Trademarked Domains and what to do if you have one
 

Ok, I have some very nice domains but the only problem is some trademark issues. Just as an example, I have better ones but one I dont care about would be fuckpepsi.com. What would be the best way to sell a trademarked domain. If I go straight to the company. Can they sue me? Would I be better off auctioning off the domain. I saw americanxpress.com go for over 30k. So? Whats the best way to get rid of a trademarked domain?

let it drop.

There is no good way to sell a trademarked domain. You will get sued in federal court and lose everything.

Hire minusonebit, he's an absolute expert!

And what does fuckpepsi have to do with anything except "fuck" a well known brand? Let it go, let it go now.

its NOT fuck pepsi. Its a VERY VERY good name that could be considered a trademark. If everyone else can sell a tm name for 50k+ why cant I? Where do I sell a name like this?

If its a trademarked then its not something you can legally own someone else already does. It might be considered cyber-squatting as well.

Without knowing more facts there's no real way to answer this question legally.

Sounds like its worthless but I have a friend who might be able to help you ;)

Do you have an email he can contact you at?

Speaking of fuckpepsi.com it reminded me of trademark vs freedom of speech case where freedom of speech won - paypalsucks.com

In this case there is a clear trademark violation, but they have won against humongous monster company with unlimited resources because of first amendment.

Just fucking wow. You're not kidding, you actually think this way, don't you?

there are a few domain boards around where you could offer it, but you better have some traffic, rev or something to justify a purchase otherwise forget it.

I own a trademarked past employer sucks domain. They tried to sue me for it and I sent a motion to dismiss sighting past cases where it was upheld that others could use theirs. Really pissed that company off.

So then I went through the trouble of setting up an account where employees could donate money to a fund. The fund payed for Google Adwords advertising for both their industry and their name. The forum grew like a mutherfucker with people posting things like, "Wow, thanks for letting me know this company is retarded. I will move on to their competitors."

I love that kind of shit.

Ohh the forum also was awesome for things like getting heads together for class action lawsuits and for customers to do the same.

Contact info is now in sig:thumbsup. I have some ridiculous tm names. Yes it has traffic. Fuckpepsi.com is just an example of one of the ones I have that I am willing to post on gfy which should show you how much I care about it. Email me if you are interested:thumbsup.

First Amendment issues can trump trademark law, but it is a fine line that has been drawn.

If the domain is something like fuckpepsi.com or pepsisucks.com and the site is actually used for consumers/employees/disgruntled customers to post complaints, as VRocks notes there is case law support to it.

But you might go through the hassle of litigation anyway.

Believe it or not, I had a similar thing happen to me, back in early 2004 with a trademarked name... I ended up getting an offer from 'Frito Lay / Pepsi Cola of America' where they paid me for the domain name, which technically included their product name, yet I also had a legitimate pornographic use for...

I really cant be anymore specific regarding what happened to me, but I will say that I was MORE THAN HAPPY to accept the GENEROUS offer they made me, for the domain name... Now, I have said more than I should already... So enough about me.... Lets talk about you...

What I would do, is to find a female, who is legally called 'Pepsi' (FROM BIRTH... NOT VIA A LEGAL NAME CHANGE)

Then set up a site, well no. Actually set up a single page, with a dirty photo of her, & lots of juicy XXX rated text, where 'she' offers to have sex with anyone who emails her... She doesn't have to be hot... Her age isn't important (Aside from being over 18)

The page doesn't even need to be promoted at all... Just existing is enough.

Then, grass yourself up to Pepsi...Say I was surfing online for their fine product, and were shocked to find such a disgusting site using their product name... Say you had a child with you sat at the PC... whatever... Just kick up a huge fucking stink...

Wait a while and you'll get a firm letter from Frito lay inc, telling you to sign over the name to them, to avoid legal action...

Reply and say, NO WAY... The girls name is Pepsi, she wants to fuck people... Free speech and all that... We dont mention a sticky brown sweet soda on the site, nor we use your graphics or anything else that references your product... Its her LEGAL NAME... Now GO FUCK YOURSELF....

Wait a while, and you'll find that another letter arrives with a hey, look, we dont need this site online... Will you accept this offer?

Now, if you say NO and push for more, your in trouble... BUT say yes... And your laughing :)


Now Im NOT saying this will work for you... But I know that a similar thing worked for me! Nuff said :)

Email me with the domain names you are concered about and i can give you some advice.

Hire the law offices of Kimmel, Kimmel and Kimmel. He'll work for Prozac and Lithium and Twinkies

trying to sell trademarked domains?

this guy has no morals.

pass the problem to someone else, as long as you make a little money.

or what about affiliates that have mistypes of your domains? that violates ICANN rules correct?

Where do you see people selling famous registered and distinctive trademarks for big money?

No place I have ever seen.

Bad advice.

All I can guess is that in your case you got very very lucky.

You could have easily got sued.

That's a non-commercial use. The standards for commercial speech are more restrictive.

americanxpress.com is a decent typo, fuckpepsi.com is not even that, its worthless anyway.

Sell it to me. I am always in the market for such domains. Esp. ones with "fuck" prefixes and "sucks" suffixes.

We've actually owned Bigbrother.com from 2004 till late 2006 I guess - was bought for 18 k and coded to get some links for the real bb fans and to drive traffic to our hardcore version site.

There was a court and no way to retain it, Endemol took it without any compensation.

did they offer to buy it from you first?

but they didnt invent big brother, george orwell did

Not, it was a court directly, Endemol is a trademark holder for the big brother "reality shows" and is a tough company to compete with.

Yeah and we even put there some related content to the book as well as to the Endemol reality series (trademarked stuff) - haven't really helped. I guess the argument was that we are basically misusing the relation to their "big brother" reality show series to promote ours (or say adult) stuff.

I guess the adult aspect was a vital part of the decision.

Probably true. In the states, a dilution claim can also be brought if the the mark is famous and is being used for such purposes that it tarnishes the mark.

I don't think it was the "adult" aspect. I think it was your use.

Big mistake - offering their product (or a competitor's similar product) on that domain name.

You probably could have kept the name had you been more careful with how you used it.