Issue With Brand Legality?

[c4yrslf12]

I know of a particular brand which is absolutely on a TEAR right now and they are missing something which could seriously put them on another level.

What's the legality of using their brand name in the domain of my site?

1. I could use the site like "myBRANDNAME.com" and it literally be me tracking personal use of the product and drawing traffic from direct searches.

2. I could use the site like "BRANDNAMEjournal.com" (or something like it) and be something driven by other users of the product and simply sell it to the Brand down the road for a quick buck.

Example: myFordExplorer.com

Would Ford thrash me down fast?

TIA

 

[c4yrslf12]

Another profit route would be to get in contact with the owner directly, share with him the idea, and hopefully he'd allow me to solicit his product direct as an affiliate...long shot though because of the type of product.
Their presence on YouTube could be massive, but it's currently zero.

 

[JessicaEsrig]

Do they already have their brand name trademarked? You could try to move fast and get it first. They could still win it, though- let me point you to the legal battle over roadrunner.com:
EFF "Legal Cases - Roadrunner v. NSI (InterNIC)" Archive

tl;dr is that an ISP in New Mexico was already using roadrunner.com, Warner Brothers complained, NSI threatened to suspend it, ISP petitioned against that, Warner Brothers/ Time Warner called in MediaOne, Microsoft, Compaq, and Advance/Newhouse. as a joint venture company- eventually obtaining the domain name.
Obviously that's old and the problem was more about old NSI naming policies being an issue.

From my understanding, the trademark owners can sue you for using their trademark in "bad faith":

A trademark owner can show that a domain name was registered and used in bad faith in a variety of ways, including by showing that the domain name owner:

-registered the name primarily for the purpose of selling or transferring the domain name to the trademark owner or a competitor of the trademark owner for a price greater than out of pocket costs;
-engaged in a pattern of registering trademarks of others to prevent the use of the domain name by the trademark owner;
-registered the domain name primarily to disrupt the business of a competitor; or
-is attempting to attract users to a web site for commercial gain by creating a likelihood of confusion with the trademark owner's trademark.


source: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/udrp/analysis.html

 

[c4yrslf12]

From my understanding, the trademark owners can sue you for using their trademark in "bad faith":

A trademark owner can show that a domain name was registered and used in bad faith in a variety of ways, including by showing that the domain name owner:

-registered the name primarily for the purpose of selling or transferring the domain name to the trademark owner or a competitor of the trademark owner for a price greater than out of pocket costs;
-engaged in a pattern of registering trademarks of others to prevent the use of the domain name by the trademark owner;
-registered the domain name primarily to disrupt the business of a competitor; or
-is attempting to attract users to a web site for commercial gain by creating a likelihood of confusion with the trademark owner's trademark.


source: Using ICANN's UDRP: Analysis

So basically I could really go ahead an approach it with intent to extend THEIR business (as an affiliate) despite no such affiliate program exists.