Bought domains for huge event - advertising?

2rkehij30qtza5 · 10-09-2015 10:44pm #1

i bought a number of domains (.com, .org, .biz, .info) for a major event that is taking place in a couple of years time in the USA.

I'd rather not say exactly what for as yet until I am up and running with the whole thing. Basically, the event organisers have their official Twitter as @nameofevent2018. The main official website is just www.nameofevent.com but with no year.

So I mimicked the Twitter and registered the domains as nameofevent2018.com, .org, .biz, .info. Paid €80 in total and registered for 3 years so I will be the registered owner right up until and shortly after the event takes place.

I expect a lot of traffic on these domains (millions will attend this event in the States (only occurs once a decade on average and each time attracts approx 4-5 million visitors, myself included!)). I am sure people who are on the event's Twitter will possibly copy the Twitter name into Google and my sites will pop up. I haven't even created the sites as yet...another day's work.

I am hoping to blog and then later use the sites in order to make money from advertising...eg. Hotels, bars, retail etc. I am just not sure the best way to do this. Do I create my site (I have created sites before with no difficulty) and basically just put am 'advertise here' banner on it..or would it be better to approach Google or how would that work? I can see a really good business model here...I am just a little unsure of how to proceed. Are there any companies that anyone can recommend who deal with this kind of thing?

Many thanks

jimmii · 10-09-2015 11:19pm

I'm sure there are companies that specialise in that (theres a company that specialise in everything these days right) but if you're dealing with a company that deals in cybersquatting they probably aren't the most reputable so I would tread carefully if you do go down that route.

2rkehij30qtza5 · 10-09-2015 11:26pm

jimmii wrote: »

I'm sure there are companies that specialise in that (theres a company that specialise in everything these days right) but if you're dealing with a company that deals in cybersquatting they probably aren't the most reputable so I would tread carefully if you do go down that route.

Oh no, absolutely no intention of cyber squatting whatsoever and would run a mile from any company purporting to offer such services.

jimmii · 10-09-2015 11:44pm

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Oh no, absolutely no intention of cyber squatting whatsoever and would run a mile from any company purporting to offer such services.

Maybe i am reading it wrong but what you described in your op is cybersquatting. You have registered domains almost identical to the official domain (that is presumably a trademark) and plan on profiting from that is that right?

2rkehij30qtza5 · 10-09-2015 11:50pm

jimmii wrote: »

Maybe i am reading it wrong but what you described in your op is cybersquatting. You have registered domains almost identical to the official domain (that is presumably a trademark) and plan on profiting from that is that right?

Nope..I wouldn't be cyber squatting. The official domain is not trademarked. I'd be setting up my website to basically advertise my own products which would be directly related to the event but I'd be hoping to get other advertisers on board...could all be linked to the original event. But yep, I'd hope to make money from it.

_Brian · 11-09-2015 8:09am

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Nope..I wouldn't be cyber squatting. The official domain is not trademarked. I'd be setting up my website to basically advertise my own products which would be directly related to the event but I'd be hoping to get other advertisers on board...could all be linked to the original event. But yep, I'd hope to make money from it.

cyber squatters aim to make money too, they're not just being big meanies..

I suppose you're doing a sort of cyber squatting, or similar..
You're coming close to cloning their url and hoping to make a buck out of that by attracting punters to your site rather than to the official site..

Personally when looking for stuff I avoid these "near clone" url sites as they are usually just some sort of cheap con..

2rkehij30qtza5 · 11-09-2015 8:34am

_Brian wrote: »

cyber squatters aim to make money too, they're not just being big meanies..

I suppose you're doing a sort of cyber squatting, or similar..
You're coming close to cloning their url and hoping to make a buck out of that by attracting punters to your site rather than to the official site..

Personally when looking for stuff I avoid these "near clone" url sites as they are usually just some sort of cheap con..

Well I really don't want people to think I am the real site. I would go so far as to say in my very first statement on the site that I am not affiliated with the official site. Basically the event is concentrated on one particular area.

