ive been thinging about starting an NHL/Hockey blog, would it be illegal to use "NHL" in the domain name?
It most certainly would be trademark infringement to use the trademarked term "NHL" to be the name of your hockey blog. The only real question is would the NHL actually do anything. There is almost no doubt the name will infringe if you intend to discuss the NHL.
There are dozens of websites that have the letters NHL in their domain name: www.nhlhockeyarchive.com www.nhlpa.com www.nhl.tv www.nhlofficials.com www.nhlnumbers.com www.nhlalumni.net www.nhlfa.com
Most of those are either owned by the NHL or are using with permission. At quick glance these clearly are: http://whois.domaintools.com/nhlhockeyarchive.com OWNED BY THE NHL Is the NHL's Players Association. They are obviously allowed to the name as they are part of the NHL http://whois.domaintools.com/nhl.tv OWNED BY THE NHL [THE NHL OFFICIALS WEBSITE. AUTHORIZED] [This one appears to be privately owned. They are using it until the NHL decides to challenge them] [This site is for former players of the NHL. That usage is okay and purely descriptive] [This is also a private site and openly states that they are using the NHL name under license. "The NHL initials are the property of the NHL, are used under license, and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. All rights reserved."
http://www.bitlaw.com/internet/domain.html A few other useful sites with loads of information on this topic: http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/policy.htm http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain/
I drove 60 kph at a 60-kph highway recently. Lots of people drove faster past me. Do other people's behavior indicate what's illegal and what isn't?
They just told you, it's trademark infringement! Will you go to jail...no. Will you get sued and have the domain name taken away...maybe, maybe not.
It's definitely trademark infringement if you don't have permission so there is a chance you might have to take the site down or rename it in the future. More than likely you'll get a letter from their legal department asking you to rename the site or they will be forced to bring "legal action" upon you. Some companies are aggressive with this and some don't seem to care as long as you're promoting them and not harming their trademark. About 5 years ago, a certain auction company threatened a website with tbay in the domain just because it sounded too similar to their trademark.
It is only trademark infringement if your intent with the domain name is to either sell it to the NFL at an inflated price, or attempt to defraud people into thinking your site is affiliated with the NFL.
Intent is not a factor in determining guilt in IP cases. It is used to determine the extent of the guilt and what penalties will be assessed.
That is the UDRP policy, not law. The UDRP does not legally define trademark infringment. It is a body independent of any specific country's laws. It is much closer to a mediation than a court case. The UDRP cannot assess fines, they can only award control of the domain. The NHL has won every UDRP they have entered into so far. Also, if you read anough UDRP cases you will see that bad faith does not equal intent, and certainly not limited to the two examples you gave. Bad faith covers a lot of ground.
On the NHL website http://www.nhl.com/ it states that I would think it would be clear to you whether you can use it or not. I would recommend that you contact NHL about the usage of 'NHL' in your domain name and only use it when you have explicit permission to do so.
If you're up to a little reading: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/...tml/uscode15/usc_sec_15_00001125----000-.html And if your eyes don't hurt yet: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/85AEE84897725D758825738A005C180E/$file/0556794.pdf?openelement There's more to trademark infringement than just bad faith. As bluegrass eventually explained, UDRP is a policy. It's also a contract clause of your registrar's agreement. (which you agree to, of course...) To the OP: while there's no law saying it's "illegal" to have letters, words, etc. used as a trademark included in the domain registration, there are certain laws and policies defining what they can't be used for.