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Acquired site with trademark-infringing domain - what to do with it?

by Matt Ward
31 replies
After informing an acquaintance that their website has a domain name that infringes on another company's trademark, he offered to give the domain name to me. Let's say the site is "www.sonytvreviews.com" - not the real name but you get the idea.

It is currently offline, but sits at PR2 and when was running, pulled a decent chunk of change. By no means a ton of money, but let's say $100/month as an example, in a very non-optimized state.

Quick research shows that this is a company that seems to be extremely anal about their trademarks and actively hunts down people infringing on their copyrights and trademarks, so I'm worried that even inquiring about using the site might bring their attention and wrath down on me. Am I just being too paranoid?

Any ideas on what I could do with such a site? I was thinking of sticking it on Flippa, but I would feel wrong passing the risk onto someone else. It seems a shame to throw away PR2 website that makes an income.

If anyone has any great ideas I'd seriously love to hear them.
#acquired #domain #site #trademarkinfringing
  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    I'm not sure what you think your question is if, by your own admission, the company
    "actively hunts down people infringing on their copyrights and trademarks"
    Websites can't change their names, put on a blonde wig, have a nose job and change their identity!
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    • Profile picture of the author vickybabe
      Yeah very tricky situation. I would contact the actual company anyway and explain how you got it and then find out their copyright terms. That way you are covering your butt and surely will not get into trouble. Most companies aren't that hard, besides you will be promoting their products anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Go ahead ... use it.
    You already know that they actively protect their trademark and that it infringes.
    You like living on the edge. Go for it.

    Geeesh
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    • Profile picture of the author ravijayagopal
      LOL! Totally agree...

      If you "like living on the edge" and can still sleep at night knowing you will get a "cease and desist" (or whatever they call it) letter from the infringed company's lawyers sooner than later, then go for it :-)

      >>so I'm worried that even inquiring about using the site might bring their attention and wrath down on me. Am I just being too paranoid?<<
      No, you can't be too paranoid when thinking of doing something illegal ;-)

      And if they're really as anal as you say they are, and they find out that you knew about the infringement and still bought it, and continued to knowingly enjoy the profits, then they can sue you for damages too.

      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      Go ahead ... use it.
      You already know that they actively protect their trademark and that it infringes.
      You like living on the edge. Go for it.

      Geeesh
      - Ravi Jayagopal
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    • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
      How can a business lawfully protecting their rights be completely anal? Like Suzanne says go for it, only yourself to blame then.
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  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    @ Suzanne, Ravi & Patricia. Thanks for the laugh guys - I needed that (bad day "at the office"!!)
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Tunnah
    I agree with the replies here. Just go for it. I mean the worst that could happen is you lose the domain and get sued for possibly 6 figures. Obviously if you can't pay any legal action then you could have your assets seized. Hopefully you don't have property or a car!

    Rich
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Matt Ward View Post

    It seems a shame to throw away PR2 website that makes an income.
    It does indeed.

    Nevertheless, under these circumstances - unpalatable though they clearly are - it does still seem to be the only sensible thing to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author MattBrighton
    Make a new domain and setup a 301 redirect
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    • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
      Originally Posted by MattBrighton View Post

      Make a new domain and setup a 301 redirect
      Ahhhh - smart thinking "Batman".
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      • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
        Originally Posted by MattBrighton View Post

        Make a new domain and setup a 301 redirect
        but won't the company know as long as that trademarked domain is online that somebody is 'Robin' them of traffic and that 301 direct would be proof that the op knows what he is doing and that 'completely anal' company could then take the op to the cleaners in the courts

        Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

        Ahhhh - smart thinking "Batman".
        behave Carol you are making me laugh :p
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        • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
          Originally Posted by PatriciaJ View Post

          behave Carol you are making me laugh :p
          Killjoy. I'm on the happy pills - obviously they're working.
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          • Profile picture of the author nickhumph
            I got destroyed by Harvard University for registering harvardessays.org

            Same happened when I registered a domain with the Nike trademark

            Don't do it, you will be or the poor guy you flip a site to will be forced to transfer it over.

            DON'T DO IT!!!
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          • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
            Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

            Killjoy. I'm on the happy pills - obviously they're working.
            How much are you flogging them for? :p
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    • Profile picture of the author dcristo
      Originally Posted by MattBrighton View Post

      Make a new domain and setup a 301 redirect
      Terrible advice.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by MattBrighton View Post

      Make a new domain and setup a 301 redirect
      Dreadful advice.

      Tantamount to an admission of conscious wrongdoing, and can perhaps increase the likelihood of problems.
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  • Profile picture of the author ShaneGorry
    obviously you should sell it to one of those evil foreign people who are stealing from those poor defenceless billionaires down in Hollywood.
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  • Profile picture of the author webchris
    I agree with the above recommendation to buy a new domain and use a 301 redirect from the old one to it. The company won't care or know that you have a domain if there is no site using it.

    But in my experience, if you aren't doing anything to trash their brand, large corporations tend to file DMCA's these days and just take your domain. Which means you do lose the site and all the time you've spent on it, but it is unlikely you get sued. You could always setup a new LLC just for that domain and keep all the books seperate. That way, if you ever did get sued, they couldn't touch any profits from you or your other ventures, just whatever that one site has made. But again, I would go the 301 redir route and not worry about anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bambu
    Look, if the site is already ranking and making some money, I say go for it. Run with it as long as you can. If and when the TM holder comes after you, just comply with their instructions and that is that. In all likelihood, you won't be sued.

