Squatting vs parking

[Happydog]

Is it considered unethical but not illegal to park non-trademarked domain names with no intention of developing them into websites and only parking them to generate advertising revenue and/or to sell.

If so, then why do places like Sedo promote parking?

What if you park on whypark where they have content related articles as well as advertising. Is that still squatting?

What is the difference between parking and squatting, exactly?

Thanks

 

[robertjr]

Why would it be considered unethical to park a "non-trademarked" domain? As for intention, who is to say what another persons intentions are?

In my experiences, I have found that when someone tries to explain someone else's intentions, it's really about their own agenda.:O

 

[Kate]

What is the difference between parking and squatting, exactly?

(Cyber)squatting means profiting from trademarks (typos for example).
There is nothing wrong with parking if you stay away from trademarks.

 

[Sparhawke]

Think of it this way, hmm..

McDonalds has just opened up a restaurant in the center of London. Now, overnight while they are away you rent the space above and turn it into another restaurant and at the same time you build a false door siphoning everyone who wanted a big mac and fries into your second rate place.

That is squatting, it is taking customers who are specifically looking for a recognised brand by redirecting to a substandard place that can only get customers by stealing the name. They are looking for McDonalds, not you.

Parking is where you take a generic name that no one can trademark to set themselves apart and just redirect them to other companies, taking a small fee in the process. Like a directory will do

Books.com may be parked, but when someone ends up on it they may end up getting sent to WHSmiths or Barnes & Noble if they choose to click on an advert so they do end up getting to where they were going with no illegal stuff going on as you have not pretended to be such famous bookstores.

 

[enlytend]

In a broader sense, squatting is seeking to profit from someone else's company/business/website name, product name or celebrity when you're not authorized to do so. Generic search terms and typos of generic search terms are generally OK. Celebrity, band and team names are not.

Assuming they're parked with ads for the most likely interpretation of the name, these are some examples.

EgglessQuicheRecipes dot tld = not squatting
LargeScrenTV dot tld = typo, not squatting (and neither is the correct spelling, even though it's parked)
SprainedAnkleSymptoms dot tld = not squatting
Zales-Joolers dot tld = squatting (misspell/typo)
Apel-IPad dot tld = squatting (unless you're authorized to sell them and use the name, in which case it's just a bad domain name.)
Britney--Spears dot tld = squatting (celebrity name)
MicrosoftWindows7 dot tld = squatting (and the worst possible choice of companies to do it to.)

 

[Happydog]

Thanks for the info. I had parked hillaryclintoncenter.com, sarahpalincenter.info, barackobamacenter.info, and presidentbarackobama.info yesterday, but deleted them all today (and lost my registration fees) on godaddy after learning on the domain appraisal forum that hillaryclintoncenter.com could run into a trademark issue. They no longer show up on my domain manager, but they still don't show up as available. Will godaddy make them available again now that I have deleted them from my account?

 

[Sparhawke]

I forget how long it takes for a domain to become available again but I am sure someone else will have the answer, but you should be aware that GoDaddy is notoriously slow with everything they do.

So long as you have deleted it from your accounts you will be fine, if someone else decides to buy them it will be their problem and not yours

 

[realtimeregister]

Domain Name: HILLARYCLINTONCENTER.COM
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: Domain Names, Web Hosting and SSL Certificates - Go Daddy
Name Server: NS1.SUSPENDED-FOR.SPAM-AND-ABUSE.COM
Name Server: NS2.SUSPENDED-FOR.SPAM-AND-ABUSE.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 05-aug-2010
Creation Date: 04-aug-2010
Expiration Date: 04-aug-2011

I think you are no longer the owner of those domains