Don't Use Trademarked Names in Your Domain Names -- Learn From My Mistake

It just depends on the affiliate network your working with some are more leaning than others

This would have been avoided if you had spent some time reading on the forums. This topic has been covered many times. NEVER register a domain name with a trademark in it. It is NEVER ok. If you want to promote a product do it with keywords in your articles on your site and ads.

Both of those sites that you mentioned don't appear to sell products, and are monetized by adsense.

I suspect that the issue is that you're attempting to actually sell HP products through a URL that could be misconstrued as an HP site.

If you changed the site to an adsense site you'd probably be fine. I think.

Mac rumors and Mac forums are similar examples... i think they'd run into problems if they started trying to actually sell mac products.

You should just be happy you realized this was an issue now and not 6 months down the line when the site's actually producing income.

Sorry to hear what happened.

Congrats on putting the time into making your own site great job and I am glad you are going to keep going.

you MUST MUST MUST look at EACH affiliate program you are trying to get approved for. What you described is typical for many of them, BUT many also will not allow you to bid on keywords related to their trademark ect...all of this is spelled out in the affiliate description on most networks. Make sure to be CAREFUL as they can deny ANY commissions you have earned if you violate that.

Spend some time here and check things before trying to build out a site. It will keep you out of many landmines like that.

So, I've been in your shoes before... in fact I still am. Quick advice, pick a different domain if you can. Like others have said, why open yourself up the stress of any trademark issues and affiliate denials.

My story, I'm a website developer and wanted to make a tutorial site for the cms I use. (hint, see my sig) What I didn't know, even though I used the cms daily for years building client sites, is that the word 'joomla' is trademarked. I spent two months offline building the site, getting the content put together. Mainly working after hours and lunches. So, when I launched the website I did what anyone excited would do... made a post on the joomla forums for people to check out the site. My response? post deleted and eventually thread locked. Talk about a buzz kill on launch day.

The trademark holder has a method for you to request permission to use it, which I've filled out, but never got a response. I searched the net to find out their typical 'must have this to be approved' guidelines, and went ahead and added them to my site. Technically no permission etc.

Next, I went to research US trademark law. I'm not a trademark lawyer, so take with a grain of salt, but It all boils down to how the word is being used, and why it is being used. Basically, the company would have to prove that the trademark is being used in 'bad faith'. ie- that I'm trying to misrepresent my site as the official website. Which, could be why your site got denied.

I added the same ugly disclaimer to my site to show "hey I'm not them!" that they ask every site to use. So that is(should be) taken care of.

Finally, I'm using the "Nominative use" of the term which, when I found how that worked, took a huge weight off my shoulders. This really cleared up some things, as nominative use of a trademark is encouraged by US Law in some cases. (This is how Toyota could say "Our 'ABC' is better than Honda XYZ" etc) In my case, the actual site/product is a tutorial for 'joomla', so removing the trademark would mean the site/product is pointless. "Hey, come see the tutorial site for a well known CMS system whose name I can't mention because it is trademarked.com" Again, that is my understanding (results may vary)

I don't know if I'll be asked to remove my website, but I think I'll have a case to keep it.

All that being said, save yourself the trouble and pick a domain without the trademark. I've moved on to other things already, and don't plan to pump as many resources into the site as I had initially thought.

Honestly did not know this would be an issue either.... Glad to have found this thread

Good info, thanks! Was actually working on something similar, may need to look at other options for domains.

Happened to me when I registered 3 domains with ebay in them.

2 weeks later I had a warning from ebay.

You really have to be careful at all times.

All of the examples you gave are trademark infringements and can be taken down the trademark holders at any time. It is illegal and you can be sued or sent a cease and desist. You can't use device brand/model in your domain name with any safety.

Kay and Suzanne have spelled it out for everyone. Generally just don't go near a trademarked domain unless you are willing to lose it/get sued or better still first speak to a trademark lawyer. Any other advice here or elsewhere is just one person's view and won't help you if you end up in court!

Rich

Oh boy! Thats so terrifying news for me. I got three domains in trademark name. Does that mean I can't promote those products????

