what are the legal issues with the domain google-forum coz i see in many forum people discuss my domain as a example of copyright violation. copyright doesn't protect the name from its variations ref- forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=907514&page=3 why blame my cute domain
The term "Google" is a trademark and is copyrighted. Sure, set up a forum and see how long it is before, your domain reg/google revoke domain ownership.
You are right, the term "Google" cannot be not copyrighted. However, the term is trademarked, and it's not a generic word, so you can't legitimately claim to be referring to anything other than Google the company. Note that any Google logos should be both trademarked and copyrighted, so you would have an additional problem if you also used the Google logo on your site.
no i am not going to make search engine and i am not using google logo am also aware of this you may check this on site
The issue is whether there's a liklihood of confusion between your site "google-forum" with "Google". Is there any reason you can show for using the term "google" in your domain name other than to attract visitors who recognize Google's well-known trademark?
if you visit my i clearly stated that its a non profit earning site/org coz i own a group of sites and i am holding this domain because i am still witing for a good buyer nothing coliding with google although i am still analyzing legal issues
So, if you lived on a street named google and you made a web site about it that would be a no-no? How about if you owned a horse and named it google, you couldn't have a web site named googlethehorse(dot)com? I would think that with the proper disclaimer that you could do the above... of course, I am just speculating. Maybe someone knows where to find the actual information?
Google is a famous mark. Famous marks have broad protection. By looking at the domain name alone, could it create a likelihood of confusion i.e. could someone think that google-forum is associated with the trademark holder? A disclaimer on the site isn't going to get around infringement because the person has to click the link and visit the site before they have the opportunity to read it - at that point, the "theft" of traffic from riding the mark holders goodwill has already occurred. Trademark lawsuits are very expensive. If a company decides to sue you, do you really want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (even over a million is possible) to keep a domain even in the unlikely event you win? You won't get attorney fees if you win, and if you lose, since the mark is federally registered, the court may order you to pay treble their legal fees.
ACtually, it does make a lot of sense. Read it carefully, don't strain yourself. What he is saying is the diclaimer does not good, because in order to view the disclaimer, you have to click on the link. By clicking on the link, the theft of the traffic has already occured.
it means if put a disclaimer in index page or somewhere else where visitor dont have to specially click it help me to clarify my self
IMHO, it's 99% certain you cannot keep the domain name, even if you claim to want to use it for any other purpose. Nobody is going to buy the name from you, and neither will Google. They will just do a WIPO ruling on you, which costs a few thousand bucks only....and you will be forced to surrender it. Plus Google may have the option of taking you to court for trademark infringement. You may have a case IF you already had a website and the name..... BEFORE Google was even born, but I'm sure that is not the case.
There is no ground for you to stand on with that domain unless someone really stupid comes along and thinks that the domain name you are selling is huge because it has google in it...though im sure by selling it your breaking the law