Hello fellows! Plan to register a domain name. Will it be a copyright violation if the domain looks like nokia____.com ? BTW, the site will not be like paypalsucks.com. It will be a fan site! Thanks
I'm not quite the best in the field, but as long as you don't make money out of the website (monetization) or have any commercial favors, you are free to make it.
It's generally trademark infringement to use a trademarked term without permission in a domain name if the usage isn't unique (meaning that the site has nothing to do with the trademark) i.e. Apple-computers.xxx = trademark infringement. Apple-Stuffed-Animals.xxx isn't infringement as long as it has nothing to do with "apple" computers or music, etc. Anytime the site generates revenue (runs adsense, take donations for bandwidth, sell links, etc.) is becomes a commercial site. I think the vast majority of people on DP are talking about sites that will take in some sort of revenue. You should always contact the trademark holder to get permission. Generally, they are not going to grant it, so you really need to try to sell them on the idea.
the best way: ask the owner of the brand in an letter for permission to use their name; then you're on the save side. Timo