Names containing TMxxxClub or TMxxxFanSite

[Oceanic]

Are these names a liability in most of the cases?

I am very tempted to register names such as:

(TMxx)FanClub.com - substitute "TMxxx" with ay TM name
or "TMxxx"FanBase.com etc


These are not people's names, they are TM words.

TIA!

PS THe "xxx" does not stand for X-rated but for the TM characters!

 

[Oceanic]

OKay, maybe if I am more specific someone will answer:

WOuld it be safe to reg LamborghiniFanClub.com?

Thx!

 

[RON2]

Stay legal, respect copyrights and trademarks, disclaim that you're not an official site, and you'll be fine.

 

[Oceanic]

THANK YOU RJ!!

 

[Oceanic]

Um, I woke up at night wondering...

Would I still be okay if I devoted part of this site to sell Lamborghini kit cars through an affiliate ?

Now I can go bacl to beddy..

 

[RON2]

Yes, it would be ok as long as the affiliate was selling officially licensed merchandise.

For example,

I have a celebrity musician fan site. It's ok if I link to the Amazon.com affiliate program because they sell merchandise that is licensed by the celebrity (and hence they benefit from the sales as well as me)

If I were linking to sites selling bootleg MP3's or CD's, I could get in trouble.

 

[TrafficMonsterRRR]

Originally posted by -RJ-
Yes, it would be ok as long as the affiliate was selling officially licensed merchandise....
....they [artists]benefit from the sales as well as me)

It seems logical that whoever owns Lamborghini benefits from the sale of replica cars.. they should have an agreement and pay dues if they are using the name!

It becomes an issue of the legitimacy of the affiliate, doesn't it?

I wonder if there is an affiliate database somewhere to check for bogus affiliates and for illustrious, sucessful ones!? Any ideas?

 

[Ari Goldberger]

Good question. I think it's a bit weird having a site like, say, viagrafanclub.com. I think it truly has to be the type of thing of which people are generally fans.

Incidentally, if I can reminisce. When I was VP of Business Development of Mail.com in 1997, I came up with the idea of registering virtually every rock star name followed by "Fan" as well as every professional team:

e.g. deadfan, madonnafan, elvisfan, yankeesfan, eaglesfan, etc. Hundreds of them...

I then promoted the names to the clubs as vanity email addresses to offer their fans. I cut deals with the eagles, broncos, raiders, bills, chiefs, and NHL.

I researched this issue and determined that it constituted a fair use of the trademark. There is a decision in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dealing with New Kids on the Block that supports nominative use of a trademark even if you profit from it if:

1- you need to use the trademark
2- you do nothing to give impression that you are associated with tm holder, and
3- you only use so much of mark as required.

My point was that it's natural for an Eagles Fan to call themselves an Eagles Fan, and you need to use the word Eagles to demonstrate that....

 

[Silverwire]

Originally posted by Ari Goldberger

I researched this issue and determined that it constituted a fair use of the trademark. There is a decision in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dealing with New Kids on the Block that supports nominative use of a trademark even if you profit from it if:

1- you need to use the trademark
2- you do nothing to give impression that you are associated with tm holder, and
3- you only use so much of mark as required.

My point was that it's natural for an Eagles Fan to call themselves an Eagles Fan, and you need to use the word Eagles to demonstrate that....

Was going to start a new thread, but maybe I'm in the right neighborhood here.

A new and unique type of product is invented and the manufacturer applies for a trademark. The product is so unique, that there is no other logical or recognized way to categorize or refer to it, other than by that name (which is fanciful).

Company A is not an authorized dealer, and has no formal relationship with the manufacturer but is getting into the business of repairing, or renting, or reselling used, or marketing accessories for this product.

Can Company A use the name within their domain name (with an additional second generic term like “_______Accessories.com” or “_______Repair.com”) or within their metatag keywords as nominative use while providing proper disclaimers within the website to prevent consumer confusion? Is this a legitamate business use? Otherwise, there would be no other way to find this company on the internet as it relates to this product.

Also, would the UDRP see it the same way now as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals?

EDIT: On second thought, it might be too buried here, will start a new thread.