registering .net of another companies name!

is this legal?

[soapystar]

i wonder if anyone can help me with this. a credit card company called 'widget', has the domain widget.com . I have just registered widget.net and have made it into an affiliate site for widget.com In other words its promotion site for widget credit cards and all the links are affiliate cj links back to widget.com.

first of all what are the implications of registering a domain where the name is an exsisting company? and using it in the way i am are they any other legal minefields i could be treading. The idea is that by better seo my site appears before widget.com if a person searches for widegt credit cards, which is what has happened.

[willtell]

There is a new law in the US that I believe went into effect in Jan 2000. It clearly states that using another company's name for a domain name is a no-no. It doesn't matter what your intent is, if you register a companies name in a domain name, you are in trouble.
This is not legal advise, so I would suggest that you contact a good patent lawyer.

[soapystar]

because there was case with french connection that said as long as you dont buy the domain with the intent of making moant from the company by sqautting with it or trying to sell it back to them, and u intended to use it for yourslef, that this was ok. I also wonder if the law is different for .com and others, since when domains are available like the recent .info, companies are given a specified amount of time to register there own names. if they dont those names r up for grabs.

[soapystar]

this is what i found of relevance, please bear in mind im uk based:

i) circumstances indicating that the domain name has been applied for
primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the
domain name registration to the authorized entity who is the owner of the
trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that entity, for valuable
consideration in excess of documented costs directly related to the domain
name; or,
(ii) the domain name has been registered in order to prevent the owner of
the trade mark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding
domain name; or,
(iii) the domain name has been registered primarily for the purpose of
disrupting the business of a competitor; or,
(iv) by using the domain name, applicant has intentionally attempted to
attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to their web site or other
online location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the owner's mark
as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of a website or
location, or of a product or service on a web site or location.

so if my intention is to drive traffic TO the other domain, it looks ok to me. Im sending traffic to the widget credit card site they wanted!