The event name is actually copyrighted I have since discovered but eventname2018 is not copyrighted. They have only copyrighted the event name for pamphlets relating solely to the event, which to me is strange.

I am hoping to set up my site so that it will inform people of other things not directly related to the event but that they could do when not attending the event, if that makes sense? I know there is money to be made in this area as others will want to advertise too. I know that millions of people will converge in the one area for the event but during times when they are 'away' from the centre of the event, they could do other things non-event related like dine out, shop etc. I would be very clear that it's nothing to do with the event. Plus I have some of my own things I would advertise but while they have nothing to do with the event, they are my own arts and crafts things and would have a theme related to the event, if you know what I mean...but without logos or anything like that. For example, if the event is say a soccer tournament (it's not but just for argument's sake) then my merchandise would be paintings of soccer teams or stadiums etc...just as an example. No names, no affiliation.

This is hardly cybersquatting is it? I would even include a link back to the official site to make it even more clear that I am not affiliated with the official site. I just want to advertise off-event locations.

I presume I could blog about my own personal experiences of the event (previous experiences and lead-ups to the 2018 event) and then get paid to mention off-site venues like restaurants, hotels, etc.

It's not that I am trying to attract people away from the real site...I'm not. I would actually tell people to check out the real site. I just expect that a phenomenal amount of people are going to type www.realsite2018.com rather than www.realsite.com

jimmii · 11-09-2015 8:42am

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Nope..I wouldn't be cyber squatting. The official domain is not trademarked. I'd be setting up my website to basically advertise my own products which would be directly related to the event but I'd be hoping to get other advertisers on board...could all be linked to the original event. But yep, I'd hope to make money from it.

If you ran an event called Joel Deafening Bin that you had worked hard to create and it became a big enough success that millions went and enjoyed it and were using galwaygirlee.com to promote it and someone registered galwaygirlee2015.com and was selling related products off the back of your years of hard work how would you feel?

The definition of Cybersquatting is registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else's trademark so the only difference here is that this massive event for some reason has decided not to register their name as a trademark which seems strange given how big an event it appears to be.

Whatever way you look at it you have made a deliberate attempt to fool people into thinking your domain may be the official domain by registering URLs that mirror the official social media accounts.

2rkehij30qtza5 · 11-09-2015 8:51am

jimmii wrote: »

If you ran an event called Galwaygirlee that you had worked hard to create and it became a big enough success that millions went and enjoyed it and were using galwaygirlee.com to promote it and someone registered galwaygirlee2015.com and was selling related products off the back of your years of hard work how would you feel?

The definition of Cybersquatting is registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else's trademark so the only difference here is that this massive event for some reason has decided not to register their name as a trademark which seems strange given how big an event it appears to be.

Whatever way you look at it you have made a deliberate attempt to fool people into thinking your domain may be the official domain by registering URLs that mirror the official social media accounts.

Not true. See my last post.
The domain would get a huge amount of traffic anyway. I would not try to get people to think that it's the official site. It wouldn't even deal with the main event itself, rather the 'things to do outside of the main event' side of things. Aren't most websites set-up with an intention to make money?

Deub · 11-09-2015 8:58am

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Not true. See my last post.
The domain would get a huge amount of traffic anyway. I would not try to get people to think that it's the official site. It wouldn't even deal with the main event itself, rather the 'things to do outside of the main event' side of things. Aren't most websites set-up with an intention to make money?

But you will have people coming to your website thinking they are on the event website as the name is so close. They may see then they are not on the right website. You will divert some of their traffic to your website due to the name you have taken.

jimmii · 11-09-2015 9:00am

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Not true. See my last post.
The domain would get a huge amount of traffic anyway. I would not try to get people to think that it's the official site. It wouldn't even deal with the main event itself, rather the 'things to do outside of the main event' side of things. Aren't most websites set-up with an intention to make money?

