Buying a domain with a company name in it.

such as Microsoft

[security56]

Hi All

I was thinking on getting a domain which will includes microsoft in, like microsoftsomething. Will I have any problems with microsoft.

Thanks

[luckychucky]

You might as well cut your own throat now; you'll save time. In a word: insane. I'm speaking as a lay person with a good knowledge of trademark law, having hired famous and pricey hotshot lawyers for a number of intellectual-property disputes, both on offense and defense. It's cut and dried: you'd be a sitting duck, a squashed bug, roadkill. You'd tattoo a target on your forehead, then send out engraved invitations to snipers. You'd be slaughtered.

I hope my reply has not been too vague.

[davezan]

If you're using the domain name with no hints of any commercial use whatsover, you may
have a chance. But just as luckychucky said, it's insane because "microsoft" is a registered
trademark that is very strong and very well protected.

Unless you can prove you're well known by the words microsoft and whatever word, don't.

[luckychucky]

If the name on your birth certificate is 'Clarence Microsoft' you might have a chance.

[kpaul]

has any trademarked 'MacroHard' yet? might get some viral marketing with a domain like that too ;)

[wattsnew]

Mike Rowe, a student, put up a small Website in his own name plus "soft". Heavy legal threats ensued from Redmond...

Eventually they settled giving Mike some free software or a course for giving them the name. MS put up a redirect.

Now it seems Mike is back in business under his original domain. Has a student taken down MS? Or was the challenge so off the wall that Mike's legal advisor told him to ignore the Goliath? Maybe the course was in domain names... I've no idea.

Seems to me that fixingmicrosoft.com would be a legitimate software services site.

[security56]

:) So I guess no way,

Thanks guys

[luckychucky]

has any trademarked 'MacroHard' yet?

It is kind of ironic that the richest man in the world or whatever makes his fortune from a company called, essentially, 'TinyCushy'.

[snsh]

there's supposed to be fair-use which allows you to register domains like "microsoft-sucks.tld" and use them to complain about microsoft, but those cases seem to go either way.

[mcavic]

Now it seems Mike is back in business under his original domain.

Interesting. But the domain is still registered to Microsoft.

[security56]

ummm so a site like microsoftforums is out of the question or can it be done?

[luckychucky]

I think you'd be rolling the dice, waiting to see what happens once show up on MSFT's radar. And if you ignore the inevitable NastyGram from their counsel...ouch

[docubio]

If the name on your birth certificate is 'Clarence Microsoft' you might have a chance.

Hmmm.... So all it takes is legally changing your name. Very interesting....

Anyone care to try it and report the results in a few months?

[security56]

lol. I will change my name to Bill Microsoft Gates, lol but honestly why are they so afraid of people including microsoft in their domains.

Another thing I seing sites with microsoft in it I check their registry dates, they being up for years, But I still think is a roll of the dice.

[tedster]

why are they so afraid of people including microsoft in their domains

Protecting how your trademark is used is an EXTREMELY important area of business - especially if you are in it for the long haul. It is a balancing act, but if you just allow free use of the name, then over time you can lose all the benefits of woning a brand. So policing how your name is used everywhere, including in domain names, is an important part of protecting your intellectual property.

There are examples of long standing trademarks that many people don't even realize are brandnames: thermos, band-aid and so on. In recent decades, the companies who own those marks have had to apply extra resources to reclaim awareness that they ARE a brand, and even then, with only little to moderate success.

So the lesson learned through that history is this -- with all the resources that it takes to build a brand, the defense of that brand needs to be proactive.

[kpaul]

or, even better, change your name to widget-microsoft-widget.com

wasn't there some case where a town was named after a domain? and a baby too, i think. i wonder if you could legally change your name to a domain. and then, of course, the question of why you would want to ;)

[luckychucky]

I'm naming my first-born 'Yahoo!'

[mcavic]

I'm naming my first-born 'Yahoo!'

[ubergizmo.com...]

[luckychucky]

(I know this is so chatroom of me, but:)

omigod omigod omigod

I thought I was only making a joke. Wow.

[bill]

Well, you know that was proven to be a hoax and the reporter was fired, don't you?

Baby Named Yahoo - A Fake [webmasterworld.com]

[wildtrk]

That is strange that MS is still listed as the owner in whois but everything else points to Mike Rowe.

[nativenewyorker]

tedster said:

There are examples of long standing trademarks that many people don't even realize are brandnames: thermos, band-aid and so on. In recent decades, the companies who own those marks have had to apply extra resources to reclaim awareness that they ARE a brand, and even then, with only little to moderate success.

The most notable example that relates to the Internet is Hormel's battle over the use of their trademark SPAM.

[fischermx]

Guys, please your opinion on these :

JavaWorld.Com (not owned by Sun, but a publishing company)

MacWorld.Com (same, not owned by Apple, but by the same publishing company)

Interbase-world.com (not owned by Borland, but a group of developers)

All of them are commercial, I mean, they run for profit, even the last one since has lots of ads in internal pages.

So, when the use of a trademark in a domain name begin to be a problem?

[HughMungus]

I bought a domain name with "ebay" in it. They emailed me before I even setup a website on it. Don't bother.