Can they sue me?

You need to consult a legal professional. My layman's understanding is that it would depend on the nature of your website. If you are using the trademarked term to drive traffic to a site which is giving the impression of being an official outlet or similar, then I believe that is known as "passing off" and certainly could be subject to legal action.

Depends on the legally terms that are applied in your country. You could get sue based on using a logo or a name that is registered and it is a trademark. Just to give you an example, in my country even if I say "McDonald`s is the best" they still can sue me because I do not have their permission.

Yes, they can sue you. Most of company didn't allow trademark abused by others.

People CAN sue you for anything. Will they win? That depends. If you are doing ON PAGE, for sure...it has happened. And adwords will even ban you for doing it. Off page, it is possible as well in certain instances....but less likely than on page IMO.

Your definitely carrying a stack of glass dishes across a lake of ice...you better be careful

Well, If they want to sue you I would really advise you this trick. Say something like "You will need a lawyer and sh.it and all that time to bother with a little guy like me. How about this deal - you pay me 1k dollah and I transfer your stinkin domain, how about that?" they should definitely agree. Of course, make sure you fill full page of the search term so before transfer domain would get sandboxed - win win!

They cannot sue you for RANKING

They CAN sue you if you use their trademark in your domain or if your site content can be found as misleading people into thinking your site is the official site...

They cannot sue you for backlinks being built unless you build them with the intention people will think the link takes them to the official site.

Want to be safe? have the words "a review on" "my site on" before the anchor text link.

Want to be even safer? Have the location of where you live clearly stated on the main page of your site so if any legal action IS taken, they will have to take such action in your home town. This makes legal fees and travel fees VERY inconvenient/expensive for the people trying to sue you - Most times if they are actually being serious and not just BS empty threats, this can be enough to have them forget about taking any serious legal action.

That's a good question. I'd advise contacting a lawyer to get a correct answer.

It depends on the overall context of the links.

Consider these examples and assume I am linking the words 'Sony Playstation' to my website:

Here is a picture of my new Sony Playstation. It's great. My favorite game is ...

versus

The Official Sony Playstation website.

The first is not a problem. The latter is.

.

Unless you used the trademark term in your domain, I don't think they will sue you for ranking their keywords, or else no one would be talking about their product at all. And you can easily take down your competitor if that's the case.

dude watch out the last thing u need is some major corporation trying to take all your money

I would try to come up with other keywords if I were you, just in case. That is a gray area, pretty iffy if you ask me.

Large corporations do not waste time suing smaller (comparatively) site owners - not much money for them in it compared to time and funds wasted on lawyers. They sue other large corporations instead.

HELP!!!!! eHARMONY IS SUING ME!!! omg for a lil stinking website called global-e-harmony.com. I had no idea that my site would cause such a ruckus! I worked hard on this crap and its not their name. Why didn't they register global-e-harmony if they wanted that domain. Haven't they been in business since Jesus was born? This is bs and I'm mad about it. I worked very hard learning how to setup a site and I still have a whole lot to learn. The site isn't making a ton of money ok? And its a new site. Clearly, this is not their name and they want my site!!!! They want me to give them my site. Just like that. Like I can put them out of business or something. As if I'm some huge threat. So I've added (not affiliated with eharmony or his brand) on the front page to try and stop this nonsense. Eharmony had millions of members. I have ALL OF FIVE and they want my fricking site. How crazy is this? Who does this? Do you mean to tell me that of all the geniuses they've got working for them not one could think to register global-e-harmony? Yet, they wait til I do it and want to snatch it from me? I know these people know this site is harmless to them. I think this is capitalism run amok. No one should have this kind of power. I guess this would make sense to me if I had named the site eharmonyglobal and was spending millions on marketing but this is soooo far from that. But my site isn't called that and I'm not doing that! My site is number 26,000,000 on google. Now you tell me where the threat is. If anyone should feel threatened, its me. After I registered this site, I immediately thought why would people go to my site when its so much easier to remember eharmony? I had already spent the money though and thought I'd make the best of it and use the site as learning tool more or less. If I make a few bucks, all the better. Everybody on the planet knows how eharmony is spelled and used. I'm just really po'd that people can try and get away with this. I guess we won't be able to use any words pretty soon. I don't recall them creating the letter e or the words global or harmony in the English language.

Any advice for me? Should I call those ICANN people they're talking about? How do you reach them anyway?

This makes me very sad because I worked so hard and I had to learn a lot to set up this fricking site not mention the money I spent and the time I put in. When you don't have money, you gotta put in the time. I've been working around the clock reading stuff to learn how to drive traffic to my site. Not one single visitor has come from eharmony. Its not even a high traffic site so what are they afraid of? I just don't get it.

I'm not sure, but I'd assume it depends on how you're ranking for the trademarked term. For example, I think if you use their trademark in your domain, then you could get into trouble. Perhaps the same for the title, but it's hard to say there. I don't think you can get into trouble for using a trademarked term in your anchor text, but I could be wrong.

It was pretty hard to read all this thread in one go especially the catty bit in the middle but paulgl is definatly where my money is in this warmed a little discussion!!

Interesting topic ! I never thought about this cause I do have 3 sites that I guess I am on the border line when it comes to trademark issues.

Definitely some food for thought here cause my sites are on the 1st page on Google and so I am getting some exposure there.

Thankyou all.

Just make sure you don't use trademark names - my friend got it for using Gillette razors...

38 replies and the correct answer is still up for debate!
The best thing you can do is seek legal advice from people who study internet law, advice on, here whilst well intended, should be taken with a grain of salt!

Lee

hmm how about for credit card affiliates?

If it's a trademarked term it's best to get permission first from the company before getting a cease and desist letter

they could maybe try and sue you if you posed as the company whos trademark it is but if you rank higher than them it's their fault for not SEOing properly. Still look up some legal advice, i wouldnt risk it for a chocolate biscuit in this case

If you're using the trademark name in your domain you could be potentially sued.

I've had a couple of sites in the past that were generated by an automated system, and I had outsourced the content and seo, and before I knew it I had a "cease and desist" letter come to my door.

If you are not using any trademarked name in the domain name, but using it as a keyword in your content, then you may want to add a line at the bottom of your Home page that states something like:

"This is an independent website and not the official website of "trademark name" nor is this website a representative of "trademark name." All information is provided for the benefit of the consumer."

That said, it really does depend on where you are and what the laws are. To avoid expensive lawyers fees and hassle, I'd suggest you avoid completely anything that looks remotely like a trademark infringement.

Lastly, and most importantly, you should seek legal counsel if you intend proceeding with the use of trademarked materials or Intellectual Property (IP).

If it is trademarked, it is sueable. However IP and trademark laws vary between countries, its worth getting legal advice if you keep doing this..

I tend to agree that using a trademark name in your domain name will definitely bring the law down on you. If you are not saying anything bad about them then I don't see why you couldn't use the name but linking to them may be different. To be correct, get some legal advice it may be better than being sued.