There are names like Microsoft/ Google/ Yahoo and all other names which are trade-marked. If you want to buy a domains name with those trade-marked names you can not win those names in lawsuit. But is the following method effective ? Say, my name is "Johny Microsoft", so I have a natural right to register any domain with my surname = Microsoft. So if I register www.MicrosoftDomainName.com can Microsoft win a lawsuit for using their trade-marked "Microsoft" name ? Because my surname is "Microsoft", so do I have a natural right to register www.MicrosoftDomainName.com without falling in the copy-right/ trade-mark laws ? Is that correct ?
Do it by all means, but give it up when you get the phonecall. On the other hand by an expired name, and it will take a little longer.
The best method to avoid copyrighted names is doing a research prior registration, www.mycorporation.com/trademarks/onlinesearch.htm www.copyright.gov/records single names or fixed names involving a registered brand can make the owner sues you indeed. Nissan is a remarkable lawsuit case from the automobile company against a man whose real surname is Nissan
Microsoft would probably win. I have a domain with the word Zune in it which is the Microsoft media player, is that bad?
You could be OK, it would depend how you use it. There are lots of help sites with Microsoft product names in them (IE: Excel, Windows) & Microsoft doesn't go after them. www.MrExcel.com is one of the largest & busiest Excel sites.
In the US, there's what's called "dilution". You can't use your last name DuPont to sell chemicals or McDonalds to sell hamburgers, especially if you're dealing with potentially famous trademarks held by parties with deep pockets. Mr. Nissan learned the hard way he can't use his domain name-last name to put any ads to car-related products. Learn from that, and avoid his mistakes.
Lot of misconceptions in all of this. Names are not copyrighted. They are trademarked. And typically, that even includes a graphical representation. But Dave Zan hit it on the head. If you try to joust with the big tradenames, they'll hand you your hat real fast. Or rather, their lawyers will. The key issue is will the public be mislead by your use of the name, thinking they are dealing with the trademark owning company? So, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with ford.com or maybe even coke.com. Microsoft, however, is too uncommon a word (and actually ONLY exists as the software company's trademark). The public would likely find that confusing and a jury would likely widen the company's trademark umbrella to cover your use of it in a domain name.