Will I get sued for this?

by 33 replies
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For Micro niche sites what are the chances of actually getting sued for a EMD with a brandable name inside it?

I want to promote a certain product, lets say its called NutriCraze1000. Nutricraze being the brand. 1000 being model number.

Buyer Keywords to find my site: nutricraze1000, nutricraze1000 review


If I wanted to comply with trademarks id call it: nutri1000review.com
(however because this is only partial EMD, how much does this effect the ranking from a search engine with the above buyer keywords?)

If I wanted to do what I wanna do. id call it: nutricraze1000review.com
(full EMD)

I had a friend who was making a good profit a few years back using kasperskyreview.com. I dont recall him ever getting sued or anything like that.

Id be affiliating for the product also through amazon, so the company would be generating more profits in the end anyway.

I figure its better to have a thriving site that eventually may get a cease and desist rather than a dead site that generates nothing forever.

So in the end, would I get sued and how much of a difference does a Full EMD (nutricraze1000review.com) make over a Partial EMD (nutri1000review.com). When it comes to ranking a small micro niche site?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #sued
  • http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...al-advice.html
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    • Im not really asking for legal advice title was just for views.

      Ideally im just wondering how much more effective full emds are vs partial emds.

      pirating music and videos are illegal too, drinking under age is illegal too, I am just wondering how often people actually get in trouble for this and under what light.

      there is tons of websites using branded domains without any issues and some get sued. there must be a algorithim or correlation to the ones who get sued for emd's

      I have a feeling the websites getting sued for branding domains are trying to do there own thing and failing.

      ie.. mikerowesoft.com some guys name where his site wasnt related to pc's probably

      ie. appleinsider = not getting sued, probably because there promoting apple products in a positive way
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    • Why do you care if someone asks for legal advice? It's their life, not yours. And just because someone made a post on the issue doesn't mean you can't think for yourself, lol.

      Now, to answer the op's question...sure you could get sued. Will you? Probably not. They'll send you a cease and desist order first, and if you comply, that's usually the end of the issue. If you don't comply, they may take it further.

      As for the EMD value on seo, it is negligible. Having or not having an emd isn't going to be the deciding factor when it comes to ranking. That's why, if you're smart, you won't bother with an EMD that you could potentially lose. Why would you when you can get the same results without having to lose all your hard work?
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  • Yes you could get sued for riding on the back of a trademarked name. There have been cases were companies have sued for 6 figures. Yes you could lose your amazon account.
    To me I'd not start a business that could mean I'm on the wrong end of a lawsuit or may lose this income but that's just me.
  • They will aquire that name once you get traffic. I don't think they will sue you in the courts b/c you are working for them.
  • A couple of years ago I had part of a trademark name in my domain name.

    Nothing was said at first till I ranked on page one of Google. About a month after that a lawyers letter appeared in my physical mailbox followed by an email from Namecheap saying the domain had been suspended. The issue continued for about 3 months.
    I no longer have the domain.
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    • Why is it that nobody can read the terms of service for products they want to promote

      OR

      Ask the product owner these questions

      al
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  • I got sued for telling the truth online the guy suing me said doesn't matter if it's true or not later i found out he was in financial trouble just sued everyone. You can get sued no matter what true or not. that being said if you are broke it's less likely you will every get sued.
  • You should probably consult your lawyer about that....

    I don't think anyone posting on this thread is a lawyer.
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    • Im making an affiliate site to sell a $100+ product through amazon in hopes of earning 4%. You think I have a lawyer?
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  • Banned
    Using nutri1000 anything at all is not compliance with trademark law. You can't use the brand name and model in your domain without risk of getting sued or having the domain taken from you via UDRP.

    EMDs do not carry the weight they used to at all. There's really no point in violating trademark law for something that has lost it's advantage in Google. Minisites also aren't as successful as they once were, if they are still at all.
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    • It is very likely you will be told to stop. Amazon will likely cut you off without a second thought, they can cancel your account, and you can lose the domain.

      It doesn't matter if you are promoting their product, they have to protect their trademark.

      Failure To Enforce Trademarks: If You Snooze, Do You Lose? - Forbes

      Consider whatever you have already spent a cheap lesson and move on. Register another domain name without a trademark in the name.


