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Risk in building an authority site using a brand name

by czilbersher
7 replies
I came across an authority site (let's call it reebokfans.com) that is privately owned and not affiliated with the company; it's an unofficial fan site. The site is well-made and provides lots of great informational content. According to websvalue.com, it has over 20,000 daily page views, a PR of 5, and daily revenue of approx. $60.

Seems like a nice idea to replicate but also seems super risky in that they used the company's name in the domain name. Are there any hard and fast rules about being able to use a company's name in your domain name IF you include certain words such as "unofficial" or "fan site", etc? Curious to hear your thoughts on this.

UPDATE: I just came across an article on Geek.com where Atari went after all fan sites using their name in the domain (e.g., atari2600.org), which is unfortunate since those sites were simply supporting the brand. Made me wonder whether this strategy would've helped: Name your domain something like 'Matarid2600.org'. The word 'atari' is included in the domain, which (I think) would get it indexed with Google, but the name is clearly not 'Atari'. BTW, it's not my intent to suggest something sneaky or unethical here. If it is considered to be so, then I fully do NOT support it. Do good; be good.
#authority #brand #building #risk #site
  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    I wouldnt do it...

    tooo much risk involved.. as soon as you get to a size where your making money its bound to get taken down :-(

    Shame really but still its within the companies rights to do so

    Danny
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    • Profile picture of the author Ralph Moore
      There is a lot more to this discussion than that. Even if you get permission from a company to use their company name, brand name or other proprietary information in your domain name, that could change.

      Atari was actually a good example.

      After a brand peaks and the number of competing domains and web properties, pages, etc. begin to diminish, there is a certain value to being "the last man standing".

      And if a company changes hands, the new owners may simply tell you no.

      Just understand that if you go down that path, you may lose all of your time and investment.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve B
        Many members of this forum have voluntarily given personal horror stories of trouble and grief using a trademarked name in the domain.

        The lesson is very short, simple and straightforward . . .

        Don't do it - for any reason! Period!

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author czilbersher
          Thank you, everyone. Great advice and it's pretty unanimous. Don't (...and I won't).
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  • Profile picture of the author TheSwedishAffiliate
    Yeah i would not put any effort in that stuff. I would not sleep good at night knowing a huge company could slap me silly with lawsuits and such.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by czilbersher View Post

    Seems like a nice idea to replicate but also seems super risky in that they used the company's name in the domain name.
    Maybe they had permission?

    Originally Posted by czilbersher View Post

    Are there any hard and fast rules about being able to use a company's name in your domain name IF you include certain words such as "unofficial" or "fan site", etc? Curious to hear your thoughts on this.
    I think you're perhaps talking about trademarks, really, rather than just "brand names"? (Granted there's a huge overlap, because most brand names are protected by trademark).

    Originally Posted by czilbersher View Post

    I just came across an article on Geek.com where Atari went after all fan sites using their name in the domain (e.g., atari2600.org), which is unfortunate since those sites were simply supporting the brand.
    That's not always relevant.

    Some people imagine that the fact that they'll be "helping the TM-holder to make sales" will somehow exempt them from problems. It often won't - and there's a reason for that: trademarks confer obligations as well as rights, at least in the sense that when a company applies for a trademark renewal, if it can be shown that they've failed to protect/defend their trademark, they may not be able to get it renewed. For this reason, some companies feel obliged to take proceedings against usurpers of their civil law rights, even if those people are helping them to make sales.

    Originally Posted by czilbersher View Post

    Made me wonder whether this strategy would've helped: Name your domain something like 'Matarid2600.org'. The word 'atari' is included in the domain, which (I think) would get it indexed with Google, but the name is clearly not 'Atari'.
    My guess is that it won't stop them from claiming the domain or suing, if they really want to. And who knows how well you'd rank for "Atari" anyway? Certainly not as well as if you started with domain with "Atari".

    There clearly are some permitted usages of other people's trademarks in domain names (otherwise sites like "PayPalSucks" wouldn't still exist, for sure, after all these years), but if you're planning to monetize a site with someone else's TM in the domain-name, then it seems to me that the only sensible advice can be "don't do it" because that probably won't be one of the permitted usages.

    (You know that I'm not a lawyer, I hope and trust?)
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  • Profile picture of the author JPaston
    In my Internet Marketing inexperienced 'youth' I bought several domains based around the keyword 'ebay' not knowing anything about the brand names issue.

    After I developed my first site I was contacted by eBay and told to take it down within a month (even though I was an eBay affiliate and was driving traffic to their site).

    So I wasted my money on those domains. I should have realized why there were so many 'ebay' domains for sale at knock-down prices, shouldn't I?

    You have been warned!
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