Hi, Is it legal to buy a domain name that has the same name as some corporate but with a different extension. Example: Would it be legal to buy www.yahoo.info ( just an example) or www.yahoo.xyz I would like to know this because "yahoo" name might be patented by the company, so don't you think it will cause problem to have the exact same website name. I know this should be ok eg www.yahooworld.com or www.worldyahoo.com but i want to use the exact same name. Thanks
Domain names are Trademarks and the respective companies would have done a lot to prevent anyone from using them, either to mislead companies or to 'steal' their market share/traffic by typos and by association. You would indeed end up with legal issues if you delibrately try to use their name. The only legal way of buying such domain name would be to buy over the company.
Thanks eddy for the quick response... But what if that name is the name of a tournament??? Like www.superbowl.tv www.superbowl.xyz Will that still cause issues???
According to domain name registration, it says first come first serve basis. Like what you find in .asia now. So when the registry accepts payment for it why not buy it? If that company for example yahoo is not bothered to register it for many years, why not register a available domain name and use it? Well trademark may be an issue but there is nothing that says one must not register yahoo.co.uk if yahoo had not register for these many years. Let you legal guys tell what to do if I own google.me What can google do if I do not use the domain in commercial purpose?
You really don't want to mess with the NFL, and anything involving Superbowl. It's best to stay away from corporate identities.