I am pretty sure Apple owns Apple??? if that makes scenes. I am not really sure how you can trademark a very common word like Apple?? Hmmm Make me think, I should Trademark the word "A" and "The". LOL
Read up on intellectual property rights instead making stupid posts. The domain has no value due to trademark issues - unless you want to use the domain for displaying different uses of the fruit.
TM Infringement, as the 2 people above me said. You need to have a site on there completely irrelevant to Apple to avoid trademark issues.
As I have stated before on some other posts. Many companies (Apple included) have Permissible Use of Referential Trademark Usage" (may not be in those exact terms). If you are going to develop this site you MUST do your homework and be sure you get it right. Taking directly from the Apple- Legal- Trademark list for Apples requirements for credit line: The Apple® iMac® computer comes with iWeb™ software. — credit line: Apple and iMac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iWeb is a trademark of Apple Inc. I want to be clear about this. First off you must have everything in the correct manner stated in their legal write up. Second, there is still a chance that they could sue you (with no hope of winning as long as you follow their guide lines) if you become large enough to hinder them in any way shape or form. For instance: if you happen to be taking 1 million of profits away from them a year, they may sue you just to try to run you into the ground and give up. It would be cheaper for them to mount a court battle, pay the lawyers and courts fees of 800k to run you out. I hope that makes scenes.
Read this article http://www.thedomains.com/2010/07/11/federal-court-rules-against-toyota-in-domain-case-buy-a-lexus-com-buyorleaselexus-com/ and you will see that not everything is black or white.
Thank you for the link. I think the main thing to be taken out of this is what the FEDERAL court concluded. The court then ruled as follows: “We vacate and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion. At the very least, the injunction must be modified to allow some use of the Lexus mark in domain names by the Tabaris. Trademarks are part of our common language, and we all have some right to use them to communicate in truthful, non-misleading ways.†And this was handed down in July of 2010. The major problem(s) we have here is 1) mostly domainers are the ones commenting here. Like most of us, we are looking for ways to make a little extra income with the least amount of work. The extra steps it requires to work with a companies TMs is just too much for most people and is easier to just say that its a TM issue and drop any and all hopes of developing that site. 2) A large company (Like Toyota in this case) will file suite under the hopes to drive you out or bleed you of cash to where you quit. As stated in this case a company like Toyota can afford to pay the lawyer fees and court fees, while a majority of us can not. The Tabaris's made a huge step for most people here by actually doing battle with a large company and did it without the use of lawyers. As long as you abide by the guidelines established within the terms of TMs, you should be fine. The fear is that its not 100% always the case and anyone can sue at any time for any reason regardless of cause or justness. Cheers
Even Microsoft has trademark guidelines. The following was taken direct from the Microsoft site for General Microsoft Trademark Guidelines. Using Microsoft Trademarks in Text Proper use of Microsoft trademarks is important. You may use Microsoft trademarks or product names to refer to Microsoft products and services provided you follow these guidelines. Your use must not mislead consumers as to any Microsoft sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your company, or of your products or services. And then it goes on to say how to use their TMs in their terms. I admit I was wrong in just claiming it was a TM issue like everyone else does. As far as my original post on this thread, I was only making a funny on how Apple computers can own a common every used term such as the word apple. If you didnt follow that it was not a serious comment then I am sorry for your misunderstanding however, it would seem that you and I need to do our homework as one of the posters above states and learn what is actually in the TM before we go commenting that its a violation of TM issues.
Stop posting nonsense. They are talking about referring to one of their trademarks in content, NOT in a domain name that infringes upon their marks usage. Microsoft has taken thousands of domains and sued more people for trademark infringement than any other company.