Well you obviously see it differently and aren't going to change your mind so good luck with it! Would love to find out what event it was as I have no idea! In terms of advertising it's going to depend on how much time you are willing to put in you could approach hotels, airlines etc to sell banners too or you could just put all the info up there and then use Google for the advertising which would obviously be a lot easier.

smash · 11-09-2015 9:03am

The way I see it, you're portraying the image that you're affiliated of some way or another. It's like someone registering http://websumm.it

?Cee?view · 11-09-2015 9:05am

I think you need to be very careful. You seem to be under the impression that if the exact name that you are using is not copyrighted, you are in the clear. This is not the case.

Read up on "passing off" which essentially protects unregistered rights.

Then read this which shows that passing off has been codified as a federal statute.

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/TrademarkLaw/UnfairCompetition/UnfairCompetition.shtml

"The requirements for a passing off claim for federal unfair competition are: (1) an association of origin by the consumer between the mark and the first user, and (2) a likelihood of consumer confusion when the mark is applied to the second user's good."

There's a distinct risk that if you come to their attention you'll at least get a relatively aggressive cease and desist letter. Whether they'll then pursue that ... who knows.

c2590 · 11-09-2015 9:20am

I'm guessing you did this for the Ryder Cup in 2018.

c2590 · 11-09-2015 9:21am

I think this is cyber squatting also.

smash · 11-09-2015 9:22am

c2590 wrote: »

I'm guessing you did this for the Ryder Cup in 2018.

A quick Whois search says no.

2rkehij30qtza5 · 11-09-2015 9:24am

?Cee?view wrote: »

I think you need to be very careful. You seem to be under the impression that if the exact name that you are using is not copyrighted, you are in the clear. This is not the case.

Read up on "passing off" which essentially protects unregistered rights.

Then read this which shows that passing off has been codified as a federal statute.

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/TrademarkLaw/UnfairCompetition/UnfairCompetition.shtml

"The requirements for a passing off claim for federal unfair competition are: (1) an association of origin by the consumer between the mark and the first user, and (2) a likelihood of consumer confusion when the mark is applied to the second user's good."

There's a distinct risk that if you come to their attention you'll at least get a relatively aggressive cease and desist letter. Whether they'll then pursue that ... who knows.

I am not trying to step on anyone's toes. If they wanted the domain then why didn't they register it? They are a massive organization.
As it's registered in Ireland then I wouldn't come under their Federal jurisdiction?

As I said before, I will ensure all visitors know it's not the official site from the get-go. The domain would get a lot of traffic anyway, due to their Twitter handle being the same as the domain name.

I plan to blog about the event anyway...I was going to do blog using weebly initially without my own domain name but then when I searched and saw it was available, I thought that I would use the .com name and then forward all other domains - .net, .info., .org etc. to the .com name...use that as my blog. I'm always reading websites such as pippa.com and she has links to advertisements and promotes products etc...so I thought my blog could be something similar.

The event is something that I am passionate about and know a lot about. I see a market for advertising pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels which are not affiliated with the event but that event attendees will want to patron. So if I do a blog and then get paid to mention places (which are not to do with the event itself) then how is that infringing? Nobody else seems to want the domain name, so why not me?

jimmii · 11-09-2015 9:36am

c2590 wrote: »

I'm guessing you did this for the Ryder Cup in 2018.

Says it happens once every ten years or so guessing its something a little more obscure than that.

?Cee?view · 11-09-2015 9:39am

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

. So if I do a blog and then get paid to mention places (which are not to do with the event itself) then how is that infringing?

That's a blog which mentions places. You're paid by those places or people representing them. You're not attracting readers by respresenting to be those places.

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Nobody else seems to want the domain name, so why not me?

It's one thing getting it. It's an entirely different thing using it.

"...(2) a likelihood of consumer confusion when the mark is applied to the second user's good."

For example, it's possible that c0cac0la.com isn't registered. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. If it isn't and I use it, I'm still open to attack by Coca Cola.

You're right; it will be more difficult for this entity with the jurisdictional challenge, but, are you selling to the US, expecting payment from the US, hosting in the US, expecting to travel to the US etc. etc. etc?

