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branded subdomains...ILLEGAL OR NOT? (6)

07-26-2016 05:44 AM #1 eddiezhan (Member)
branded subdomains...ILLEGAL OR NOT?

Saw some affiliates on spytools using google, facebook, apple, etc. in their subdomains. Is this illegal?

07-26-2016 12:05 PM #2 caurmen (Administrator)

I am not a lawyer, but I do know quite a lot about IP law.

It's not a criminal act in most juristictions unless it can be argued it's intended fraudulently. If it is, then yes, it's very illegal indeed for "long jail sentence" values of illegal.

Either way, it's very likely to be an infringement of trademark under US, UK, and most Western laws. That opens the affiliate in question up to legal action from the company they're using the name of.

Short version: Don't do that, it's not a good idea.

07-26-2016 12:11 PM #3 cbrughmans (Member)

Definitely not legal to use someone's brand name without their permission. As long as you do small numbers and stay under the rader you're probably fine, and even the, you'll get a warning from these companies first before they start pressing charges. But like Caurmen said, its not a good idea and I would advice against it as well.

07-26-2016 04:20 PM #4 eddiezhan (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by caurmen View Post
I am not a lawyer, but I do know quite a lot about IP law.

It's not a criminal act in most juristictions unless it can be argued it's intended fraudulently. If it is, then yes, it's very illegal indeed for "long jail sentence" values of illegal.

Either way, it's very likely to be an infringement of trademark under US, UK, and most Western laws. That opens the affiliate in question up to legal action from the company they're using the name of.

Short version: Don't do that, it's not a good idea.
Well the thing is a lot of affiliates run Google, Facebook, and apple logos in their landing pages all the time. So far, I don't know any affiliate who has been punished for this.

I guess my question is: Is using a branded brand subdomain worse than using a brand image/logo in your landing page? They seem like the same caliber to me but I could be wrong...

07-26-2016 04:53 PM #5 ploppythejailer (Member)

I remember seeing something a few years back about a company trying to sue a blackhat who was using a branded sub domain and they lost... mainly because it was said that it was seen as the same as using it in the filename.

but that was a longtime back..

07-26-2016 05:56 PM #6 cmdeal (Veteran Member)

Quote Originally Posted by eddiezhan View Post
Well the thing is a lot of affiliates run Google, Facebook, and apple logos in their landing pages all the time. So far, I don't know any affiliate who has been punished for this.
Just the fact that you see other affiliate doing something definitely does not mean it is legal. LOL it probably is the opposite in many cases.

Caurmen is right. While there is fair use of 3rd party logos and brand names, many affiliates will be using the logos with the explicit intent to pass off or imply an endorsement.

In cases of infringement and in most developed countries, the process will first entail a cease & desist letter. If you get one, you should definitely cease and desist. If you are a small time player and you do cease and desist after receiving such a letter, most rights holders will not pursue the matter further. However, if you do ignore this or continue repeated to infringe and you run decent levels of traffic, you are really setting yourself up for potentially serious action.

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