Domain trademark affiliate question

[testrjnbreuiyub]

Hi,
I'm new here so please be nice! Last year I purchased a domain which now contains a soon to be trademarked product name, and had intended to use it as a fan/affiliate site to offer reviews, videos, photos and of course shopping links to the product.

I don't want to say the domain I'm using but a comparable one would be bargainvaios.com, and the site was about Sony Vaio laptops.

Now my question is this: I know that Sony could ask me to transfer the domain over to them because it includes a trademark, but if I made a lot of income from the affiliate links (eg people buying Vaios through my links) and made it clear that my site was nothing to do with Sony (in looks, colour, fonts or anything like that), then could Sony also demand I pay all my income from the site to them, even though I was only linking to people selling their products and at no point pretending to be anything other than a fan site?

Have there been any real cases where affiliates have had to pay their income over to a company because they used a trademark in a domain? I could make a lot of money from this site but want to know before I start if I'm likely to have to pay it all over to a big corporation one day!

Thanks,
Tom.

 

[rainbowjet]

Have there been any real cases where affiliates have had to pay their income over to a company because they used a trademark in a domain? I could make a lot of money from this site but want to know before I start if I'm likely to have to pay it all over to a big corporation one day!

Thanks,
Tom.

Don't know the details but most are required to turn over the domain to the trademark owner if the latter wins in a UDRP case.

 

[renamecor]

You say that you registered the domain before it was a trademark, can you explain further.

What extention is the domain ?

 

[HariSeldon]

I could make a lot of money from this site but want to know before I start if I'm likely to have to pay it all over to a big corporation one day!

If you are planning to make money on the back of someone else's trademark then you have to ask yourself is it really worth the risk that one day you'll be on the receiving end of a legal letter?

In my opinion the more successful your site is the more likely you'll end up in court. Which to me makes this a very risky venture.

One way to make sure it doesn't end up this way is to ask the trademark holder for permission first.

 

[accelerator]

Some manufacturers really don't like you using their trademarks in domains, so if it's one of them, your site will be doomed.

Whether you would get pursued for earnings, I don't have knowledge of this having happened, maybe take a look at out-law.com for cases. I would say the nature of a damages claim would depend on what the site was doing. I could imagine a good affiliate site promoting the products from trusted retailers may avoid a damages claim, whereas if you were trying to sell fake goods you would get shut down and pursued for damages.

Regardless, you can still make money just using a generic domain, so if you want to avoid heartache and disruption in future, why don't you just do that instead?

Rgds

 

[Bailey]

Hi,
I'm new here so please be nice! Last year I purchased a domain which now contains a soon to be trademarked product name, and had intended to use it as a fan/affiliate site to offer reviews, videos, photos and of course shopping links to the product.
.

The short Q & A

Your intent is the key question - If you are attempting to profit using a domain name of a registered TM - you'll likely find yourself in trouble

 

[crabfoot]

The obvious reply is to approach the people and ask them if your usage would offend them.

If it were "Sony Vaios", I would imagine that any name including "Sony" would upset them, but "bargain vaios" would be acceptable with disclaimers, and an undertaking to only sell through their official channels.

Agree that before you start, and you are trading. If you don't agree that, or at least agree that you might do some "refurbished" trade, you are likely to be jumped on.

Tell them how you can work to mutual benefit through legitimate channels, and they are likely to be helpful.

Otherwise, it is too easy to have your site taken down these days. Registrars go by the rules, not the law, and you can't claim compensation for loss of sales unless you can provide evidence that those sales might have been possible ...