To make a long story short, I was lucky enough to snag an exact product name url with a .us extension, for a product that will be out later this year. What's the extent that I can do with this domain? Would it be legal to create a fan/help/info forum for it?
Firstly check if the product name was trademarked and if so if it was before or after your purchase. If it was before then you are fairly stuffed as you must have the trademark owners permission to own it. If it was after or it isnt trademarked then you simply need to be careful of either passing off (ie creating the site in such a way that people will mistake it as being offically part of the company) and potentially general unethical practices which some countries/ courts take dim views of (ie redirecting to their competitors sites and "blackmailing" them into buying the domain from you)
Thanks - it's actually a product of Taiwan that hasn't made it out of Asia. I'm 99.9% sure that it's trademarked over there...don't know what to do!
Firstly confirm its trademark status and check when it was trademarked -v- when you bought the domain. What was your intention when you purchased the domain?
It was definitely trademarked before I bought it. I was thinking of running a forum for 1) people interested in the product during this stage, then 2) people who actually own the product when its released this year.
If it is NFP then it most likely wont be an issue though you would be best to ask permission of the company first. Of cause if you are intending to make it profitable then the chances of success are lower but you can always ask the owners - some companies will give you a limited license to use it as it is always good to get your product name out there. It will be limited to prevent you doing anything more without their permission and making it easy for them to withdraw permission in case your site ends up being nothing but slating their product/ practices etc
notice he said .us.what level in the pecking order is .us? a lot of names liscensed yet/worse than .info? or .biz?.I have a chance to buy a good name in a .us i never owned any.
The top level makes no difference. If I own the trademark to AstarothSolutions you will have an issue with creating any domain containing AstarothSolutions esp if you setup a web development site on it as you then also have passing off issues.
My own personal opinion is that Taiwan is notorious worldwide for copyright infringement, on everything from designer purses to software and games for many, many, many.....MANY years. So I say screw 'em. I have heard recent news that they are now changing their tune about some of their copyrights being infringed on, especially on the internet, but, if the product is not copyrighted in the U.S......"Screw 'em!". They have never cared about anyone else's copyright, and I would think that any legal issues brought up would be laughed out of court for a few years. It would be like Lindsay Lohan campaigning against L.A. nightclubs serving minors. No credibility. JMO
heh...that thought crossed my mind, too If worse comes to worse, I'll wait for the first month of product release, and sell the domain on eBay.