"Bad faith intent to profit" Question

[NickRoeder]

I own the misspelling of a major online bookstore and receive about 20 type-ins per day. I link this misspelling to their site, but through their affiliate tracking code. I have owned it for three years with no problems. Is this considered bad faith?

The reason I am asking is because I have 2 more domain names, but are misspellings of two major credit card companies. If I do the same thing with them, link to their site but through their affiliate tracking code, is this considered bad faith?

I assume it isn't because I have been running the bookstore misspelling for three years. I'm not hurting their image at all and the traffic gets to them anyway.

 

[jberryhill]

I assume it isn't because I have been running the bookstore misspelling for three years.

I know a guy who robbed a convenience store a while back. Since he didn't get caught, he figures it's okay to rob a bank.

Just because the bookstore doesn't care about a name that gets 20 hits a day is no reason to assume that a credit card company, which is likely to care A LOT about domain names potentially used in phishing scams, won't care either.

 

[Jeffreyw]

I think for there is nothing wrong with this as long as it's redirected to their site.

 

[jberryhill]

I think for there is nothing wrong with this as long as it's redirected to their site.

Then go read the terms of service for ANY affiliate program relative to the permitted and forbidden uses of trademarks in connection with the affiliate program.

In general, this sort of use of an affiliate program is a breach of the contract. No, they don't want to pay you $200 per year for traffic that would be theirs if you hadn't registered a typo of their name.

 

[NickRoeder]

contract. No, they don't want to pay you $200 per year for traffic that would be theirs if you hadn't registered a typo of their name.

Why didn't they register it themselves then? I registered it yesterday, they had plenty of time.

 

[guile]

Why didn't they register it themselves then? I registered it yesterday, they had plenty of time.

If it remained unregistered, user would find the correct site by typing it again. You are profitting from traffic that they would have received for free anyway.

You will get away with as long as the company doesn't take action, but if they do, you have absolutely no case at all when using the traffic for their affiliate program. Just by sending traffic to their affiliate program you are admitting guilt of cyber/typo squatting.

If you were using the domain for something totally irrelevant to their site/product you might have a case.

 

[NickRoeder]

I noticed in WIPO a lot of the cases involved people owning multiple misspelled domain names and sending them to competitor/pornographic sites. I own one and will link to intended, so I hope I can get away with it as long as I have been getting away with the bookstore one. When and if they do decide to take action, what will happen? Will I just have to surrender my domain name?

 

[Focus]

I would keep it hush hush and most likely you will be OK, most typos just dont get enough traffic to justify any action..and those that DO, have been gone for a looooooong time already...unless they are new sites of course...YOUR bad faith is because you are profiting from THEIR name and brand without permission, whether it be thru a typo or not, common diction and knowledge would decide in THEIR favor quite easily that you knowingly registered or obtained the name in question to profit from their brand name and that is further evidenced by your affiliate/revenue generating link to them for PROFIT, not only is it definitely bad faith, but you are taking traffic and revenue that is rightfully theirs in the firstplace, their action could include recovery of any and all payments made to you from this domain as well as obviously the domain in question and even possibly punitive damages....let's hope you are not making enough money to raise any flags..or the affiliate manager doesnt happen upon your domain one day reviewing traffic from partners and be like wtf? Good luck! Hope this helps....

If you are worried then the best bet is to redirect/forward the traffic from it (the typo)to one of your other domains (like 123-ttt-bbb.com, etc) and then forward THAT domain to the site in question..effectively MASKING where the traffic is coming from on your end...but of course this is'nt very ethical, but then again neither is alot of stuff we do to make money with domains..

 

[NickRoeder]

Thanks a lot Mocus!

 

[namedropper]

This is pretty much the definition of bad faith, and what Mocus is suggesting you do is not only unethical but against the law in many jurisdictions.

Why didn't they register it themselves then? I registered it yesterday, they had plenty of time.

And this, by the way, is not a defense or a justification. It's like taking someone else's bike from a park and then trying to claim it was justifiably yours because it wasn't locked in a bike rack.

 

[jberryhill]

When and if they do decide to take action, what will happen? Will I just have to surrender my domain name?

They might start with things like every penny you ever made from abusing their affiliate program on up to $100K per domain name independent of actual damages.

 

[GT Web]

I still don't understand why people risk thousands of dollars in a potential lawsuit to make a few dollars extra per day...

and it has been noted how ethical Mocus is...

 

[GiantDomains]

and it has been noted how ethical Mocus is...

Mocus is right, you do follow him around. Stop it.

 

[GT Web]

I dont follow him around, I just think giving immoral advice is the right way to go...

 

[jberryhill]

I just think giving immoral advice is the right way to go...

Trademark law is not about morality, it is a mundane area of civil law like any other. If someone has uninformed opinions about it, then it is not a defect of character.

 

[GT Web]

so change immoral to illegal, makes the advice even worse...

 

[furca]

Mocus is right, you do follow him around. Stop it.

GD, last time I checked following someone around was not against the rules, neither stalking, nor anything else, unethical advice from a member should not be given out on this forum, since it strides to be "professional" Its like letting the member talk about clicking on his or her on google ads to increase rev, shouldn't be tolerated.

 

[Dave Zan]

Why didn't they register it themselves then? I registered it yesterday, they had plenty of time.

Compare the costs of either getting all possible typos for 10 years or 1 year
and renewing them annually or so against sending a C & D letter.

 

[jberryhill]

so change immoral to illegal, makes the advice even worse...

If you think law is more important than morality, I guess so, but I don't understand your use of the word "illegal".

Whether an action might render you liable in a civil suit doesn't make the action "illegal". It is neither illegal nor immoral to, for example, breach a contract.

However, it is apparent that you did not chime in here to offer any actual advice of any kind.

unethical advice from a member should not be given out on this forum, since it strides to be "professional"

As a professional who disagreed with the advice in question, I would say that banning behavior that can be highly subjective is a bad idea. In the marketplace of ideas, the good ones and the not-so-good ideas have a way of becoming apparent in the course of discussion.

Without a range of opinions, there is nothing to discuss.

 

[GT Web]

You're right, I dont give advice in the legal forum, I leave it to the people that have great knowledge in the field, such as yourself and a few others...