Do companies mind if you use their name in your url?

I understand it is a no no if you have www.walmartstoresfree.com
however what about

www.site.com/wal-mart

you are then promoting walmarts products on the page.
Do companies allow this? Do they have any say? Is it a no-no?

Sites like this do it http://www.ip-adress.com/whois/www.walmart.com and it seems ok but they are not promoting wal-marts products so I am unsure. Would you get paid? Would you get taken to court?

 

That wouldn't be a problem I think. You are not using their trademark, only talking about it.

 

Well if it's a directory not exactly in the domain name itself and you are promoting them, this shouldn't be a problem. They just don't like it when you have their name in the domain since you are giving a false impression that you are actually the company.

But it's always at their discretion i guess, you could always check their TOS.

 

I would stay away from the big companies when doing this

 

I agree, since they have lawyers locked in a basement to only hunt down copyright stuff. Apple, MS, Google and all the major Brands.

 

what would be the goal of doing this though? To talk about wal-mart? To sell their products? You can name the URL anything you like, as it's no different than using a name in a document or a paper. No, you don't need permission to use the words, "Wal-Mart" in writing. You would however need their permission if you were claiming something like, "This product has been endorsed by Wal-Mart".

And btw, it's not Wal-Mart anymore anyways - they changed their dba name to Walmart. (no hypen)

 

Anytime you use someones trademarked name for profit they have legal grounds to sue you. You are protected by the free speech amendment to say basically whatever you want as long as you aren't doing it for money. If you are promoting the merchants affiliate program or anything that contributes to them making money there is generally never an issue for obvious reasons.

 

Exactly what i was trying to say just put so much more elegantly.

 

I think this is the best answer. Your looking for a lawsuit when using their name within the domain name. Put it this way, think about this, you spend months getting great content to your readers, building up authority, Walmart comes along and files charges against you for copyright infringement of illegal use of their name. You are then forced to shut down the website because you do not have the money to fight a legal battle, Walmart on the other hand has teams of hired lawyers with a fat war chest to spend. All that hard work you did, all goes down the drain because you wanted to take an easy ride on the coat tails of an already copyrighted brand name.

 

they won't be able to sue you since it is in url not domain name
they can boot you from their affiliate program if they find you grab their traffic they would have otherwise via their brand in your url

 

The best thing you can do is ask the company/person your promoting for, or read their TOS.

Some could care less, others are looking for a law suit and will take any chance they get.

i wouldn't play with fire tho.

 

You should call them and ask. I personally think it's okay to talk about it.. If you are not selling any of their stuff or doing anything illegal. I've seen so many anti fast food blog with big companies name so I guess its all depend on what you are doing it with their brand.

 

This will create problem with most of the companies.

 

Cool, thanks for your answers and it's interesting if not very complicated.
I would like to know how Ciao go about it. Obviously owned by Microsoft now (I think) they should know what they are doing.

This page:
ciao()co()uk/Car_Insurance_5022251_3
lists many, many large car insurors in the UK with the names in the URLs. Are they promoting those insurance companies directly? No. Do they have ads on the page they are profiting from? Yes


Sorry for the link above but not allowed yet to post live links

 

Actually some companies would still come after you for just that.

 

Well Ciao are owned by Microsoft ( I think) and have been around a long time. How come they are not getting sued left right and centre?

 

well you don't even have to have it in domain name or url to get sued by that - read about MikeRoweSoft.com lawsuit at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_vs._MikeRoweSoft

 

Tobe honest I can see this posing a problem. Probably not worth the the outcome in the long run. If you really want to use them in your url, I would would get the green light from a very reliable source.

 

All good replies, nice to see people backing up what i said

 

Yes I agree thanks very much for the insight.