Hello DP's, One of my friend has domain name earnfromgoogle.com Is it legal domain name or something is inflict with Google. Can Google sue to him for using GOOGLE name in his domain? Please, give your suggestion. Thanx
Anyone can sue anyone for anything. Whether the court will hear the suit is another question. If they do, which party will win is yet another question. Any corporation owns its name as a domain name even if someone else has it registered. (That's a firmly established legal point.) I doubt that Google owns earnfromgoogle.com, but it could be considered a violation of copyright or a deceptive name.
Unless there's some overriding reason he needs that name - that has nothing to do with Google or what they do, I'd say yes. The internet is no longer the Wild West, where you can register someone's trademark and hold it for ransom. (People did that, until courts started ruling that the trademark owner owned the right to use the mark as an internet identification too. That now gets a quick free ownership transfer, and no refund to the holder of the original registration.) Making money by riding on another company's trademark very rarely works, and very often gets you a letter from a legal firm.
That is simply not true. A corporation does not just own a domain name that is the same as it's company name. If someone already owns the domain name or buys it and uses it in a different manner that is non-infringing they could legally own and use and keep the domain name. It should be obvious since many company names are shared by several companies so each could and would have a right to use the domain name. Google, being a made up word, is in a different position. So the particular domain name in the OP may not be usable by others. But your statement as a blanket statement about all domains and companies is just not accurate nor is their any legal support for it as you claim.
I made it a little too simplified. Any company owns its trademarked name, and that includes its use as a domain name. Even if someone else has registered the domain name. (luxottica.com was awarded to the company by a court even though it had been registered by another company a few years prior. I wasn't party to any other such cases, so all I can say about them is that the court reports would certainly indicate that other courts found the same way and for the same reason. Trademark registration trumps domain name registration.)
With made up names like "Google" or "Luxotitca" that is probably the case. But if you owned the domain shell.com, shell oil could not just come and take it from you because it happens to also be their company name (with a trademark). There are many businesses with generic names and they cannot just take over a registered domain name because they happen to have a company with the same name. Also, a trademark can be owned by more than one company or person. Each might own it for a different class of goods. Each would have a right to use the domain. Likewise, anyone using the domain in a manner not infringing on the class of goods covered by a trademark could also use it legally. It is much more a question of whether the owner of the domain has their own legitimate right to use the term, and if they do, then the corporation with the same name cannot just come and take it.
It is pretty obvious that domain name directly references an established company, use of it by anyone other than the established company would potentially dilute the brand identity. If your friend tries to use that domain name he should expect a cease and desist letter from Google.
I'm surprised people think it's a problem. I cannot honestly imagine Google would give two hoots about someone running a domain called "earnfromgoogle.com" - provided that the owner does not in any way pretend to be or represent the Google company. Saying it's a potential problem is like saying "resellnikeshoes.com" would be a problem with Nike. Not likely: they kinda want people to resell their shoes, in the same way Google wants people to earn from them (provided Google earns even more, of course!). If I were your friend, I'd go for it. Be clear that it's about earning FROM Google, not Google talking about earning WITH them. The focus is everything. And if they whine, then you move the content to another domain. No loss.
First of all you can be sued without getting a chance to just "move the content to another domain". That can be expensive. Second, since you use Nike as your example you clearly do not know what you are speaking about. Here is a letter a client of mine received from Nike regarding a domain with the word "Nike" in it, they were just selling Nike shoes and not in any way pretending or seeming to be Nike. It was clear that they were just in the business of selling Nike shoes. Nonetheless, Nike does not take kindly to domains with their name in it: It is pretty clear that Nike, and many companies, do take issue with use of these domain names even if you are selling their items.
Boy, some people really get their panties in a twist. OK, first off I said I couldn't honestly imagine they'd have a problem with it provided that the owner does not in any way pretend to be or represent the Google company. I still stand by that: it depends on the company involved and how you represent things. There's a big difference between "earnfromgoogle.com" - which sounds instantly more like "hey, here's ways to earn from Google's products" because it has a verb in it - and "nikerunningshoes.info". The latter has no verb, no qualifiers and could much more easily be mistaken as representing the brand. As far as not knowing what I'm talking about, whatever. The fact that I've run several domains with brand names in them in the past (and still am now) and have never had trouble obviously doesn't count. Not going to get into the whole mud-throwing nonsense. Anyway, my point is that it's not necessarily doomed from the outset. These things are never cut and dried. And as far as "you can be sued without getting a chance to just 'move the content to another domain'" is concerned, well, yes. Obviously. But 99.9999% of people start with a DMCA (cf. yours above). That's when you move the content. As I mentioned above, I'm not going to get into a stupid "I know better than you" argument because there isn't one here. I'll just restate that, if I were the friend, I'd go for it. If the DMCA arrived, OK... it didn't work out. If not, it does. Given that there is absolutely no intention of infringing on the Google brand name (which should be VERY clearly stated on the site and obvious in all content), I would be very surprised if anything worse than a DMCA happened... and even that would surprise me. You can untwist your panties now. (<-- that's humour, by the way)
I have read in other forums that Google is not as aggressive on this as Amazon. Google, as I recall, did go after Froogle since it was similar. I would recommend that you not use google as part of a domain name. It might work for years without Google caring. Then one day they crack down. Just IMHO not a good idea.
