Please appraise VerizonIphoneGuide.info Actually few days back I had put this domain in DP Auction for sales. But this site didn't get any bid even when I had set very low BIN price. Now I am doing some SEO/promotion. I would like to know the value of this site, as I plan to start the auction again in some other place once after completing my SEO activities.
You mean to say that Apple and Verizon own the words including "guide"? You mean to say that these greedy corporates invented the "guide" which is being used by the mankind long time back even before the Founders of these corporates born? Even if they deserve to own the word "guide", why not they just ask the the domain registers to prevent registration of their TM domains? If I own the word "digital", shall I sue Digitalpoint.com? How will you call the fruit "Apple"? Please don't get fooled by the greedy corporates's greediness for owning everything under the sun.
Are you really that daft? "Verizon" and "iPhone" and TM issues. Just becuase you add "guide" on it doens't get you off the hook. You don't think that has been tried in the last 20 years? How old are you to think that this is cleaver? Not to mention .info's are crappy extensions that have been ruined with spam, splogs and trademark infringement domains. Case and point.
@hmansfield First, I will answer for your questions. 1. I believe I am not a daft and I don't want to be daft. That's why I am able to understand that the words such as "guide" can not be owned by persons who born after many centuries from the usage of those words. 2. I don't know much about what happened in last 20 years. If you are interested you can explain it for every year. I am interested to read it. 3. You can see my Age in my profile. I think answered for all your questions. If possible, you can answer for my two previous questions,
The word "guide" has nothing to do with it. You are completely overlooking the obvious trademark infringement. No one can ask a registrar to disallow a registration. They don't have to, the expectation of knowledge is with the person who registers the domain, not with the owner of the trademark. In other words, ignorance is no excuse.
Having Apple and Verizon in the domain make the domain trademark infringement. The domain is worthless - I wouldn't take it if you paid me. It's good for a lawsuit, nothing else. If you want to do a site on making apple pies, register applepieguides.info - otherwise, don't try and make a buck off of the hard work of another company and their trademark. Be original, not stupid.
@mjewel This site is NOT for apple pie. It is about Verizon iphone only. You mean to say that no one should write anything about any product/company without their permission. For example, assume some company is doing some kind of fraud. If no one (other than that fraud company) is allowed to write about them , then how the people will know about it. (I am not saying that Apple/Verizon is doing fraud, just an example to explain you the fact) I couldn't understand what the hard work those companies had done for developing this website. Please don't confuse with review/guide website with the product. I am not going to imitate their product. We have our own products and even I don't have time to market our products. And, I couldn't understand what is the relation between being original and being stupid. It looks like you are interested in doing personal attack than answering for my questions. And, note that I am not a lawyer. So, I don't know whether the law allows "guide" with the trademark words. If law doesn't allow these domains, then TM companies should buy all their trademarked domains. Why they allow the registers to sell the domains owned by them?
A trademark means the "own" the rights to use the word for their particular usage. Apple Corp "owns" the exclusive right to use the term in a domain if the site has ANYTHING to do with their product. Verizon is a coined term, meaning any use of "Verizon" in a domain is going to be infringement. The exception might be a domain like "verizonsucks" which the courts have ruled as fair speech as it there isn't a "likelihood of confusion" (although the site needs to be non-commercial i.e. no advertising, no income. This means you CANNOT use Apple or Verizon is a DOMAIN NAME unless you have express permission from the trademark owner. Adding "Guide" or other words to the domain name doesn't get around trademark infringement. No one owns the word "Guide" - so you could use "phoneguide.com" or "cellphoneguide.com" and write about Apple phones or Verizon phones. What you can't do is use Apple and/or Verizon in the domain name unless you want to risk being sued, fined, and/or having the domain taken. Ignorance of trademark laws is not a defense. When you registered your domain there was small print you agreed to - and that says it is you responsibility to check for trademarks BEFORE you registered the domain. I would drop the domain and take it as a lesson learned.
@mjewel Your statements are conflicting in nature In your previous post you have told like below. Now you are saying, Finally what you are trying to say? See, I am not saying that ignorance of trademark laws as excuse for buying/selling this domain. But What I am trying to say that why these corporates shouldn't buy all domains with their trademark, or atleast block the sales of that domains. And, I want to know the steps they can do for getting this domain taken. So, Can anyone complain about this domain to Apple or Verizon? I would like to test the risk of owning this domain before putting more efforts to promote it further. Again, I have one solid questions. Who is eligible to sue me for using this word "verizoniphoneguide"? Apple? or Verizon? If both of them are eligible means, it is clear that single word can be owned by more than one person. If two persons claim right for a single word, why not I too claim for this word?
Dude, you are seriously ridiculous. Here is my opinion.. Go ahead and use the domain and do what ever you want with it. Don't listen to us. We don't know what we are talking about. You have already made up your mind that you are going to do what you want based on your own twisted, personal belief of what the laws SHOULD BE, instead of what they are. I say do it. I also think that you should send both Verizon and Apple an email and let them know that you have the domain and tell them what you plan to do with it. Since you are so sure that you are correct, then that shouldn't be a problem and they will probably praise your devotion to them and send you all kinds of things like press and free products to review to help you in your endeavors and as an appreciation for helping them. It may even develop into a great partnership with a paid position with both companies and stock options. Down the line news programs will probably contact you as an expert on all things Apple and Verizon which may even develop into consulting work for additional income. I see great things coming from your use of this domain and you should develop an entire business model after registering trademarked name combinations and register as many as you can. Soon the entire web community will praise you for doing something that no one has ever though of before. You'll be on all the tech magazines as the kid with the "Next big thing" and other tech companies will come running begging for you to help them promote their products and give you permission to use their trademarks to do so. You will be rich and famous. Go forward and build that website. Make sure you keep us posted.
Anyone else think this thread should be closed? He is obviously totally aware of what he is doing. He's asked for peoples thoughts and then disregarded them when they were provided.
@hmansfield I had sent mail to verizon (domainlegalcontact@verizon.com, dnsadmin@nw.verizonwireless.com, sysmgr@verizon.com) few days back itself and waiting for their reply. Till now they haven't sent any reply and they haven't taken any action to take down this domain. It looks like they don't care about their customers. I had mentioned below thing in the email. Note that I am getting queries from verizon customers even when I had specifically mentioned as "We are NOT affiliated with Apple or Verizon" @enjay Yes, I asked for estimation of this site from the experienced people based on keyword worth and the traffic details. But thread was hijacked by few people. I welcome the actual appraisal/estimation from the people and I will respect the answer. Even I consider the "0" estimation, but I had to disregard the way "0" estimation was done.
The absolute worst thing you can do is offer to sell a domain to a trademark holder. It proves their legal case of a bad faith registration. For others out there, never do what the OP has done... and a disclaimer doesn't make a domain non-infringing either.