Domains like Gootube.com, Yougle.com, etc.

Are nicknames and made-up names part of IP?

[maherphil]

So what if you registered Googtube.com, Gootube.com, Yougle.com, etc?

Does Google have rights to these domains? Would owning these be a legal timebomb?

[gpmgroup]

If your hoping to benefit from the brand(s) or the constituent brands you're playing with fire.

[walkman]

>> If your hoping to benefit from the brand(s) or the constituent brands you're playing with fire.

and you will get burned. I believe this will be used against you in future proceedings too (i.e., "Your honor, he has a habit of registering trademarked names for profit")

[pele]

Unless those are your actual surnames I wouldn't do it.

Even then...
One of my friends is constantly being threatened & harassed over using his real name in part of his domain name because it matches a certain brand of popular computer.

[walkman]

>> being threatened & harassed over using his real name in part of his domain name because it matches a certain brand of popular computer.

Wow. Is he mad at his parents for being named HP? :)

[maherphil]

Unless those are your actual surnames I wouldn't do it.

huh? So I guess if you register domains that have a likeness to a company name then then company will come after you.

[Leosghost]

ursa do tend to defecate in arboreal areas ..

[Quadrille]

If the site looks tacky and cheap, and has a mock-google name, then it will be seen as a scam / ripoff site, and fail.

If, at the other extreme, it looks good, professional and people trust it because they believe it has links to Google, then it will succeed, and 100% certainly will attract the attention of Google's lawyers.

Theoretically, there is one site in between those extremes that has enough success to be worth the sleepless nights, but not enough to alert Google.

No-one has yet found that domain name, and frankly, I doubt it's worth looking for it. Many have tried, many have failed, and some of them still feel hard done by. It's a sad and bitter road. Much better to build a site of your own, and stand or fall by your own efforts.

Don't you think all those fake-google sites look pathetic? Would you give them your hard earned cash?

[edited by: Quadrille at 11:34 am (utc) on Oct. 23, 2006]

[davezan]

You know, this sort of question can be answered and avoided pretty easily if one were to put themselves in the shoes of the other foot, and ask themselves how they'd feel if someone like this or that happened to them.

Then again, some don't even have a conscience.

[toothake]

"for being named HP?"
well his parents can be named Dell ;)

[rainydazed]

What if you owned the domain name first, I mean, before the big merger or whatever. Would Google have to come pandering to you for it?

[Quadrille]

If you had a domain or trade mark or usage before Googlel, you may have a chance; for example, Google have had to stop using gmail.co.uk - It's googlemail.co.uk - and I think that's happened in at least one other country.

But I've yet to meet anyone who googled before Google did - or YouTubed before YouTube.

I never heard of a clone who got rich, though. mind you, I've seen a couple get laughed at on a national scale!