Do you own domain names containing brand names or trademarks of others?

Earlier today GCG reported receiving a request to turn over a domain name that contained the word microgaming in the domain name in the thread Microgaming seize "microgaming" domain names. We've had other similar threads covering similar situations with respect to other brands and other GPWA webmasters over time.

The whole area of domain names containing trademarks or brand names of third parties is a complicated one. Certainly it is fine if you have been granted permission by the trademark holder. And sometimes it can be acceptable even without permission. A common example is domain names of sites that document criticisms the the brand in question with a domain name of {brandname}sucks.com.

Certainly from an SEO perspective it is a winner to have a domain that includes a brand name associated with a site you are promoting as an affiliate. But brand owners frequently take a dim view of such practices, and that can lead to conflicts between brand owners and affiliates.

What practice do you follow? Do you ever register domain names that include brand names? If you do, have you ever been challenged regarding that practice? Have you ever stopped using a domain name because of such a challenge or turned a domain over to the brand name owner?

Michael

I think this thread would attract more honest replies in the private section :)

Yes in my younger years, but never in an attempt to give the brand negative publicity. I'll give you a few examples on how I've used them:

1. I've caught brand domains which have expired and thrown up a very similar site, either sold it back to them or sold links from the domain.

2. I'll buy a domain containing a brand, build loads of links to it and 301 redirect it to the relevant page on a larger one of my aff sites. Ah, back when SEO was simple.

3. I've purchased brand domains and then thrown up an affiliate site promoting them, which most the time they've just accepted providing they aren't a MASSIVE brand.

I don't do this anymore and I never would again, this was kind of my teenage years online, realising I could make a quick £ and not realising the wider consequences.

mayby open a company in the us called Micro Gaming and of course you dont want to uise a space in the domain name.

Normally I wouldn't care less about maintaining a branded-domain but when a brand I'm pushing contacts me and says "either you hand over the branded domain you own or we're gonna shut down your affiliate account" there's not much I can do.

It's simple logic - either they sue me for holding onto a domain with their brand in it, or they shut down my affiliate account and stop paying me, forcing me to freak out and chase them with whatever I have (which isn't much really).

Honestly, I find it surprising that any brand would allow this.

Would you expect to get away with opening a burger bar called McDonalds?

Interesting poll and thread, we had an experience last week whereby we found out someone had beaten us to a betvictor domain name. We kindly asked that the person hand the name over, however, it became obvious that there main motive behind purchasing the domain was so they could sell it back to us at a greatly inflated price. We therefore offered them a cheque for a charity of their choice in return for the domain which they refused. So at this moment I think we are looking at pursuing this further....

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Originally Posted by bonusbetting

Honestly, I find it surprising that any brand would allow this.

Would you expect to get away with opening a burger bar called McDonalds?

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By the same token why should a brand be upset about someone promoting their brand to the public and spreading the word about their products? That's called affiliate marketing isn't it?
As long as the site doesn't represent itself as official then let it be. I could probably open a site called ilovemcdonalds.com which made it clear it was an unofficial fansite and which directed people to the Mcdonalds closest to them and eulogised about Big Macs without upsetting Ronald too much.

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Originally Posted by Sarah_BetVictor

Interesting poll and thread, we had an experience last week whereby we found out someone had beaten us to a betvictor domain name. We kindly asked that the person hand the name over, however, it became obvious that there main motive behind purchasing the domain was so they could sell it back to us at a greatly inflated price. We therefore offered them a cheque for a charity of their choice in return for the domain which they refused. So at this moment I think we are looking at pursuing this further....

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I've had this happen in a previous life working for a massive UK company. We pursued people who had registered anything to do with our brand (began with a V) but we ultimately took the decision that if they were asking a reasonable amount (under £1000 in our case) and that our people had been unprofessional enough not to register the URLs close to our products that it was a fair cop and we paid up.
It was cheaper than pursuing them anyway and a good lesson for our Domain/Content teams to get their act together.
Nobody should be beating you to your own domain names!

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Originally Posted by Sarah_BetVictor

Interesting poll and thread, we had an experience last week whereby we found out someone had beaten us to a betvictor domain name. We kindly asked that the person hand the name over, however, it became obvious that there main motive behind purchasing the domain was so they could sell it back to us at a greatly inflated price. We therefore offered them a cheque for a charity of their choice in return for the domain which they refused. So at this moment I think we are looking at pursuing this further....

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I think using a specific product in your domain is uber sketchy (eg: betvictorbonus.com) as you're simply squatting on the brand, but for me the idea of using a software brand (such as "microgaming" - the trademark that triggered this discussion) is different as you're helping the user choose a brand from a large selection.

But at the same time if you're using a trademark in your domain you can't complain if/when they come for it. Which is annoying because I had literally just bought 6 domains containing software brands to build mini sites on. Guess I might abandon that idea for now...

Anyone know what you have to do to make the use of a trademark "acceptable"? Eg: there are precedents of seizures for domains that were: microgaming-casinos, microgamingslots etc.. because they could be confused with the original brand. But (using the example above) would ilovemicrogaming.com be ok? Any IP lawyers in the house?

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Originally Posted by slotmad

By the same token why should a brand be upset about someone promoting their brand to the public and spreading the word about their products? That's called affiliate marketing isn't it?

As long as the site doesn't represent itself as official then let it be. I could probably open a site called ilovemcdonalds.com which made it clear it was an unofficial fansite and which directed people to the Mcdonalds closest to them and eulogised about Big Macs without upsetting Ronald too much.

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Yes you probably could - but if you ranked #1 for 'mcdonalds' and you expected payment for it then they would crush you like a bug :-)

does GPWA make poll only or can recommend something for such affiliates?

It is possible to make up similar site names, without causing problems. It all depends on how you position the site, so you might want to choose carefully how you go about it. I recently selected a bunch of casino domain names in Macau. related to names of casinos there. It was and still is my belief that when the Chinese, let's say google Casino Macau, then all the related casino names would appear. So choosing your tagged key words is essential here.

I have quite a few - and have never been challenged.
Mind you - most are just registered domains which I haven't had the time to build sites on! :p
My names include:
MG
NetEnt
Rival
RTG
Playtech

KK

I've had a few in the past but never got around to doing anything with them.

I have benz-mercedes.net registered for a friend, but he never found the time to create his Mercedes forum. I am guessing after I tell him what happens to ppl with such domains, he will just wanna let it expire.