Are purchasing these domain names legal?

I have been reading about website misspellings this afternoon. I am just wondering about the legalities of purchasing misspellings of prominate domain names. For example a site www.abc.com you find that they have not registered wwwabc.com wwabc.com wwwabconline.com etc. Is this legal to do if you are going to park and redirect them to your primary site?

 

In the domain industry this is done quite alot and as you will find nearly all domainers have in some way a domain like this.
It is not illegal but in some cases the site in which you bought the typo from may contact you in a request for the name to be given to them.
If you are happy to do that and like i said i have names like this and there have been no worries but i have heard of people giving them back.

 

Thank you for your input. Anyone else had any experience with this?

 

You can register anything you want. But if you attract the attention of a big corporation itching to protect its trademarks, be prepared to yield. They might offer to buy it, or they might send lawyers after you, but either way you won't keep it. It's a good strategy for a quick buck while you wait for them to notice, but it may not have a secure future.

 

Just a few minutes ago I received a letter in the mail from the laywers of a large electronics company.
I had registered a domain name containing their company name last year. They just noticed it and have asked me to transfer it over to them.

I had a feeling that would happen but it was worth a try.. I was just starting to make money off that site too.

 

sometimes I think big companies just wait untill you make the domain more or less reputable and has a good PR and then claim.

 

You cannot use a trademark or even misspellings of one to ride the goodwill of the name. You can't add to a trademark to prevent infringement (abconline.com). Trademarks are granted by classification. Big companies usually most or all of the classifications tied up. A generic name like abc might be ok as long as you weren't using it in anyway associated with the company. If you were just used a misspelled type-in to redirect it to a site that had nothing to do with the original company. Microsoftonline.com would get you sued. A company doesn't even have to register a trademark/servicemark to have protection - they just need to be able to prove they used it first. A trademark registration allows them to go after treble legal fees.

 

Thanks everyone for your advice and insight.