Look, you've your mind made up clearly. But just at least take people's advice here and accept that there is a risk. You keep saying that you are not aiming to cause confusion and that you will make it clear that you're not affiliated etc. The objective view though would be that at that stage it'll be too late. You will have already attracted people to your site by confusing them as to it's ownership.

Good luck.

jimmii · 11-09-2015 9:49am

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

I am not trying to step on anyone's toes. If they wanted the domain then why didn't they register it? They are a massive organization.
As it's registered in Ireland then I wouldn't come under their Federal jurisdiction?

As I said before, I will ensure all visitors know it's not the official site from the get-go. The domain would get a lot of traffic anyway, due to their Twitter handle being the same as the domain name.

I plan to blog about the event anyway...I was going to do blog using weebly initially without my own domain name but then when I searched and saw it was available, I thought that I would use the .com name and then forward all other domains - .net, .info., .org etc. to the .com name...use that as my blog. I'm always reading websites such as pippa.com and she has links to advertisements and promotes products etc...so I thought my blog could be something similar.

The event is something that I am passionate about and know a lot about. I see a market for advertising pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels which are not affiliated with the event but that event attendees will want to patron. So if I do a blog and then get paid to mention places (which are not to do with the event itself) then how is that infringing? Nobody else seems to want the domain name, so why not me?

You think they should register every possible variant of the event as a domain? That is ridiculous it would literally be millions of domains no one is going to waste the time doing that.

If you create a blog type site with helpful information for people travelling to the area and then have a few adverts for local places to stay and eat that isn't so bad but selling "related" products is definitely a shady area to be getting into. The difference with pippa.com (I assume you mean .ie) is that she is trading off her own name and suggesting products she likes. If she is promoting a brand she is doing it from her site not from brand2015.ie which people might rightly think is an official brand owned website.

2rkehij30qtza5 · 11-09-2015 9:51am

?Cee?view wrote: »

That's a blog which mentions places. You're paid by those places or people representing them. You're not attracting readers by respresenting to be those places.

It's one thing getting it. It's an entirely different thing using it.

"...(2) a likelihood of consumer confusion when the mark is applied to the second user's good."

For example, it's possible that c0cac0la.com isn't registered. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. If it isn't and I use it, I'm still open to attack by Coca Cola.

You're right; it will be more difficult for this entity with the jurisdictional challenge, but, are you selling to the US, expecting payment from the US, hosting in the US, expecting to travel to the US etc. etc. etc?

Look, you've your mind made up clearly. But just at least take people's advice here and accept that there is a risk. You keep saying that you are not aiming to cause confusion and that you will make it clear that you're not affiliated etc. The objective view though would be that at that stage it'll be too late. You will have already attracted people to your site by confusing them as to it's ownership.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice and to everyone else too. I guess I will just do my blog, as planned...(which was planned anyway without any financial gain envisaged)...and then maybe contact some companies to do a type of 'product placement' advert....I mention their place or whatever it is and they pay me a fee. I guess they would be US based 'customers' who'd be paying me. I'd have to figure that element of it out yet. But I am going to blog anyway as that was always intended. I'll see what comes of it. If I don't make any money then it doesn't matter as making money from something I'd planned to do anyway was just a bonus (but it would be nice and I'm badly stuck for it!). Thanks for all the advice.

smash · 11-09-2015 9:54am

Nobody will pay you until you have the traffic and followers first though.

?Cee?view · 11-09-2015 9:55am

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Thanks for the advice and to everyone else too. I guess I will just do my blog, as planned...(which was planned anyway without any financial gain envisaged)...and then maybe contact some companies to do a type of 'product placement' advert....I mention their place or whatever it is and they pay me a fee. I guess they would be US based 'customers' who'd be paying me. I'd have to figure that element of it out yet. But I am going to blog anyway as that was always intended. I'll see what comes of it. If I don't make any money then it doesn't matter as making money from something I'd planned to do anyway was just a bonus (but it would be nice and I'm badly stuck for it!). Thanks for all the advice.

