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Domain name contains "eBay"

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O.C.

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I'm looking at a "How To" domain name that contains the word eBay. It's for a guide about eBay and would state that the owners of the site are not eBay or affiliated with them either way. It's a very small niche that I don't want to give away, so let's just use "How To Sell On Ebay" as an example.



Borderline trademark infringement?

I wouldn't want to promote a domain name only to have it taken away later.
 
Domain summit 2024

Anthony Ng

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O.C.

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Bummer.

Just curious, what if I register the domain name leaving off the word eBay and the use a subdirectory? Using the example it would be howtosellon.com/ebay/
 

FineE

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An excellent site on the subject of C & D letters (there is a fair amount of bluff in this ) is

www.chillingeffects.org

You can also post a C & D letter there.

I would not be surprised if "How To Sell On Ebay" would be considered fair dealing with the intended use of the site. An alternative is to use something like

"how to sell on auction sites"

This has the advantage of avoiding any threat of "corporate bullying" and more importantly it avoids giving the "corporate bully" any free publicity.

It becomes just desserts a company's lawyers do a very good job of bluffing average people from even mentioning ther precious trademarks, and nobody mentions them. Then they wonder why sales go down.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
 

thinkaholic

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I got the letter from Ebay regarding ebaytoolbar.com. I'll let it drop, of course.

I got this name so I could offer an IE plugin type bar for Ebay users. Well, guess what...Ebay soon came out with their own IE Toolbar soon after their letter to me. How convenient!! I have my own assumptions...

Sucks, but that's life and you deal with it...
 

maxheadroom

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There is no way you, or anyone else, is going to prevail on this issue. To cut to the chase, here's why:

AnyDomainWithEbay.com is going to infere to the web visitor that you might be associated with ebay in some form. Ebay is not going to let that happen. If there is any chance that the name/site could confuse people, even in the slightest, that ebay is behind the site, ebay will ask that you not use the domain and delete/deregister it.

The exceptions to this are of course "gripe sites." No one is going to confuse ebaysucks.com with ebay. That's considered "fair use" (news gathering and social commentary value) of a trademark.

Also, ebay is now "famous." Once a trademark has achieved that status, the game goes to a whole 'nother level.

Better to use "online-auction-howto" or something like that.
 

DRPiNG

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hi yas

ive had a letter from the big BAY, for this name i reg'd

eBaysUK.com

They said i should not do anything with at all and i should keep my opinions to myself:laugh: :laugh:

Do they sUK? i think so IMO

DRPiNG
 

lux

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I registered eBayer.net a while back. I was going to make it into a community site where people can post their weird eBay finds, but their legal email dissuaded me. Is there anything I can do with it?
 
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