commericialising fan sites?

[shambles]

i own the exact name of 2 major sporting organisations - something akin to miamidolphins.com. i know i can make a fansite legitimately. obviously i would never do anything to lose the domains, but hypothetically would that preclude me from putting up banner ads, etc? basically, what's the borderline between legitimate fansite and trademark infringing commercial site?

thanks

[marcorandazza]

It is called the "smell test." If you put up a LEGITIMATE fan site, you'll probably/possibly be okay.

The problem is, if you're not contemplating a legitimate fan site, but a bare-bones, "form over function" attempt, anyone with a few brain cells will see through it.

[shambles]

Originally Posted by marcorandazza

It is called the "smell test." If you put up a LEGITIMATE fan site, you'll probably/possibly be okay.

The problem is, if you're not contemplating a legitimate fan site, but a bare-bones, "form over function" attempt, anyone with a few brain cells will see through it.

so if a site were in sufficient depth, etc, one could have a few unrelated adverts?

i would presume doing something like creating a site www.ebay.zz [random counry code] about the rise of ebay then linking to ebay's affiliate program would be over the line, no matter how in depth the site was.

[fab]

i would presume doing something like creating a site www.ebay.zz [random counry code] about the rise of ebay then linking to ebay's affiliate program would be over the line, no matter how in depth the site was.

Ebay.ccTld is not a fan site!

[Dave Zan]

IMHO it depends on who you're dealing with. Some might...might...like it while
others won't.

[marcorandazza]

Originally Posted by shambles

so if a site were in sufficient depth, etc, one could have a few unrelated adverts?

i would presume doing something like creating a site www.ebay.zz [random counry code] about the rise of ebay then linking to ebay's affiliate program would be over the line, no matter how in depth the site was.

Yes, if you had a site that was sufficiently developed, and it passed the "sham" test, unrelated advertisements would not necessarily destroy your good faith use argument.

Your example, ebay.zz, is correct.

[fab]

Your example, ebay.zz, is correct.

Firstly ebay is very aggressive when it comes to using their name, seondly could you explain what you mean.

[marcorandazza]

You are right, Ebay is VERY aggressive about protecting their TM rights.

What I meant was this -- he wrote:

I would presume doing something like creating a site www.ebay.zz [random counry code] about the rise of ebay then linking to ebay's affiliate program would be over the line, no matter how in depth the site was.

And this is correct. In other words, I don't think you could launch ebay.zz, cnn.zz, or any other famous TM/domain name and launch a "fan site" and get away with it.

[shambles]

marc, thanks for taking the time to answer my, no doubt, ridiculous questions

[marcorandazza]

Originally Posted by shambles

marc, thanks for taking the time to answer my, no doubt, ridiculous questions

I would not call them ridiculous at all. Any question asked with the sincere goal of gaining knowledge is never properly characterized as "ridiculous."