble for having it in a url.

This is second-hand information only and of course I'm not a lawyer though willing to play one on TV for a suitable fee, but even then only a defense one.

Yes. That does make a lot of sense. I can see why they
Would object to the product in the domain name but as part of
The url instead it is clear that it is not hijacking the product
Brand name

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Mark Alan 12 years ago

That's my current take although I don't keep up on it like I use to. I do know of a case a couple of years ago where a guy set up a reviews site then instead of using page or post names set up each product on a sub domain.

He got sued I never heard the outcome of the case so I suspect he settled.

Originally Posted by matt78

Trademark name would be a problem when it's in a domain name like Androidreview.com. But it's okay if if it appear in URL like tabletreview.com/android-review
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fedor50

12 years ago

It's safe to make a review site.in fact that's the way most affiliates make their money by reviewing products that they are trying to sell

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repstein

12 years ago

Another thing to remember: I think that FTC regulations require you to disclose in an obvious way that your affiliate links are affiliate links.

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Vlad Romanov

12 years ago

The answer is: you are safe until you start earning money. If you have some tiny website which is nowhere near the first page and doesn't bother anyone, most of the time no one will take any action against you. As soon as you have a competitor, they can report you even if they don't have any relation with the brand and your site will be at risk since complaints are coming in.

Either way avoid having any legal issues with your domain names

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Yanni6

12 years ago

I have a review site and I have had no problems, but many times if you go to places like offervault and look up the offer it gives you requirements for your domain name.

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Miguelito203

12 years ago

Originally Posted by trevstar22

I think many of have heard the horror stories. Someone buys a domain
which is the name of a product and they might make some sales. Then the
lawyer contact them and the site is shut down and maybe the owner has to pay
Some serious bucks to settle.
I think most of us assume that a review site is different. If you have a site such
as. Iphonereview.com. or similar that there will be no problem.
But exactly how safe is it? Could aggressive lawyers still come after you
Because the product name is used?
Has anyone with a review site had problems with this?
I would like to know since I plan on doing some review sites.

Trevor

You shouldn't create domain names with brand names in them. Instead, create a broad domain name that's related to the niche that you're actually in. In addition to being safer, it allows you to promote multiple brands.

Joey

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yougpeter

12 years ago

The problem with this is only if you take exact trademark of company.if you put in near trademark something like review or e.c the that is no longer trademark.Also what will you do with this domain what products you will promote?If from Amazon there is strict agreement.The most important in this talk is that.Don't be afraid to do something.Lets say you build 20 sites and one site will be shut down.You have 19 sites running and making money.Just do it!

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trevstar22

12 years ago

Originally Posted by yougpeter

The problem with this is only if you take exact trademark of company.if you put in near trademark something like review or e.c the that is no longer trademark.Also what will you do with this domain what products you will promote?If from Amazon there is strict agreement.The most important in this talk is that.Don't be afraid to do something.Lets say you build 20 sites and one site will be shut down.You have 19 sites running and making money.Just do it!

It is not just that you might have to shut down the site
Some people have had to pay thousands. You really have
To be careful on this.

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tmoby

12 years ago

There's affiliate products that allow the name in the domain, you can check the TOS for that. Though I still recommend NOT doing it because they can change on a whim and your domain is useless. Yes, this has happened to me.

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wolfmmiii

12 years ago

Of course, it is safe to build product review sites. What isn't safe is chasing EMDs based on trademarked terms. Build a brandable site with your own brand name and target easy to rank products and you will succeed. Stay away from the advice that advocates using trademarked terms in the domain. It's a recipe for disaster.

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uniquecontent

12 years ago

Making a product review site is not an issue and its completely legal, but using their name in your domain name or using their trademarks is completely wrong and you already know the consequences now. So be very careful man.

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Is It Safe to Create A Review Site?

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