SEDO does not like my domain will Adsense or any Affiliate do the same? If i put Adsense or a affiliate on it will they do the same thing and kick me out and off course keep the money?
The bigger issue you should be concerned with is that Microsoft - who owns the MSN trademark - will get your site taken down and/or take the domain for themselves. You would probably be better off just registering a new non-infringing domain.
Your domain has a trademark in it. If your site is showing ads that relate to MSN, then it could be used in a trademark infringement case even though you don't directly decide which ads run on a site. For example: You develop a site (or even use another parking service) and adsense ads about MSN are displaying due to your domain name and or content on the site. Microsoft decides to sue you. Of course Microsoft could decide to sue you for just owning the domain. It seems that Microsoft is getting pretty aggressive about protecting their trademarks. http://www.pcworld.com/article/154603/microsoft_files_new_cybersquatting_charges.html I would assume is was Microsoft that filed a complaint with SEDO.
So i should just drop my domains with MSN in them? Can they really sue for everything in MSN? Sounds sick Or you mean as long as i not have MSN or Microsoft product in them i be ok?
Yes you must avoid to register any domain that have related with trademark word.Yes they can sue you if you use the domain to talk back about them such as using the site to phis email password etc. You can make good use of it by write bog about the trick and tips of msn
Wrong. It doesn't matter if you say they are the greatest service provider of all time - it's still trademark infringement.
you mean an infringement like paypalsucks.com ?? but they are still around? You can not tell us that paypal does not know about this...you think this site would have been sued and taken down long ago...
palpaysucks has been discussed a hundred times on this thread. "Sucks" type of sites can different because there isn't a likelihood of consumer confusion (a reasonable person isn't going to think it is run by the trademark holder from just looking at the url). When it first started out, it was completely non-commercial and was apt to be seen as "free speech". They have since changed and could face a trademark infringement case if paypal wanted to pursue it imo. There are a number of cases of "sucks" types of sites that have been taken down due to trademark infringement. I really hope you don't think that an example of TM infringement means you have nothing to worry about? If a deep pocket like microsoft decides to sue you, are you prepared to spend tens of thousands or more to keep the domain? You aren't going to get attorney fees if you win, and could be ordered pay treble their legal fees plus damages if you lose. A TM infringement case that goes though the appeals process can easily reach legal fees in excess of a half million dollars - just ask perfumebay, which lost their ebay TM infringement suit (over $600,00 in legal fees and they decided against a final appeal).
This is just stupid. The letters M-S-N are just that, LETTERS. It's not the same as using the word Microsoft. The domain pimpyourmsn could be referring to Mom's Special Noodles for a cool new recipe site. Many Single Nights for dating, anyone? The possibilities are endless, and as long as you don't use Adsense to draw possible MSN (the Microsoft one) related ads, you should be fine. Even that pcworld article involved only domains with specific words and variations of those words Microsoft and Hotmail...not 3 letters that happen to be in a certain order.
Yes i was thinking using them as a xxx sites instead. Pimp My Mums Special Nockers or something. If i use them for Adsense what can i do to avoid MSN or Microsoft ads to not come on the site?
MSN is a trademark, and a famous one at that. You aren't allowed to use it in a domain name and then say it stands for something else - it's still trademark infringement. IBM, AOL, 3M, etc are other examples of protected famous marks. Perfume Bay should tell you how far protection extends. If you want a legal opinion, contact John Berryhill or Ari Goldberger. These are two of the best domain attorney's in the business. I'll bet they tell you to drop the domain immediately.
A trademark infringement stays to be a trademark infringement. And if Sedo rejects your domain, it's always a big warning sign, because they have an own department to care about this. Have a look at some examples from the EU (and what's in EU about lawsuits, it's a kindergarden compared to USA) where even the big boys with all their lawyers and money could not do anything: Intel was sued by a Dutch company Tricon not to use the name Triton for their chipsets. Intel lost and switched it to numbers and letters. Microsoft was sued of using the name "Explorer" in Windows by a small German company who owned the trademark "FTP Explorer". Microsoft lost in several court levels and paid a huge amount to licence the "Explorer" instead of withdrawing all Windows copies in Germany and get a new name for the Windows and Internet Explorer. When I was deeper in domain business, two employees were registering dropped domains for my company. They registered also two domains with a copyright infringement. After almost two years the two companies, who owns the copyright cried foul. One company sent me an email, that I own this domain and they own the copyright. They want to own the domain and if I agree and transfer the domain to them, all will be fine. Said and done. No troubles. The other domain was going to be a real pain in the a**. At first I got a letter from an attorney of Jamba (Jamster in USA) that I own a domain with infringes their copyright. I shall drop it. Said and done. But those attorneys - who usually have no idea about domain business - forgot to set a DISPUTE entry for the domain. That means, that nobody else can register it after dropping except the trademark owner (.de TLD). After I dropped the domain, it was registered by a domain grabber within 15 minutes. The attorney could not register the domain and was filing a criminal lawsuit against me because of fraud. It took me almost nine months to get out of this, with evidence from my registrar and hiring a lawyer myself. So it was connected with big stress - law officers and prosecutors visiting your office - and expenses. And not because the attorney has no idea about his job and domains, because it was me owning a copyright infringing domain. So, if you want to make a website about Mom's Special Knockers, name it PimpMyMomsSpecialKnockers.com and forget about MSN. If you think, you should use this domain, fell free to do this, but don't cry foul if they are after you. Best regards, Volker PS: My personal opinion: It's one of the most idiotic ideas to put XXX content on a copyright infringing domain. If you're promoting a product of the trademark owner in a good way, they usually close both eyes and let you do this. But being connected to XXX makes every trademark owner call their attorneys at once.
Thanks for that answer. So you think SEDO did this alone with no push from MSN? Msn would be all over me other wise i guess?