Is it legal to have mis-spelling of domain

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by breakaway, May 17, 2008.

  1. #1
    Hi, can I have a mis-spelling that url-forwards to a site that doesn't try to sell anything or have any advertisments?
     
    breakaway, May 17, 2008 IP
  2. mjewel

    mjewel Prominent Member

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    #2
    It can still be trademark infringement - it's considered bad faith to trade upon someone else's trademark. It's really going to depend on the exact trademark you are talking about. A domain like appple.com wouldn't likely be infringement as it is a generic term - as long as your site had nothing to do with computers or music (or any other usage of Apple corp). A misspelling of Microsoft would be a different story - it's a unique name with worldwide recognition.

    No matter what the misspelling, if a trademark holder "thinks" it is infringing upon their trademark, they can sue you for infringement and force you to spend large sums of money to defend your position that it isn't. The commercial nature of the misspelled site won't matter if their position is that you are stealing their traffic meant for their site (most likely the purpose of having a misspelling in the first place) - and a disclaimer on the site won't help you because the "theft" has already occurred by the time they get a chance to read any disclaimer. You're going to have to convince a judge of why you are forwarding a url to another domain if your intent wasn't to get traffic meant for the trademark holder.
     
    mjewel, May 18, 2008 IP
  3. Cheap SEO Services

    Cheap SEO Services <------DoFollow Backlinks

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    #3
    Let's see a list of mis-spelled domain names to see what they are about. Should be interesting.
     
    Cheap SEO Services, May 18, 2008 IP
  4. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #4
    If you mean TM typo domains, then yes you can land in hot water because you are using the domain name in bad faith.
     
    dcristo, May 18, 2008 IP
  5. zexy

    zexy Guest

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    #5
    It depends on whether it's a trademark or not.
    If it's a trademark you could face some problems in the future.
     
    zexy, May 18, 2008 IP
  6. rootbinbash

    rootbinbash Peon

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    #6
    I agree with Mjewel
     
    rootbinbash, May 18, 2008 IP
  7. RectangleMan

    RectangleMan Notable Member

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    #7
    RectangleMan, May 18, 2008 IP