    How long did your friend run it for?

    If you sell on Flippa, you will need proof of a few months revenue to command a decent sale price.

    I have received a couple of takedown notices and complied in each case with no consequences (minus registration costs).
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    • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
      Originally Posted by Bambu View Post

      Look, if the site is already ranking and making some money, I say go for it. Run with it as long as you can. If and when the TM holder comes after you, just comply with their instructions and that is that. In all likelihood, you won't be sued.

      How long did your friend run it for?

      If you sell on Flippa, you will need proof of a few months revenue to command a decent sale price.

      I have received a couple of takedown notices and complied in each case with no consequences (minus registration costs).
      more terrible advice. 'In all likelihood' is not a definite

      sell on Flippa is just passing on the risk to somebody else

      I'm sure that you hope the third takedown notice doesn't have consequences that hit you where it really hurts
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      • Profile picture of the author Bambu
        Originally Posted by PatriciaJ View Post

        more terrible advice. 'In all likelihood' is not a definite

        sell on Flippa is just passing on the risk to somebody else

        I'm sure that you hope the third takedown notice doesn't have consequences that hit you where it really hurts
        There are no definites in business. That being said, the trademark holder will most likely only use litigation where their losses and thus the amount of money they stand to gain in litigation is worth the cost of litigation.

        There are very few things in business that are black and white. The decision to infringe on a TM or a patent are all grey zone business decisions and companies do it all of the time. It is a matter of measuring the risks and benefits. If you don't feel comfortable making these decisions you would be best to steer clear of them.

        If running the site is not worth the stress, then don't do it. A 301 redirect won't solve any of your problems. Re-purposing the site, won't fix any problems, because you will probably still comply if a cease and desist letter shows up. I am guessing in this situation you wouldn't want to go to court to prove that your new website having nothing to do with the TM does not infringe on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author the_icon
    At the end of the day the company in question has spent x amount of money promoting it and selling it etc only for your bud to come along and mooch off it to their own ends. Copyright is copyright for a lawful reason and breaking it is not something that should be thought about, unless you wanna jump over to BHW lol

    Anyhow, setting up a redirect wont make too much difference as you will still own the domain and if the company were to look into your redirect site (I dont know how they would or whatever but in case they did) they will find it linking back to the infringed site and go after you even more because you were hiding it.

    Assuming the site didnt make the money it does or receive the traffic it does purely based on EMD, copy the material and start a new site.

    Obviously going on the fact that the domain name is the only thing infringing the copyright that is.
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  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    If you really want to live on the edge and feel the adrenaline each time the doorbell rings, put a porn site on the domain.

    .
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  • Profile picture of the author yohoho
    Originally Posted by Matt Ward View Post

    It is currently offline, but sits at PR2 and when was running, pulled a decent chunk of change. By no means a ton of money, but let's say $100/month as an example, in a very non-optimized state.
    It must have some decent content to have got to where it is, especially with poor SEO, or else your competition may be set up very poorly. Use the free version of Traffic Travis and check the competition. I would spend some time looking for a new domain in the same niche. Then change the keyword to exact match. Do proper onsite SEO to it and backlink it and get and keep some fresh content on it. Now sit back and wait for it to come back.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Ward
    Hey, I often give advice here to people regarding their trademark-infringing websites (as in, don't register them). I don't intend to run it as is, because I'd rather not worry every day over a $100/month website.

    I was just wondering if there was anything I could do with it that doesn't involve trashing it.

    Could I use it as something completely different that has nothing to do with the domain name? Like, say "macbookreviews.com" is a site called "Mac's Book Reviews" and has nothing to do with Macbooks? Or is that too much of a stretch?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Matt Ward View Post

      Could I use it as something completely different that has nothing to do with the domain name? Like, say "macbookreviews.com" is a site called "Mac's Book Reviews" and has nothing to do with Macbooks? Or is that too much of a stretch?
      Don't know ... these things are (I think) determined on a case-by-case basis, subject to certain established case-law principles. Something like that, anyway. Legal advice needed, I suspect ...
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    • Profile picture of the author RimaNaj2011
      What's wrong with doing a 301 redirect? I thought that is a good thing to do.
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    • Profile picture of the author yohoho
      Originally Posted by Matt Ward View Post

      Could I use it as something completely different that has nothing to do with the domain name? Like, say "macbookreviews.com" is a site called "Mac's Book Reviews" and has nothing to do with Macbooks? Or is that too much of a stretch?
      Hey Matt, how about changing your last name to Sony?
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    • Profile picture of the author davezan
      Originally Posted by Matt Ward View Post

      Could I use it as something completely different that has nothing to do with the domain name? Like, say "macbookreviews.com" is a site called "Mac's Book Reviews" and has nothing to do with Macbooks?
      What do you suppose Macbooks is generally known for, anyway? It'd probably be
      more believable if it's macSbookreviews dot whatever, though it depends.

      BTW, is this an actual review site as your opening post suggests? Just curious.
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      David

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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    If this domain is violating their trademark and the previous owner gave it to you because of that issue, i guess the wise thing is not to use.

    You can re-direct using 301 if it got traffic, but don't use it as a domain for a website of yours.

    Just watch your back, if this domain is moving from one person to another instead if be given to the company ( they can take a legal action against you to solve their problem, instead of keep hunting behind the domain ).
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