Trademark/Ethics question

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neterslandreau

Feb 18th 2005, 3:35 am

In a previous life I was heavily involved in the adult side of the internet. I ran a network whose bandwidth usage averaged 45Mb/s and subscriptions were being sold at a rate of 1 every minute (if I were to mention that network's name, it would be recognized as one of the top 5 adult networks in the world). The money was great but the knowledge that I wasn't doing society any good overweighed that benefit, so I left to persue less paying uses of the 'net but ones that weren't as damaging to their customers.

A couple of months ago my old boss approached me asking if I could build a couple of servers for him capable of doing 10 million emails/day. That got me to thinking "adult" again and on a lark, I decided to buy a couple of domains whose names I thought would be definate type-ins (netnudeflix.com and netfuckflix.com). I put up the sites with some affiliate ads for adult DVD rentals and I began to see, literally, a couple of visits/day. Within 2 weeks I rec'd a cease and desist letter from netflix.com for advertising adult sites. Not a problem, my conscience didn't like the idea anyway so I took the sites down.

But now I'm sitting here thinking on how to still capitalize on my investment. I know those domain names will draw traffic but I want to use them without infringing on the netflix trademark or benefiting the porn dealers. I was thinking of information type pages explaining why an adult dvd rental plan like netflix won't work and building on that.

Any ideas?

mjewel

Feb 18th 2005, 5:55 am

It would seem that netflix is going to claim trademark infringement if you use those domains for anything remotely releated to DVD's. In order to protect their intellectual property, i.e. trademark, they actually are required to go after people that they feel are infringing upon their name. If they don't, they can actually weaken their claim to their trademark (like Kleenex).

When you register a trademark, you specify a classification, and for broad protection, you do it in many different classifications. IBM is trademarked for jewelry- not because they are in the jewelry business, but because they wanted very broad protection.

If "netnudeflix" was the name of a clothing line- and your website was about clothing, netflix might not be able to argue it is infringing upon their trademark. Anything to do with DVD's would be a much stronger arguement.

If netflix wants to aggressively protect their name, you could be in for an expensive legal battle. Since they hold a Federally Registered trademark, you would be subject to triple damages and attorney's fees for wilful infringement if they could prove their case. If you want to pursue this idea, I would consult with an attorney that specializes in trademarks.

neterslandreau

Feb 18th 2005, 6:12 am

Thanks for the input mirajewel. I appreciate it.

Hmm.. I'm wondering if netflix has an affiliate program. Maybe it's time to research that and try teaming up with them..

dkalweit

Feb 18th 2005, 6:18 am

Thanks for the input mirajewel. I appreciate it.

Hmm.. I'm wondering if netflix has an affiliate program. Maybe it's time to research that and try teaming up with them..

They did when they first started up-- I bet they still do somewhere... I dunno if they'd like to be promoted on such ludely named sites, however...

--
Derek

neterslandreau

Feb 18th 2005, 6:27 am

I dunno if they'd like to be promoted on such ludely named sites, however...

I agree.. I may just have to eat my investment (hopefully I'll be able to survive without that $20.00 ;))

dkalweit

Feb 18th 2005, 6:31 am

I agree.. I may just have to eat my investment (hopefully I'll be able to survive without that $20.00 ;))

Just sell the domains to some sucker that may try the same... ;)

--
Derek

neterslandreau

Feb 18th 2005, 6:46 am

Just sell the domains to some sucker that may try the same... ;)

I like that idea!

I could go ahead and create some dummy traffic stats to "prove" how useful the domains are and make a killing!

*** neterslandreau-conscience thinks neters is a lost cause..

Janissary

Feb 18th 2005, 6:54 am

I never heard of netflix but if it's trademark like google, they can sue you.

expat

Feb 18th 2005, 7:31 am

check the trademark but I don't think it will cover nudist resorts / travel - there are some affiliations there and interestingly ADS ...... should work for the first domain... and should be within your concience

Expat

neterslandreau

Feb 18th 2005, 8:32 am

neterslandreau

Feb 18th 2005, 8:40 am

I never heard of netflix but if it's trademark like google, they can sue you.
Netflix (http://www.netflix.com) is an on-line DVD rental website here in the U.S. The concept of being able to rent an unlimited number of DVD's each month on a subscription basis is catching on. Not surprisingly, other video rental companies (like Blockbuster) are realizing that and duplicating Netflix's service.

dkalweit

Feb 18th 2005, 8:44 am

Netflix (http://www.netflix.com) is an on-line DVD rental website here in the U.S. The concept of being able to rent an unlimited number of DVD's each month on a subscription basis is catching on. Not surprisingly, other video rental companies (like Blockbuster) are realizing that and duplicating Netflix's service.

I've never been too fond of that postal service aspect of it, personally. I loved Blockbuster's in-store equivelent of the service, though. I subscribed for a month last summer, and rented a ton of DVDs, and then cancelled after the first month. Effectively I rented a ton of DVD's for about $0.40/ea. ;-)

--
Derek

Redleg

Feb 18th 2005, 8:48 am

I never heard of netflix but if it's trademark like google, they can sue you.

They have two TMs..

Word Mark NETFLIX
Goods and Services IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Retail store services and computerized on-line retail services featuring pre-recorded videos. FIRST USE: 19980414. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19980414
IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Rental of pre-recorded videos. FIRST USE: 19980414. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19980414

Word Mark NETFLIX
Goods and Services IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: Rental of video recordings, pre-recorded videotapes, digital video disks, sound recordings, musical recordings, multimedia recordings, and computer games; rental of video recordings, pre-recorded videotapes, digital video disks, musical recordings, and computer games by means of communications networks; providing information, reviews and personalized recommendations in the field of entertainment; providing information, reviews and personalized recommendations in the field of entertainment providing information reviews and personalized recommendations in the field of entertainment by means of communications networks

You can search for registered US Trademarks here:
http://www.uspto.gov/

Janissary

Feb 18th 2005, 9:51 am

They have two TMs..

This is what I learned form a random-website on google search,

In order to keep your domain you must remove those dvd rental ads. (you musn't offer same service)
and like googlefight.com you must say you're not affiliated with netflix blah blah .

Design Agent

Feb 18th 2005, 9:56 am

neterslandreau

Feb 19th 2005, 12:51 am

Dump the names, buy some new ones and invest your time in those instead.. anyway you cut it you will have more trouble than its worth.. If you had invested alot of time building and promoting those sites then it might have been worth it. But as you havent, I wouldnt even waste another post on in ;) you could find a new name in that time..
I appreciate all the comments and advice I've rec'd in this thread. Unless I have some sort of "MacGiver moment" and think of a unique way to use those names, they'll just lie dormant.

I bought a new name to start working with: think-knot.com. With a little creativity and research I can use this for a bridal site (brides.think-knot.com) and other niches (fishing.think-knot.com, sailors.think-knot.com, etc.)