Splitting Hairs with Flippa

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Over the years, I’ve pointed out several instances where Flippa has allowed questionable domain names to be a part of their featured auctions; there is no need to scour their entire listing to point out the rest as it’s commonly known that the place is plagued with them already.

Though, to be fair on Flippa, many of the other marketplaces don’t do a very good job at vetting trademark domains as well (with the exception of Sedo's automatic system). However, unlike other marketplaces, Flippa charges a listing fee for any domain that is added. This can be anywhere from $9 to $326(+/-) with the use of upgrades.

I would expect with a listing fee, especially with an upgrade to include a picture in the listing, that Flippa would take the time to vet submissions to ensure a successful sale is possible to take place as they would also receive a commission on top of the listing fee.

If not for that reason mentioned, to prevent what I'm about to discuss.

There’s an auction running on Flippa now which just so happens to be Forbes.bio. Okay, we can argue left and right that it’s not a trademark and this and that it's not "because of what's right of the dot" (I've heard many times before). But, the fact of the matter is: It is a trademark, remarkably so when the seller uses Forbes’ logo in conjunction with their listing – an upgrade on its own.

With such a "proactive" Marketplace Integrity Team, one would think these types of listings wouldn't seep through the cracks. Though, it appears to be a frequent sighting these days. Have you given up, @FlippaDomains ?

More importantly, why should sellers continue to use a marketplace that, when it comes down to it, doesn't have their seller's best interest in mind?

 

[FlippaDomains]

On it.

 

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Portfolio of 15 Domains!! Over $15k in Estibot Value!

The portfolio includes FB.LIFE which is advertised as being "Facebook Life" and AUDIPKW.NET which from what I can tell is a model of Audi's A4 series.

On it.

Missed one. Only 17 hours left on auction though.

 

[FlippaDomains]

Missed one. Only 17 hours left on auction though.

I removed mention of Facebook and struck the Audi domain...Seller was compliant

 

[pepsirat]

Well I made a mistake I was looking for a domain with Eco in it so I put lots of words in came up with eco twitter. Thought that sounds good could be a site were people talk about Eco products. But yeah Twitter of course would not like it lol.

I bought shopgoo but now think they could be a trade mark to that, not sure though. It's hard because do these company own words even if you use it differently?

 

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SPRBOWL.com
Advertised as Super Bowl, which the NFL has trademarked, along with PRO BOWL and others.

I bought shopgoo but now think they could be a trade mark to that, not sure though. It's hard because do these company own words even if you use it differently?

Google has UDRP's over so many different names it's almost ridiculous how far they'd go to protect their mark(s). A prime example of this that closely relates to your name would be GOOGBLOG.com. While the owner decided to transfer it before a panel decision, I think it'd be likely that Google would win as I read the Respondent's reply to the UDRP and it must've been a domain they were using with bad faith as opposed to, let's say, someone nicknamed Goog who has a blog about shoes.

It really all depends on how you're going to use this domain, or in this case try to sell it on Flippa, where things get iffy. If you plan on developing it, I'd consult with an attorney first. However, this thread is dedicated for TM issues on Flippa auctions that are promoted.

Thanks

Edit: Domain name text and link enlarged for @FlippaDomains to clearly see.

 

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AppleStockQuote.com

 

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CreditKarmaOffers.com

 

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AppleStockQuote.com

Who owns the trade mark for "Apple Stock Quote"?

 

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Who owns the trade mark for "Apple Stock Quote"?

Nobody. Apple doesn't even own the trademark to Applw, but that didn't stop them from taking it, did it?

Apple is very adamant about protecting their mark even if a domain can be dedicated to their fans; they don't care.

Just trying to protect buyers here...

 

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olympics2044.com

 

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pokegoinsider.com

 

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GameStop.mx

 

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Portfolio of 29 Domains
Features "DodgeDeal", "Galaxy" names, and "Disney" names.

 

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Forbes.bio
Amazing that this one is back. The original post of this thread had both the description describing Forbes' business as well as using Forbes' logo as the featured image on Flippa. While this auction doesn't indicate either, the domain should've been blacklisted due to the previous tactic. The intentions that it's trademark infringement are clear as day.

 

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ForexFactory.io

 

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3.5% of Flippa's promoted domains are trademarks. Impressive, it's down from 6.42%, but up from the original calculation that started this thread of 3.3%.

There's still work to be done.

Thanks

 

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Forbes.bio
Amazing that this one is back. The original post of this thread had both the description describing Forbes' business as well as using Forbes' logo as the featured image on Flippa. While this auction doesn't indicate either, the domain should've been blacklisted due to the previous tactic. The intentions that it's trademark infringement are clear as day.

The intentions are clear because there is no indication of either the description or logo of an existing TM holder? That's a new and interesting criteria.

olympics2044.com

This one screams poor long term investment!

 

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Portfolio of 26 Domains
This one includes TVGuide.co.in. While "TV Guide" may seem generic to some, I know it for being magazine containing information about TV programming, the only use I could see this domain being used for. With that being mentioned, it of course, is a trademark and may be poaching Indian traffic due to its familiarity (possibly, around the world).

 

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The intentions are clear because there is no indication of either the description or logo of an existing TM holder? That's a new and interesting criteria.

I believe that the intentions are clear as this thread is indexed and cached by Google which has proof of prior intentions which may still exist as well as the previous action taken on the domain itself from @FlippaDomains. There is likely no other use for Forbes.bio, but, you're right; the current sales pitch does not include Forbes' name.

If Flippa chooses not to take action on this name and blacklist it because of the history, I did my part in protecting any potential buyer for getting it indexed.

 

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alphabets.co
This name is in the grey area as it's currently being advertised as:

1. GOOGLE is now Alphabet, Inc. --> Google becomes Alphabet, Inc. , Wikipedia
2. GOOGLE buys Alphabet.xyz, Abc.xyz and other major extensions of Alphabet.--> abc.xyz
3. BMW, that owns Alphabet.com refuses to sell it to Google. --> BMW wont sell Alphabet.com to Google.
4. Google buys domain name with the entireAlphabet. --> Googel buys entire Alphabet domain name.
5. What GOOGLE will gain after adopting theAlphabet. --> Why Google wants Alphabet?

 

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Trump.info

 

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@FlippaDomains, you seem to be ignoring these reported TM's now.

I don't want all my work to be in vain.

 

[FlippaDomains]

@FlippaDomains, you seem to be ignoring these reported TM's now.

I don't want all my work to be in vain.

No, just not at the top of my to-do list. I'm on it, as I said. Thanks

 

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No, just not at the top of my to-do list. I'm on it, as I said. Thanks

Roger. I'm still on the lookout.

Keeping Flippa's best interest at heart here.

 

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NFLparty.com