The Law Regarding Trademarks In Domains
I read recently that there are over 80,000 domains registered with the word 'ebay' in them.
However, most of these domains are not in use, possibly due to the eBay division of scaremongers who seem to be pretty quick in contacting any owner of such domains.
The interesting thing is, just how far can they go in defending their trademark?
The reason I ask is because PayPal is also a registered trademark (and a sister company of eBay), and they have failed to pull down the domains PayPalSucks.com, NoPayPal.com, AboutPayPal.org and PayPalWarning.com.
The reason they can continue is because, "There is no question that the domain is not authorized or endorsed by eBay or PayPal".
This leaves the question, what can and can't you use?
I figure something like eBaySite.com would not be fair use, as it could mislead.
But, what if someone set up a site, SellingOneBay.com or HowToSellOneBay.com, and ran a run-of-the-mill blog with no eBay logo or anything to confuse visitors. Would that be fair use?
JK
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David
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