Should I take the risk?

[inspiration100]

I've found a great .org domain which is the name of a good baseball team's stadium. I would build it as a fansite, but it is trademarked several times. My question is:

Is it worth taking the risk of it being a trademark? Or should I let it go?

Thanks guys!

 

[Erdy]

I would take it if I was you. After all you are planning to build a fansite. A fansite for a baseball team sounds very natural. Just make it clear on the website it is a fansite and not the official thing.

 

[inspiration100]

Anyones second opinion? It would immediately be turned into a fansite, however they pretty much own EVERY tld.

 

[Lasher]

A genuine fansite should be fine, but you could run into trouble if you try to monetize it in any way.

 

[fencer]

then sell it

 

[AdoptableDomains]

I see one possible flaw. Are you a fan of the team or the stadium?

 

[hmcintyre]

I don't think there would be many problems, even with monetization.

I know somebody who monetizes a forum aimed at Vancouver Canucks fans, and it has cancuks in the name and all over the site. No problems as of yet!

I'd take the risk. Tons of fan sites out there that use trademarks freely, nobody really seems to care unless it's negative.

 

[DNQuest.com]

I don't think there would be many problems, even with monetization.

I know somebody who monetizes a forum aimed at Vancouver Canucks fans, and it has cancuks in the name and all over the site. No problems as of yet!

I'd take the risk. Tons of fan sites out there that use trademarks freely, nobody really seems to care unless it's negative.

irresponsible advice to give... just because you were not caught does not mean what you are doing is right.

then sell it

learn, then post.......

 

[Erdy]

There is nothing wrong or illegal in using a trademarked name in a website which is a fansite where the subject is something that is supposed to have fans. You can be a fan of a team, artist or author. You can use their name in your website if the website is a fansite and has nothing negative that make the name look bad.

As for monetizing a fansite, the subject is unclear. We need to see more examples about this.

Let's assumme ElvisPresley.net is your fansite. You have a fanclub that is active for years and there are meetings organized. So you have genuine interest to the name. This proves good faith.

Let's assume you are selling some t-shirts on the website related to your fanclub. I think this is still acceptable. I don't think they can take away the name from you with UDRP because you are selling t-shirts on your fansite. If you have the established fanclub and you can prove it, there is no way they can take the name from you with UDRP.

They might have a case if they take you to the court. Of course this depends in which country you live in. It would be a different story if you live in Europe or the US. Even some US states have different ragulations.

 

[DNQuest.com]

There is nothing wrong or illegal in using a trademarked name in a website which is a fansite where the subject is something that is supposed to have fans. You can be a fan of a team, artist or author. You can use their name in your website if the website is a fansite and has nothing negative that make the name look bad.

As for monetizing a fansite, the subject is unclear. We need to see more examples about this.

Let's assumme ElvisPresley.net is your fansite. You have a fanclub that is active for years and there are meetings organized. So you have genuine interest to the name. This proves good faith.

Let's assume you are selling some t-shirts on the website related to your fanclub. I think this is still acceptable. I don't think they can take away the name from you with UDRP because you are selling t-shirts on your fansite. If you have the established fanclub and you can prove it, there is no way they can take the name from you with UDRP.

They might have a case if they take you to the court. Of course this depends in which country you live in. It would be a different story if you live in Europe or the US. Even some US states have different ragulations.

Then let's clear this this up.... fantsites are a labor of love dedicated to teh celeb, once you have a commercial gain from the site, then you could lose the "good faith" arguement. Ads, links, selling T-Shirts are all commercial gains. Fanclubs need to be approved by the celeb. Doing an unofficial fanclub, collecting dues, selling t-shirts will come under unfair practice.

Rulings have been pretty clear, you bring in money form a "fansite", it can be concidered bad faith.

This is coming from someone who runs several fansites and I have yet to bring in one penny from any of my sites.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I see one possible flaw. Are you a fan of the team or the stadium?

I love it

Good question, and one that may or may not be deterministic should the domain name turn into a dispute, but a great point, and one that would be worth answering.

Nifty :tu:

-Allan :gl:

 

[DNQuest.com]

I just picked up my "Jacobs Field" rookie card off ebay, that stadium soooo rocks

 

[IAmAllanShore]

I just picked up my "Jacobs Field" rookie card off ebay, that stadium soooo rocks

Heck, this might be close enough:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sports-Collecto...2QQihZ018QQcategoryZ37793QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Just tossing it around

-Allan :gl:

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Keeping out of TM problems gets even more tricky when your stadium has a corporate naming sponsor like Gillette Field, Alltel Stadium, or or FedEx Field.

 

[bluesman]

Then let's clear this this up.... fantsites are a labor of love dedicated to the celeb, once you have a commercial gain from the site, then you could lose the "good faith" arguement. Ads, links, selling T-Shirts are all commercial gains. Fanclubs need to be approved by the celeb. Doing an unofficial fanclub, collecting dues, selling t-shirts will come under unfair practice...

It's always a nice bonus to have, but no fanclub or fansite requires the approval of any celeb. 90% of all fansites are not officially celeb "approved" at all.

BUT you can still make no money on said sites. I've run over 100 of them over the years, and never tried selling a T-shirt (or anything else) yet. As a result I've never had a domain grabbed away from me by a celeb, either.