I know US law so.... maybe I was slightly confused on how things work with the EU. Now, merely registering the domain does not make you in violation of a trademark. You have to use it with enough similarities (such as same type of business) to cause a reasonable confusion. I can't make a social networking site with a domain name/name that is similar to MySpace, Facebook, etc. but I could have a book publishing company called Face Book Publishing and register a domain facebookpublishing.com and in most cases (there are some exceptional circumstances as with everything in life) I will be ok.
One of which is called famous trademark. As in so famous it's highly unlikely people won't think your domain and usage won't be confused with its mark holder, especially if its holder is pretty aggressive. Especially if it's a .com, folks, it's subject to UDRP and U.S. law as someone else noted here. Even if you're in a different country and don't stand to pay any financial penalty, you can still lose the domain name. Unless that's not a problem.
This all is pretty much about the concept of acting in "good faith" or in "bad faith". Hostlonestar, nowadays I somehow tend to doubt that FaceBook would not find a US lawyer there in US willing to act on behalf of FaceBook in such a case. If the US lawyer were me, I would proceed as follows: - Let´s look into the database of TMs valid in US, let´s check if the trademark "FaceBook" is registered also for the class publishing of books, producing of paper goods etc etc. If it is, then it is a clear case. Simply, you need to take into consideration what exactly the "FaceBook" TM is registered for (see the part called "Classification"). I did not check it but I bet it IS for almost everything : ))..If I were their lawyer and their service got famous I would advise them to register the TM in any (even theretically) possible class.. Even, if the FaceBook TM is not registered for book publishing, then me as their lawyer would try to find supporting arguments for the following: - Article 8 of the Paris Convention: the name FaceBook is protected thereunder. (Practical point from my side: this is a weaker protection then those gven by national TM law, national law prohibiting unfair competition etc.) - FaceBook.com is world wide known name for social networking site. Therefore, no one under, let´s say, 30 years of age can nowadays claim he/she didn´t know the name "FaceBook" and its basic functionality (social network); - Therefore, if someone under 30 operates a "real" business (publishing co.) under the business/trade name Face Book, then he/she wants to have a profit from deceiving the users of the publishing company trying to constitute that the publishing co. has something to do with the FaceBook.com. Which is, of course, not true. This argument is stronger when the trade name of the publishing company is e.g. FaceBook Publish. and not e.g. Face Book Publishing co. Let me put it other way, would it be ok for you, as owner of MySpace, if there were a company called MySpace Hosting Co. ? Even if it makes pretty logical sense (as well as "Book Publishing"), something is wrong with that, don´t you feel it ? : )).. ufff. and besides, if I were hired not by the FaceBook but by the Publishing Co. I would be saying something else : ). Again : the above is not a deep analysis of the issue (there would have to be considered many other aspects, like teritoriality of the "deciveing" services, interchangibility etc..) just few notes while having breakfest here.. Mika