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

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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?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #domain #google
  • 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.
  • 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
    • [1] reply
    • 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....
      • [2] replies
  • 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.
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks for your comments, just curious and had to ask........
  • 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
  • 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
  • you should not have much trouble unless you get BIG
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    Using the name Google in your domain name....

    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?