Don't be discouraged. It's just important to be aware of the risks.

2rkehij30qtza5 · 11-09-2015 10:01am

Thanks all. I will just do my blog for the moment... I guess as long as my home page reads something along the lines of 'This site is not affiliated in any way with www.actualname.com, which is the official website of actual event. Please check it out for details on actual event. This website is a blog which will discuss events taking place which have no affiliation with actual event.'...hopefully that should cut it.

(By the way, when I talk of events in the latter part of my statement above, I mean free events and going to pubs, clubs etc. I used to live in the States so I know my way around the place there very well. I'll reword it to reflect that so there's no confusion. For the moment there'll be no financial gain associated)

jimmii · 11-09-2015 10:08am

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Thanks all. I will just do my blog for the moment... I guess as long as my home page reads something along the lines of 'This site is not affiliated in any way with www.actualname.com, which is the official website of actual event. Please check it out for details on actual event. This website is a blog which will discuss events taking place which have no affiliation with actual event.'...hopefully that should cut it.

(By the way, when I talk of events in the latter part of my statement above, I mean free events and going to pubs, clubs etc. I used to live in the States so I know my way around the place there very well. I'll reword it to reflect that so there's no confusion. For the moment there'll be no financial gain associated)

I think your intentions are clearly genuine and putting that disclaimer up should certainly help people realise its not the official site. I hope you come back and share what the event is in the future I think its fair to say we're all pretty curious about it! Given you've been there before using the blog as a tool for first timers to get the most out of it that would certainly be a useful resource. Good luck with the site.

2rkehij30qtza5 · 11-09-2015 10:21am

jimmii wrote: »

I think your intentions are clearly genuine and putting that disclaimer up should certainly help people realise its not the official site. I hope you come back and share what the event is in the future I think its fair to say we're all pretty curious about it! Given you've been there before using the blog as a tool for first timers to get the most out of it that would certainly be a useful resource. Good luck with the site.

Thanks. Yep, intentions are definitely genuine. I have literally been saving €50 every month for the last 6 years so that I can return to the event! I will update this thread...only fair given the great advice that I have got here. I hope my blog will be of use to people attending the event (I think it will) and I know I am going to really enjoy doing it...makes the build-up to the event even more exciting for me. If I can get some revenue from it too then all the better but I'll just focus on the job in hand (my blog) for the present as I really am not out to step on anyone's toes with my idea. Thanks again to everyone who posted.

smash · 11-09-2015 10:22am

Curiosity is killing me here

Maybe register EVENTNAMEblog.com and redirect your url's to it? Or even pre-order EVENTNAME.blog and come at it from the angle of a personal blog based around your experience of the event.

2rkehij30qtza5 · 11-09-2015 10:25am

smash wrote: »

Curiosity is killing me here

Sorry, I'd love to spill but I'd like to get it up and running first. I'll come back and update at a later date. I'm sure you will be hearing about the event in the media closer to 2018 anyway!!!

2rkehij30qtza5 · 11-09-2015 11:22am

smash wrote: »

Curiosity is killing me here

Maybe register EVENTNAMEblog.com and redirect your url's to it?

Just did this. Thank you.

devildriver · 15-09-2015 2:49pm

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Not true. See my last post.
The domain would get a huge amount of traffic anyway. I would not try to get people to think that it's the official site. It wouldn't even deal with the main event itself, rather the 'things to do outside of the main event' side of things. Aren't most websites set-up with an intention to make money?

It's not clear exactly what you are trying to do here. It sounds very much like cyber-squatting of one sort or another where you are cashing in on the popularity of the event and using a slightly misleading domain name which some people could think is an official site for the event. If this is the case legitimate advertisers won't have anything to do with it. You may be able to attract lower grade advertisers which will make the site look even more spammy.

On the other hand if you are going to create a site that adds value and is useful to visitors to the event such as providing information on accommodation and local amenities while making it ABSOLUTELY clear that your site is not affiliated with the real site - then maybe, just maybe you can make a few quid.

