Trademark Products and domain names?

by 14 replies
17
What if you are using the name of a in your site's domain?

Let me explain what I mean, using an example with Apple's popular iPad product.
Domains like: BestIpads.com or SuperIpads.com, etc.

Get the idea?
Apparently the word "iPad" is a trademark of Apple.
How safe it is to run a site that uses the trademark word "ipad" in it's domain name?
Do you need to ask Apple for permission to use it in your domain name so to be able to sell their product?

And don't get caught on the iPad word, my question is about using ALL kinds of names of trademark products, not just iPads.
Does it differ from case to case, etc?


#search engine optimization #domain #names #products #trademark
  • I am bumping this.
    • [2] replies
    • If you use the search function in the red toolbar above and search keywords for "trademark" in "title" you'll find pages of advice and explanation.

      The basic advice is don't do it. Many companies can and will send you a legal notice to stop using their trademarked brand name.
    • There's tons of domains with ipad in them, indexed, etc.
      Apple loves their militant followers. Somewhere on their
      site they have their guidelines for using their trademarks.
      Remember, these are only "guidelines." Apple cannot
      write any laws. They can't enforce their rules without legal
      and law enforcement action.

      Apple goes as far as giving grammar lessons on how to use
      proper and improper abbreviations of their trademarks.
      That's just crazy.
      Apple - Legal - Copyright and Trademark Guidelines

      Remember, just because it's unacceptable to apple does not make it
      against the law.

      Many smart companies know that any publicity is good publicity.

      Don't get me wrong.
      I myself would stay away from anything trademarked, as it is against
      adsense TOS if that's what the real question is.

      Paul
      • [1] reply
  • ^ Interesting, thanks for your reply!
    So the worst thing that can happen is to get your domain stolen from you?
    How long were you able to stay under the radar before the Amazon guys caught you?
  • I have around 30 trademarked names as part of my domains (out of over 200 of my sites) and only once did the company's legal department send me a "cease and desist". I just removed the content and let it expire. No biggie.

    For autoblogging, they're ideal but if you're planning on writing ongoing content, backlinking and all that crap other people do to make money that I've never touched, I'd probably just not do it. I've been pretty shocked at how well some of my sites perform with the incredibly far out domain names that have nothing at all to do with the products my sites deal in.

    I do always include the product name in the url though. For my money, that's the most important thing.
  • Many companies can and do sue over misuse of their trademarks. If you end up doing a lot of link-building and then get a cease and desist letter, you wasted a lot of time and money. Better off just using a unique brandable domain name.
    • [1] reply
    • How can you come up with a brandable domain name for a site that is going to sell goods that are already part of a brand?
      If you are going to sell Ford cars only, don't you think it's best to use "BestFordsAround.com" or "BriansUsedFordsGarage.com" as your domain?
      I think names like that are not only good for SEO but also have a good informative value and can be easily advertised via word of mouth and/or radio shows, etc.
      However, they are against the rules, I guess?
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