Trademark question about sports

[Theo Goodman]

Would a name like nfl-betting.com (which is a real site)
have tradmark problems.
For example (name of leauge)-betting.com
or
(name of leauge)-results.com
???
sorry if this has been covered, I did search the forum for "trademarks" but after a while of reading I still coundnt find an answer.

 

[PolurNET]

Well, major league names are definitely trademarked, so any extension of that name would be infringing. I can't foresee any valid fair use rationale when the site is actually based on the league's activities. But whether the league would go after you and file a dispute is a different story.

 

[Sparhawke]

Isn't this kind of betting illegal in America?

Online gambling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled[10] in November 2002 that the Federal Wire Act prohibits electronic transmission of information for sports betting across telecommunications lines but affirmed a lower court ruling[11] that the Wire Act "'in plain language' does not prohibit Internet gambling on a game of chance."

I know this is wiki and should not as such be taken as Gospel, but even though I have never been to America I know that they have issues with betting on sports.

Not sure what a "lower court ruling" is beyond that is can be over ruled by the Powers That Be higher up the food chain?

Anyways, I would probably drop this based on the "NFL" alone, it is a little too much on the money and could bring you unwanted attention of the kind that you really do not want. Having a generic word like football-betting is one thing, but when you take the name of the governing body you start to encroach on their toes and maybe they do not want to be associated with gambling.

 

[johname]

Its not illegal to bet on NFL football everywhere in USA, Nevada you can bet on it in person, in the olden days in Nevada you could have a phone account and call in you bets from instate, guess thats gone lol. Plus just because a domain is sport followed by betting doesnt mean it is taking bets. Most of these type of sites are touting picks which is legal everywhere in usa. The ones that do take bets are not located in the usa and are not trying to make money from usa citizens directly. They wont accept accounts based in usa.

Only problem this name has is NFL, real hard to say its not about the National Football League.

 

[Theo Goodman]

Hi,
Thanks for the repiles. NFL was just an example ,it could be any sports league. It would not be USA based and would not directly offer betting. Betting Tips and Betting Ads on the site. It seems from the replies even in a country where betting is allowed its not a good idea to use the name of the league in the domain name. Could be a good reason why the domain(s) are not registered. What about other non-sports domain names that I have seen for example "myspace-apps" or "youtube2mp3" ect ect...
the betting thing is basicly the same idea as for as the name itself goes.

 

[America First]

FYI, The USA just passed bill HR2267 to pass online gambling in the USA. So online gambling and poker will soon be passed thru the house then senate for vote ( dems what this and they rule the house and senate) So it needs to pass by Nov. Look up the Bill HR2267 and it will tell you, gambling is the right way to go. Using a TM like NFL is a bad way.

Good Luck!