However that will require some serious investment of time to create quality content and you still run the risk of PASSING OFF.

Proceed with great caution.

Kimbot · 15-09-2015 2:53pm

I heard a story on the radio yesterday about Go Daddy getting sued for use of certain web domains etc by some academy awards or something and the judge ruled in the favour of go daddy. Have a read and see if its the type of scenario you are talking about here.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/11/us-godaddy-oscars-lawsuit-idUSKCN0RB1UJ20150911

2rkehij30qtza5 · 15-09-2015 3:05pm

devildriver wrote: »

It's not clear exactly what you are trying to do here. It sounds very much like cyber-squatting of one sort or another where you are cashing in on the popularity of the event and using a slightly misleading domain name which some people could think is an official site for the event. If this is the case legitimate advertisers won't have anything to do with it. You may be able to attract lower grade advertisers which will make the site look even more spammy.

On the other hand if you are going to create a site that adds value and is useful to visitors to the event such as providing information on accommodation and local amenities while making it ABSOLUTELY clear that your site is not affiliated with the real site - then maybe, just maybe you can make a few quid.

However that will require some serious investment of time to create quality content and you still run the risk of PASSING OFF.

Proceed with great caution.

Hi, thanks for the message.

I suppose should the event organisers take exception to the fact that I am doing this, I'll be able to prove to the event organisers that I have been researching the event for about a year already (with a personal interest)...internet history, emails etc. I genuinely had no interest nor had I even thought about the website until recently.

I have also decided that once the site is ready to go live, that I will send the link to the organisers, explain what I am trying to do and hopefully get their blessing. So basically, I plan to be 100% upfront about the whole thing. Don't want to pull the wool over anyone's eyes.

I have been working away on the site but obviously haven't yet published it or anything. My home page and many other pages makes reference to the fact that it's not the real site, gives the link to the real site and indicates that it's a guide for those coming to the area for the event and that it's not a guide for the event itself.

I really genuinely want to write the guide as I lived there for a long time, know the area well and can genuinely help people. At the moment there is no website that gives everything about the place (no to do with the event itself)...accommodation, restaurants, bars, clubs, history of the place, kids activities.

My niche is to basically create a directory of sorts so that if you are coming to the event, you can attend the event (which I won't write about at all as I'll leave that to the official site) but you'll also have so much more outside of the event that you can do and see.

With a little luck, the site will get the thumbs up from the organisers and then some advertisers might want to advertise (non-event services or goods).

But the primary aim is still to create a directory specifically aimed at people coming to the event but capturing a different niche, if you know what I mean.

Still think that's cybersquatting? I know there's a risk but I think it will be worth taking...as long as I'm upfront. Worst case scenario the organisers can tell me they aren't happy with it but I can still publish my site under some other domain name.

2rkehij30qtza5 · 15-09-2015 3:11pm

jonny24ie wrote: »

I heard a story on the radio yesterday about Go Daddy getting sued for use of certain web domains etc by some academy awards or something and the judge ruled in the favour of go daddy. Have a read and see if its the type of scenario you are talking about here.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/11/us-godaddy-oscars-lawsuit-idUSKCN0RB1UJ20150911

Well, I suppose that's good for Godaddy, but should the domain owners themselves live in the USA, the plaintiff could sue them. Not sure it's really applicable in my case as I am not the domain registering site. But I did use Godaddy to register my domains.

M.T.D · 15-09-2015 3:36pm

Domain name issues aside.

If you write a good blog with lots of interesting and informative posts about the area and the event its self your blog is likely to rank in Google.
The "better" your post/page, (by better I mean targeted to a chosen keyword group) the higher your blog pages will rank.

Although the domain name is a ranking factor it is of very much lower importance than the page/post content and on-page SEO.

From a visitors point of view having the Event Name in the domainname is indicative of the blogs information and therefore useful, but not much more than www.myblog.com/eventname/eginfopost/.