From my experience, better to be safe than sorry and just forget about the trademark names in your URL. Please keep in mind: individual PAGES are ranked, so you can still get ranked for a trademark product in your post (just build backlinks to them using any of the SEO techniques that you have learned).

Example: propcdesktops.com/reviews/hp-pavilion-dv6000.html

Even though... some companies don't seem to mind you using their name in your URL so long as you are promoting their products exclusively. Still, they can take down your website at any time, and maybe even pursue legal action as well. Why risk it?

Yeah as long as you don't sell HP products you should be fine. I've noticed countless sites for the likes of Mac, Facebook, Microsoft etc that were usually sites about news and had info on it. I think sites like that are fine.

The variety in the opinions on this thread reflects everyone's different risk aversion factor. Interesting Diversity and scarcity is what makes the market work.

Regarding the domain name with a trademark in it, I have yet to actually decide whether to scrap it entirely or use it as an information site. I'm not an expert but for someone who is not an expert, the way to get the right information is to read and learn from numerous expert sources. Reading a few long articles written by various attorney's on the matter of internet domain name and trademark infringement, it's clear that if it's used as a reference and subject of debate, parody or topic of discussion, then it is okay.
You cannot have a forum about motorola xooms without the WORD "motorola xoom" in it as a reference. Otherwise it'll be "forums" or "the 10 inch tablet with a dual core processor that's heavier than the other android tablets - forums.com". For the sake for referencing the brandname as an information, education or discussion site appears to be fine.
What is NOT okay is when the brand name is used to promote product, and it appears there is a fine line between which products are okay and which are not. And also the question of, the chances that they will comes after you. Just to be safe from legal troubles, SELLING any type of product with a brand name of a manufacturer/retailer is never okay. Even selling books about Motorola Xooms can be argued illegal because the trademark owner is in the business of RETAIL/SELLING, so if you decide to also SELL (even an unrelated product), there can be a link drawn between the brandname and the product, which is unfair use of the brand name.

Informational, discussion sites are sometimes okay because of the fact that a) like stated above, the trademark is used as reference to describe their topic b) you're not in direct competition with the trademark owner (also means theyre less likely to care) c) The issue of consumer confusion is more at rest. The audience coming to Ipadjailbreak.com are looking for a discussion and informational resource on hacking an apple device, not looking to buy an apple product. Nor does the domain provide any confusion on that matter, even for idiots. The site does not sell anything apple related and only has ads like adsense and unrelated to apple.


With that said, I did learn a lot from this stuff. I still have yet to determine the actual risk for my website running as purely information and whether it's worth the risk (if there is any). It seems based on expert opinions and trademark law, using my acquired domain as a resource website with the trademark as a topic would be perfectly fine, especially with no affiliate links. Not sure if it's worth the hassle.

eh, you live and you learn. I'm at least glad my ORIGINAL plan was thrown off track cause I was ready to launch with a webstore that sold amazon affiliate products designed with the similar colors in the logo that the product trademark holder used! Could have been death.

Happily you got the word from Amazon fast before you started driving links to your site. This is hopefully, given you pause before using another method of monetization like Adsense.

After all if Amazon does not like it, who is to say that the company itself would not issue a take down notice after you have spent even more time building it up.

And as another poster said, if you had been reading these forums, you would have probably thought twice before using a copyrighted name.

Regardless, get the content of your site moved over to another site with a domain name that is more generic.

What have you lost...the domain name fee for the year which is cheap.

What have you gained...the opportunity to build a business that you won't have to look over your shoulder constantly for and worry about getting a violation notice.

I thought the trademark part was about advertising, I am referring to AdWords, I did not know something like this could happen.

Hi guys thanks for all of this so essentially if you were going down the Xfactor model of

productname.com e.g www.cheapbmw6series.com

You should just forget it and instead go with

cheapsportscar.com then use meta tags and link build with ''bmw 6 series'' as anchor text ?

Am I right ?

Does this not potentially confuse google spiders?

Like what Johnny Optimo said. Lesson learned move on.

Brands are a no-no however usually differing models within a brand are usually not trademarked.

However do your due diligence and double check.