    • This is bullshit 100% bullshit. Your pulling this out of air.

      A company that is called say "Vitatan 1000" does not own the rights to the words "Vita" or "1000" in a domain. They own the full phrase strung together. Without it this is just two seperate words.

      I suppose they could sue Vitamin.com or Vitamin(dot)com can sue Vitacost(dot)com. Vitacost can then sue Costco.

      dumb post
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  • Please correct me if I am wrong but the whole idea of trademark law (I thought) was to stop people from profiting on the back of well known products/brands/celebrities, etc. Trademark law is there to prevent any confusion between the real brand and those trying to use the reputation of a well known brand for their own profit or gain.

    The important point here is the confusion part. If the average consumer could easily believe your website was created and/or endorsed by the official brand, THAT is when you have an issue.

    To give you an example of this, the website PaypalSucks.com is still alive and kicking and has been for many years. It uses the trademarked word Paypal in their domain. Paypal has tried to have the site taken down but they failed because obviously no consumers visiting that site would think it was a site created and/or endorsed by Paypal. Therefore no confusion exists between the real brand and this website and thus they were allowed to keep going.

    So does a domain name that uses productnamereview.com actually pose a trademark issue? I'm no lawyer but I'm guessing someone reviewing a product would not be the actual official brand and so this might be ok since consumers would not be mislead into thinking this was a website by the official brand.

    Again I am no lawyer but it's not as clear cut as everyone above who has just said 'NO!'.
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  • Having been on both ends of this issue I can tell you that you most likely will get a simple C&D (Cease and Desist) letter requesting that you stop your marketing efforts and turn over the EMD to the original trademark party. That doesn't sound as scary as being taken to court but you could lose your website and all of your marketing efforts.
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    • If the OP is looking at this exercise as some kind of affiliate shortcut, and is trying to determine the odds of getting caught when violating a trademark, he should be aware that being sued isn't the only issue. It's unlikely that Amazon will pay any commission anyway, and will probably close the account for non compliance with its terms of service.

      From the latest Associates Program Participation Requirements:

      12. You will not seek to purchase or register any Proprietary Term for use in any Search Engine; purchase, register, or otherwise use any Proprietary Term as or in a domain or subdomain name; or register or use any Proprietary Term as or in any Associates ID or “tag.” In addition to any other rights or remedies available to us, upon our request you will cause any Search Engine designated by us to exclude Proprietary Terms from keywords used to display your advertising content in association with search results (e.g., request exclusion by negative keyword bidding), assuming the Search Engine offers such exclusion capabilities.

      Proprietary Term: n. (Business/Commerce) a name that is a trademark
  • Just a FYI the domain name has almost NO bearing on the ranking of the site in Google. Its the content that matters. You could call the site. asslsdsdksdk.com and it would rank just as well for the same keywords with the same content.
  • Do a Google search on the product or brand owner in question. That might give
    you some clues. If they haven't pursued anyone for consumer confusion or TM
    infringement, though, well...first time for everything.

    And yes, a TM holder may pursue a review site in some circumstances:

    WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2009-0701

    Unfair as that may be, try not to give whoever a material cause against you.
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    • Don't know anything about the law outside the USA, but here, if you get sued and lose and they get a judgement, they can take whats in your bank account and nearly everything else of yours.
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  • I once had a site called betfairmethods.com. Betfair being a big betting exchange.

    They contacted me and said they loved the site and content but i cant use the domain name. They were very polite and understanding but i lost my site in the end.

    I would not use one again.
  • The way I look at it is this - if you were the company that you were working for, would you want an affiliate ranking for the main keyword that relates to your product?

    So If I had 123.com and there was an affiliate ranking for that keyword, i would be losing revenue because of that affiliate.

    Just my view on it, but I wouldnt take the risk.

    Besides there are plenty of other ways to rank, its not all in the domain name ya know!

    Z
  • Just go with a branded domain. It's easier and looks better.
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    Will I get sued for this?

    For Micro niche sites what are the chances of actually getting sued for a EMD with a brandable name inside it? I want to promote a certain product, lets say its called NutriCraze1000. Nutricraze being the brand. 1000 being model number.