No matter how close a domain name unless the site has content it won't appear in Google anyway and on that count is a waste of money.
The exception is for misspellings and then people might end up on your blog by mistake but then the "back button" will probably get used.

tricky D · 15-09-2015 3:52pm

It's called brandjacking (using another trademark's brand equity to make revenue) and is very risky. The GoDaddy case is not really analagous. If the brand in question is well protected and defended, and they decide to go legal, the OP's costs are going to soar.

devildriver wrote: »

It's not clear exactly what you are trying to do here. It sounds very much like cyber-squatting of one sort or another where you are cashing in on the popularity of the event and using a slightly misleading domain name which some people could think is an official site for the event. If this is the case legitimate advertisers won't have anything to do with it. You may be able to attract lower grade advertisers which will make the site look even more spammy.

On the other hand if you are going to create a site that adds value and is useful to visitors to the event such as providing information on accommodation and local amenities while making it ABSOLUTELY clear that your site is not affiliated with the real site - then maybe, just maybe you can make a few quid.

However that will require some serious investment of time to create quality content and you still run the risk of PASSING OFF.

Proceed with great caution.

Varik · 15-09-2015 4:03pm

Check out fusible.com or wipo, story after story of sites getting siezed some about request being denied but the difference between winning and losing is usually slim.

Generally never ends up as a big legal battle, icaan rules get inforced and domain is transferred or not.

jmcc · 16-09-2015 12:46am

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

I'd rather not say exactly what for as yet until I am up and running with the whole thing. Basically, the event organisers have their official Twitter as @nameofevent2018. The main official website is just www.nameofevent.com but with no year.

That could be construed as a set of bad faith registrations.

I expect a lot of traffic on these domains (millions will attend this event in the States (only occurs once a decade on average and each time attracts approx 4-5 million visitors, myself included!)). I am sure people who are on the event's Twitter will possibly copy the Twitter name into Google and my sites will pop up. I haven't even created the sites as yet...another day's work.

Definitely bad faith in that it can be shown that you are intending to profit from another's intellectual property.

I am hoping to blog and then later use the sites in order to make money from advertising...eg. Hotels, bars, retail etc. I am just not sure the best way to do this.

From bad to worse. Now you've just proven a financial intent to profit from these bad faith registrations.

Most of the people posting on this thread have little or no understanding of what constitutes cybersquatting. Most people don't.

At best, if the company is monitoring their intellectual property via domain name monitoring, it might be just a Cease and Desist letter with a request to turn over the domain names. That could escalate into a WIPO action in which the company could seek to have the domain names transferred by legal action.

Given your reference to copyright and trademarks, have you actually done a trademark search on www.uspto.gov or elsewhere?
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database

Do you understand the difference between copyright and trademarks?

Regards...jmcc

GuitarMusic · 16-09-2015 1:45am

With such a vast number of visitors why not just monetise with adsense ads?

2rkehij30qtza5 · 18-09-2015 10:29am

Thanks all.

As I said previously, I am going to approach the event organisers (brand name holders) and show them my site as soon as I get it live.

If they say that they want the domain name or if they are unhappy about it, then I will just transfer the domain name to them. End of story. It's a risk I am willing to take with all the work I am putting into the website. I can always use the content of the site with another non-event related domain name, so it's not gone to waste.

I am not looking to pull the wool over anyone's eyes and I want to be upfront and transparent about things. So I will see where it leads me.

Thanks!

2rkehij30qtza5 · 18-09-2015 10:32am

jmcc wrote: »

That could be construed as a set of bad faith registrations.

Definitely bad faith in that it can be shown that you are intending to profit from another's intellectual property.

From bad to worse. Now you've just proven a financial intent to profit from these bad faith registrations.

Most of the people posting on this thread have little or no understanding of what constitutes cybersquatting. Most people don't.

At best, if the company is monitoring their intellectual property via domain name monitoring, it might be just a Cease and Desist letter with a request to turn over the domain names. That could escalate into a WIPO action in which the company could seek to have the domain names transferred by legal action.

