Venture an opinion on this?

[m2c1r]

I am just wondering if there is a quick and probably right answer (all disclaimers duly noted) to the question "can I use the word dow in a url?" refering to the stock market index? For example: beat-the-dow.com? Thanks for your input!

[bcolflesh]

[webmasterworld.com...]

[BigDave]

While there might be a reasonable chance of winning when they take you to court, you should realize that you will most likely end up going to to court against a well funded opponent.

If you are really set on playing that game, your safest bet would be to find some obscure country where they haven't trademarked the name, move there, host there, and conduct all your business there. That is a little more trouble than I would go through for any domain name.

Personally, I would not bother trying it. But if you do decide to give it a try, you should go hire a *good* IP attorney and get their opinion and risk analysis.

[vkaryl]

*laughing* I LOVE it, BD.... "when" not "if"....

[And really, there's NO need to go so far as "beat-the-dow.com" in any case. Just use "beat-the-stocks.com" or "beat-the-market.com" or similars. Most "savvy" people will get the drift, and non-savvies aren't your meat anyway....]

As it happens, I know a number of people who pretty much have no idea what "the dow" is. They don't live in that world (and NO they are not people with disabilities of ANY sort - they are just "outside"....) and though several of them have sites of their own, those sites are pretty much predicated on "otherworlds" rather than the need to get rich quick and dirty....

[Dan_Norder]

I make it a habit to never use anyone else's trademark in a URL for a page discussing the field covreed by that trademark. It's pretty much asking for trouble, and, if you are in the U.S., could result in fines of $100,000 if it goes to court.

Bad, bad idea.