discuss Using Trademark in a Review Site?

[KPJones]

Thought Experiment:

Let's someone owns 'BrandProducts.com' - e.g. ApplePhones.com or SamsungPhones.com

And let's say this site is a content aggregator - just pulling news and reviews from around the web, related to that company's product. It displays news and reviews of their latest iphones, with no commercial intent or monetization.

Is this likely to:

a) trigger trademark disputes / ICANN claims from the company, or
b) trigger legal proceedings ?

Second question: Would the domain / site be valuable at sale, or will potential buyers steer clear?

Finally: Might the company itself wish to buy this domain from the owner, or are they more likely to try to obtain it via ICANN/trademark claim/lawsuit?

Let's discuss!

 

[Bob Hawkes]

OK I am NOT an expert or even very knowledgeable with TM and UDRP but my initial reaction would be that there would be problems. It might get away if it had the word Review or some such in the domain title so it was clear that it was a review site, but without that I think they could clearly argue that confusion and TM dilution were possible. Just my (possibly incorrect) opinion.

I think it depends on the company and their legal team, and the asking price, whether they were more likely to ignore, purchase at cheap price to avoid cost of UDRP or issue a UDRP. My guess is most would not purchase, even at modest price.

 

[viniproject09]

You should invite brands to place their website fore review. Let them upload their logo them self. Make sure the user is legit. If there is a complaint received simply remove the listing from there. Or Don't show the logo. Just display text.

 

[KPJones]

Thanks guys.

Bob - that makes sense. I can see how BrandReview.com would be less controversial than BrandProduct.com.