Can you get in trouble / sued for using trademarked names in subdomains.. For example , If I own example.com Would I get into trouble for using http://Pepsi.example.com http://digitalpoint.example.com http://verizon.example.com You get the point , now whats the answer.....
I don't see why you couldn't. It's not substantially different then registering a domain with the trademark in it.
Yea - but registering a domain with a trademark in it, is illegal and you can get banned, sued , shit down, fined, etc I am looking for a LEGAL approach but with good results without breaking any laws or rules
It's a grey area and would depend on the domain name. It would be trademark infringement if they could show it could cause consumer confusion (get them to visit the site by the seeing the url). You can't ride the goodwill of a trademark when your content is related to the mark. MySpace has filed a Federal lawsuit against a company when the domain name wasn't infringement (they are objecting to the sites content). There are some companies that are extremely protective of their marks and sue everyone. i.e. if you used "barbiedolls.example.com" you could expect Mattel to file suit.
Thanks for the response, Thats what I was thinking as well I guess example.com/barbie-dolls/ is a better choice
Register the domain with the existing trademark without any hesitation. It's legal. If someone has trademark "example" and you want to register domain "example.com" do it without any hesitation if you are offering products in the different markets. For example, trademark "Delphi". You will see that www.delphi.com and "Delphi" is domain and a trademark of Delphi Corporation. But trademark "Delphi" belongs to Borland also (http://www.borland.com/us/company/trademarks.html). So, the same trademark name belongs to the different companies. But those companies are in different markets and trademark "Delphi" is used by them for different goods and services. Ideally, as I remember, the same trademark may be used by 42 different companies in 42 classes. You can find more about trademarks at http://www.uspto.gov/ It will be the best if you register domain first, then start trademark registration.
That's not exactly true. While if the mark is a generic term, like Apple, you could, in theory, have 42 different owners as long as the usage didn't infringement upon the usage of an existing trademark. When you are talking about unique names, or names that imply usage, the name alone - regardless of the sites content can be infringement i.e. you can't register "AppleComputer.com" and get away with usage by selling candy. The US recognizes common law trademarks - unlike patent law, rights aren't established by the first person to register, but the first person to use it and continue use, for a particular classification. So if there is an Internet company that is using "Purple Cow" to sell computers, you can't go out and use the name to do the same just because they didn't file for a Federal Registration. The Anticybersquatting Act applies to domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to marks that were distinctive or famous when the domain name was registered. The law provides for remedies for "bad faith intent", including attempts to divert consumers to another web site which could harm or ride the trademark owner's goodwill. You can also be forced to pay statutory damages up to $100,000 per domain name.