What's the best way of advertising trade marked domains.

[Drewbert]

>My lesson? I have no business reg'ing houstonchronicle.anything

Unless you develop a site discussing the editorials put forth in that newspaper, or perhaps a site selling old copies of the paper 2nd hand.

That's fair use, no matter what Jonathan Cohen says.

 

[DomainPairs]

So if I combine a few recent threads, I get the following situation.

I am allowed to reg the site MGMfilmssuck.com (which is the contrary of my opinion of MGM films actually), because there is no risk of confusion and I am able to use this site for legitimate criticism.

I am not allowed to register MGMfilms.com as a link site to sell MGM films for profit. I would of course be praising their films in this site.

This seems a somewhat strange situation to me.


I can't remember if the example should have been MGMfilmssuck.com or fXXXmgmfilms.com, please use whichever is apposite.

 

[Silverwire]

Originally posted by DomainPairs
So if I combine a few recent threads, I get the following situation.

I am allowed to reg the site MGMfilmssuck.com (which is the contrary of my opinion of MGM films actually), because there is no risk of confusion and I am able to use this site for legitimate criticism.

I am not allowed to register MGMfilms.com as a link site to sell MGM films for profit. I would of course be praising their films in this site.

This seems a somewhat strange situation to me.


I can't remember if the example should have been MGMfilmssuck.com or fXXXmgmfilms.com, please use whichever is apposite.

If I may contribute my understanding, It depends on the very specific actual facts/circumstances of whether you have a legitimate business use for MGMfilms.com (not confusing, diluting or tarnishing the mark). This seems to be the complex part, in that some uses may be justified while others a violation. Just depends.

 

[DNS Kidd]

I am allowed to reg the site MGMfilmssuck.com (which is the contrary of my opinion of MGM films actually), because there is no risk of confusion and I am able to use this site for legitimate criticism.

I am not allowed to register MGMfilms.com as a link site to sell MGM films for profit. I would of course be praising their films in this site.

This seems a somewhat strange situation to me.

MGM Films is in the business of selling, leasing, syndicating or otherwise marketing their products. They invest money in advertising and promotion to make this an ongoing enterprise.

To protect this investment, it is likely that the name MGMFilms.* would result in a UDRP against the owner.

If you like MGM films, then reg MGM Film Reviews.com Your purpose then becomes film reviews, and not pseudo product representation / sales.

"It's the risk and the intellectual challenge"

Try anticipating the market and regging popular and desirble non-TM names. That should tap your desire for risk, and provide a more signiticant intellectual challenge than the cat and mouse game mentioned earlier.

Dave