This is what the practice of using "similar" names, even if they are affiliate sites of the actual TM owner, looks like from a TM enforcement attorney's eye view:
http://www.venulex.com/viewdoc.asp?documentID=2119
Excerpt:
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"Picture your website as a bustling seaside port where customers obtain your unique products and services. Your port proudly flies your trademarks and copyrighted works, to distinguish your products and services from others. To increase customer visits to your port, you wisely allow certain other ports and ships to display your marks to direct customers to your port for a small, per-transaction fee.
Too often, some of these ships are crewed by Cyber-Pirates (ââ¬ÅAffiliatesââ¬Â) in league with duplicitous ports (ââ¬ÅHost(s)ââ¬Â). Using your trademarks, the Affiliates succeed in attracting customers, but instead of re-directing them to your port, they get them to sail into the Host ports first. Because of those diversions, your port suffers a sharp drop in direct customer transactions (that carry no fee), and you find yourself paying increasing referral fees to these Host ports and Affiliate ships. All the while, the Affiliates hide behind your relationship with seemingly legitimate Host ports, driving substantial internet traffic away from your authorized websites and diverting substantial revenue away from your business."
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Let's say this is one of those reading comprehension multiple choice aptitude tests... Pick the answer that best completes the sentence below.
Based on the passage above, the author believes that TM owners think typo-domains used for affiliate programs are:
(a) worth paying lots of money to the genius who thought of it.
(b) a crime against humanity.
(c) worth paying double whatever anyone who picks (a) thinks
(d) are... arrrrr... arrrgh... Avast ye mateys! Lawsuit ahoy!
If you picked (a) or (c), then the best use of your affiliate checks is to start endorsing them in my favor, and I will start a retainer account for you. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.