Given your reference to copyright and trademarks, have you actually done a trademark search on www.uspto.gov or elsewhere?
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database

Do you understand the difference between copyright and trademarks?

Regards...jmcc

Thanks. But if I approach the event organisers and show them what I am doing and they then give it the thumbs up, I guess that would be ok?
What if I pointed all of the domain names to a blog?
Thanks

mneylon · 19-09-2015 3:35pm

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Thanks. But if I approach the event organisers and show them what I am doing and they then give it the thumbs up, I guess that would be ok?

If it's a big event they are probably going to be very protective of their IP

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

What if I pointed all of the domain names to a blog?
Thanks

If the domain(s) use their trademarks without their permission then it can be seen as cybersquatting

As JMCC points out, you could get a cease and desist or you could end up losing the domains via a UDRP

Atomico · 20-09-2015 1:54pm

Joel Deafening Bin wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the message.

I suppose should the event organisers take exception to the fact that I am doing this, I'll be able to prove to the event organisers that I have been researching the event for about a year already (with a personal interest)...internet history, emails etc. I genuinely had no interest nor had I even thought about the website until recently.

I have also decided that once the site is ready to go live, that I will send the link to the organisers, explain what I am trying to do and hopefully get their blessing. So basically, I plan to be 100% upfront about the whole thing. Don't want to pull the wool over anyone's eyes.

I have been working away on the site but obviously haven't yet published it or anything. My home page and many other pages makes reference to the fact that it's not the real site, gives the link to the real site and indicates that it's a guide for those coming to the area for the event and that it's not a guide for the event itself.

I really genuinely want to write the guide as I lived there for a long time, know the area well and can genuinely help people. At the moment there is no website that gives everything about the place (no to do with the event itself)...accommodation, restaurants, bars, clubs, history of the place, kids activities.

My niche is to basically create a directory of sorts so that if you are coming to the event, you can attend the event (which I won't write about at all as I'll leave that to the official site) but you'll also have so much more outside of the event that you can do and see.

With a little luck, the site will get the thumbs up from the organisers and then some advertisers might want to advertise (non-event services or goods).

But the primary aim is still to create a directory specifically aimed at people coming to the event but capturing a different niche, if you know what I mean.

Still think that's cybersquatting? I know there's a risk but I think it will be worth taking...as long as I'm upfront. Worst case scenario the organisers can tell me they aren't happy with it but I can still publish my site under some other domain name.

If you really want to create this website and you don't want people to be fooled into thinking that this is an official website launched by the organisers of the event, then why don't you register a different domain, one that doesn't mimic the official organiser's URL and social media profiles?

On the one hand you say you aren't cybersquatting, but on the other you say you are looking to benefit from all the potential traffic the domains you've registered will attract. Of course you are looking to capitalise on their traffic with a slight variation of their domain (so slight it has four numbers after the main domain), and so of course this is cybersquatting.

It is no different to that trick The Irish Times tried to pull years back when they registered groupon.ie before Groupon did. Needless to say they lost it and lost whatever investment they had put into it (even if it was only the 25 quid or so for the domain). Same goes for the guys who registered facebook.ie.

Also, what results do you get if you google the event name? My guess is you will have a handful of other results like Wikipedia and maybe some other major brands / websites. Unless you invest a fairly serious amount into content and building links to your site, you may find it difficult to rank on page 1 for your site. Also, not as many people will type 'eventname2018.com' into their browser as you might think. They will mainly google the event name or type 'eventname.com' into their browser, if they want to go to the site directly.

Then it's a catch-22 since if you do, you will attract the attention of the organisers, and you might find they take action and your efforts will have been for nought. You might be able to convince them but it could be a long shot, especially since they will see that you sought to cash in on their own efforts to build this brand / event.

I see that WebSummit2016.com is free, but if I bought it and spent lots building content and awareness of the site, I'd also expect a stern letter from Paddy Cosgrave's solicitors at some point! And rightly so.

Bought domains for huge event - advertising?

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