Depends what you mean by "infringing". Then again, infringement isn't the only ground a trademark holder is able to take action on. (again, look up likelihood of confusion if you're up to it...) There are two problems with what you're saying: a) it's not completely, factually true, and b) it's like telling people it's okay to do something that isn't necessarily allowed until one gets caught. YMMV. If you get away with it, good for you. If you get caught, well...just maybe hope the worst case scenario is not going to happen to you. (and getting a cease and desist letter to transfer the domain name is not the worst possible result, but you can search online rather than take my word for it...) Or put another way: if you tell someone to do something that's potentially bad, s/he does it, then gets into trouble, what are you prepared to do for him or her? Or...are you just going to wash your hands off of that, basking at the safety of your keyboard and the thought that that person doesn't know who you really are? Then again, fortunately there are people who also share ideas that also happen in the real world instead of an online forum. One may not like how reality may bite, yet being aware can also save one from otherwise avoidable trouble. Oh, and just saying also. Lighten up.
a) nothing is b) that's very neatly worded - I particularly liked the "isn't necessarily allowed" which sounds like it's not allowed but doesn't actually say that I guess where your and my mileage varies is that I don't see that it's "bad": to me it's the same as a shop that sells Nike shoes having a Nike sign in the window: they're not misrepresenting the brand, they're not trying to pretend they're Nike, they're not doing anything more that showing the Nike brand because Nike stuff is available there. No issue with confusion, no issue with interfering, etc. Yes, it's different because they have an agreement with Nike somewhere back along the line (although it's probably between a reseller who has an agreement with a wholesaler who has an agreement with Nike so it's so far removed as to be worth poop) but in essence, to me, it's the same thing. Personally, I see so many "buynikeshoesonline.com" and "bestwordpressthemes.org" domains (both of those exist, by the way) that I seriously doubt most companies give a damn. But, as you say, worst case scenarios can be bad. Hell, in the past I've had a "cease and desist" from someone because I used their surname in an article that wasn't about them... some people are just mental when it comes to certain things. If you want to play it absolutely 100% safe and be completely sure you'll never, ever have problems with anyone who owns a trademark then sure, stick with domains like "earnmoneyfromdoingcertaincarefullydefinedthingsonlinewithcertainbigcompanieswhowewontnamehere.com". Depends who they are and what I told them to do. In this case I didn't tell them to do anything but I'd still be prepared to take a good look at their site and, assuming it was doing what I'd said I'd do, stand up for them and say that I honestly didn't see what was wrong with what they were doing, with my reasons. They don't come much lighter. (My original response was more for browntwn than you, actually - you know, in answer to all the "you don't know what you're talking about" and "OMG, DMCA! ZOMG!" stuff.) When it comes down to it, the only person who could say "yea or nay" is a lawyer with a lot of experience in these things (the trademark side, the online side and the difference between countries' laws). I'm not one of those so I was just saying that I, personally, was surprised at the all-negative responses and that I, personally, wouldn't worry about it. Not advice. Nothing more than me saying "If I were your friend, I'd go for it".
There is a difference between legal advice telling someone what the law says and business advice telling them what risk is worth taking. You came into this thread overly dismissive of the potential liability someone may face. When you chose to use NIKE as your example it was clear you were just making that up since I knew for a fact that NIKE does take issue when people use their name in a domain name. I waned to correct your post saying there was no real risk "no loss" with the true fact that you can easily be sued for using a trademark in your domain name. Further, a DMCA notice is not even an issue in these discussions as it does not involve an OSP and there is no user generated content involved in picking and using a domain name. The DMCA would offer you no legal protection in this type of case. Lastly, while your experience may tell you that the worst to come is a DMCA notice, some of us are lawyers and do have much more experience in these areas. I have represented clients who were first notified of a problem when they were sued in US Federal court. No cease and desist, no DMCA, no warning, just a Federal lawsuit. That is not a small problem. All that being said, you might be very well correct that using the domain name in the OP will not cause any problems at all. But that is just hoping. That does not warn someone of the potential risk they face by using a domain like that. It is always an unknown whether or not you will be sued for infringing on someone's mark. If you look back at your first answer that brought a reply from me, I think you would agree you were pretty dismissive of the risk involved in using such a domain name. A risk that was understated especially since you chose to use NIKE as your example when, in fact, NIKE does take the use of their trademark in domain names very seriously. I don't have any issue with you personally or with someone who chooses to use a domain name that contains a trademark, but I do like to make it clear to people that there is a serious risk involved when you do that. It may be a risk that some are willing to tolerate in the course of doing business for some, and for others it may be that once realizing the potential problems they decide to pick a different domain name.
Now, you see, if you'd said all that to begin with, rather than taking my obviously dismissive post (due to over 20 years online and never a problem worse than a DMCA - not an excuse, an explanation) and random choice of Nike as a well-known name at word-for-word level, then no problem. I can see where you're coming from and I am, unsurprisingly, surprised that some companies are so psychotic about the whole thing - especially when it looks like such a non-issue to normal people. Seriously, who would believe nikexxxshoes.info was a Nike-owned domain, even without looking at the content? Over-reaction 101 in my case, I guess. Or something. Whatever. At least it's all clear(er) now.
That's why I said to look up likelihood of confusion, which is what trademarks aim to prevent in the first place. And I got that from lawyers who handle domain-trademark disputes.
I agree it's not a good idea, but to play Devil's advocate, if Google knew of site's existence for years and didn't take action, and that delay were unreasonable and prejudiced the website owner, the owner might be able to bar a trademark infringement claim by Google using the doctrine of laches. Thus the importance of always taking quick action when someone infringes on your rights, even when there's no limitation period as is the case with trademark actions.