I got a lot of questions - How often does this happen?

[MrGoodhost]

Is this practice common?

1st Scenario - -
Registere for an affiliate program. (under "abc company")
Registere a like domain. (like: "abcd company")
Send what little traffic from it to the affiliate.
Affiliate finds out and wants the domain and kills your affiliate partnership.
You tell them no (politely), they send to WIPO.

What happens then?
-------------------------------

2nd Scenario - -
Registre for an affiliate program.(under "abc company")
Registre a like domain.(like: "abcd company")
Send the traffic from it to the affiliate.
Affiliate finds out and just says you to stop the forwarding or masking.
You then setup an adsense and affiliate site with theirs and other like products.
The affiliate then never says anything more to you about it.

Any harm? I just read that WIPO doesn't make any monetary judgements? Anybody know how often WIPO cases are also used in a Court Of Law to produce the fines?

Take for instance somebody selling a hosting domain name in the domain name selling forum and it's a like domain and he's forwarding the domain to the like named hosting company. I've seen this with a casino also.

Is it just a matter of a case by case basis, if the company wants to pursue or what?

I've been trying to find information on this and it's hard to find it because it's almost like a hush hush topic, very borderline.

I also don't see how it's a measure of bad faith, when the "like" company is benefiting.

Feedback?

 

[DNQuest.com]

Senario 1:
You used a domain with a TM in it.. they told you to stop it. you said no, they WIPOed. They are in the right.

Senario 2:
You used a domain with a TM in it.. they told you to stop it. You now use the TMed domain in adsense,. You are infringing and didn't get caught.

Using a TM in your domain IS infringing unless you have permission for the TM holder.

I do not understand the "hush hush" comment. It is talked about freely here, jsut search "tm" or "trademark" in the leagal section. Talk is everywhere. But here is an overall hint, if you register a domain knowingly containing a TM, more than likely you are squatting since your intentions are probably in bad faith.

 

[MrGoodhost]

Thanks for the response. "hush-hush" because I couldn't find anything specific to the scenarios mentioned. I've posted something similar to this and never got a response. So I didn't know if people talked about it or not because they didn't want it broadcast all over the net.

Many people park typeo's - aren't most of these trademark infringements?
Is it also common to find trademark typeo's forwarded or redirected to affiliate links? I've come across a few because I'm always trying to find the "end of the internet". (A joke a work we use for boredom when surfing the web til you can't surf anymore because you think you've found it all.)

Why doesn't the TM buy all of their common domain name misspellings? Seems like they just wait until it's registered, then track it down.

People buy and sell typeo's all the time - is just a matter of time before the TM contacts someone and ask for the domain to be transferred.

"Bad Faith" - if you register a typeo and redirect thru an affiliate link back to the affiliated partner, how can that be bad faith? They get the traffic, you get a small cut for any sale. There's no misrepresentation of the site or product.

I would think that bad faith is redirecting to a site that doesn't have anything to do with it at all to capture traffic.

 

[DNGeeks]

This is only a personal experience.

I am an affiliate for company x. They of course own the .com domain. I registered a number of other names with their permission that contain their name. I have been operating like this for 2+ years now and have an excellent relationship with them. I get my checks twice a month and never a problem. I have spoken on the phone with them, been invited to trade shows and even received free stuff from them as rewards.

I suppose it all depends on the company if you can use their name or not. But we all must remember that in the end they do still own the trademark and could take the domains at any time.

 

[DNQuest.com]

Yes, all of the senarios are a form of bad faith. Getting caught is another story.

Some companies will have a problem with you using a TM, some won't. Asking for permission is the best way to solve that mystery.

As far as using a typo for an affiliate link, it is bad faith because you are profitting off of a TM that is not yours. That is why TMs exsist.

 

[OgieOgalthorpe]

Some excellent points here - thanks for sharing folks.