Hi all, Was just wondering what the deal is with this, for example, www.hsbcbankers.com or www.starbuckscoffees.com, a big brand url that is available but contains the companys name. Is it legal to purchase these or will the company get involved?
You can try your luck sometimes. For e.g when you take googlecashcow, google has never calimed for that and the site googlecashcow do advertises using google's own adwords! It really matters on how well you are prepared with the rules and to face them. Starting a site/blog that doesn't kill the reputation or spread hate against the core company would do no loss. You can run a fan site/blog and none would oppose it. But phising or hate is seriously considered
you will not get sued over any domain names but you have to transfer to them (the company) when they ask for it, they even pay you for the registered fee if you still have your invoice. In the end just a waste of time touching those domain names belong to a TM company.
company name that is the part of the domain name so in any case that can't be considered as brand name. That just part of the domain name not domain name overall
Yes its legal as long as you did not misused it to talk bad about the brand itself such as spreading false rumor.
This is bad advice. There have been thousands of lawsuits against people who register domains with trademarks in them. They do not automatically pay you for your registration fee - even asking for it can get you in more legal trouble. Some trademark holders may do nothing. Some may ask first for the domain. Some may file a WIPO action against you. Some may file a full-blown lawsuit against you and ask for damages and treble their legal fees (could be hundreds of thousands of dollars). And there is NO requirement in the US to register a trademark (first to use in a classification establishes rights) so checking the USPTO.gov site is only a start.
That is not true. Portraying a trademark in a positive light does not make trademark infringement legal.
Absolutely not. It's the last thing you want to try and do. It can get you in a heap of trouble - bad faith claim, lawsuits, violations of the Federal Anticybersquatting act, etc.
Unfortunately that was thought up over 10 years ago, and it's called cybersquating. There are now laws against it.
Nothing Illegal in this issue. You have the right to buy any available domain name and no one can get you in trouble unless you misuse the specific brand name and product information to degrade the same
@mjewel, you will not get sued over after the first days you registered... all i was saying was dont touch those TM domains and you said this is a Bad advice? meaning people can go and register a TM domain name?