We're seeing a number of swine flu appraisals here now and I thought it might be useful to have one thread devoted to the isues involved.
Someone has stated that these names have only short term value and implied that they will be difficult to monetize. I would disagree mildly with the first point - even if a pandemic doesn't occur in the next couple of weeks, think back to how long the bird flu scare kept hovering in the headlines. And if it does result in a pandemic, it might last for a couple of years or more before it runs its course.
Difficult to monetize? I doubt it. Licensed online pharmacies selling Tamiflu and such like have great affiliate progams.
Which brings me to the question of domains which include trademarked drug names such as Tamiflu. Now obviously anyone with these domain names should consider them only as being on lease from the drug companies themselves. But as long as you are making those companies money (i.e. people buy the drug from the online pharmacy after being referred by you, then the pharmacy goes and buys more drugs from the drug company), then I don't see why they would be sending any legal writs...so long as you aren't spamming or promoting the drugs in a dishonourable or illegal way.
For example, I guess the domain name and website : http://www.buytamiflu.co.uk/ is worth a handy fortune, even if the company behind Tamiflu could call a halt at any time (why should it?).
A final point is the ethics involved. Take the domain SwineFluSymptoms.com. If the owner promotes that with the intention to make money and not necessarily to inform the public (probably not an expert himself), is he making it more difficult for the general public to find the best advice (for example the WHO's) by taking up a top position in search engines?
But yes, it will be interesting to see how much swineflu.com gets.
Someone has stated that these names have only short term value and implied that they will be difficult to monetize. I would disagree mildly with the first point - even if a pandemic doesn't occur in the next couple of weeks, think back to how long the bird flu scare kept hovering in the headlines. And if it does result in a pandemic, it might last for a couple of years or more before it runs its course.
Difficult to monetize? I doubt it. Licensed online pharmacies selling Tamiflu and such like have great affiliate progams.
Which brings me to the question of domains which include trademarked drug names such as Tamiflu. Now obviously anyone with these domain names should consider them only as being on lease from the drug companies themselves. But as long as you are making those companies money (i.e. people buy the drug from the online pharmacy after being referred by you, then the pharmacy goes and buys more drugs from the drug company), then I don't see why they would be sending any legal writs...so long as you aren't spamming or promoting the drugs in a dishonourable or illegal way.
For example, I guess the domain name and website : http://www.buytamiflu.co.uk/ is worth a handy fortune, even if the company behind Tamiflu could call a halt at any time (why should it?).
A final point is the ethics involved. Take the domain SwineFluSymptoms.com. If the owner promotes that with the intention to make money and not necessarily to inform the public (probably not an expert himself), is he making it more difficult for the general public to find the best advice (for example the WHO's) by taking up a top position in search engines?
But yes, it will be interesting to see how much swineflu.com gets.
