Boy, oh, boy. I’ve never been accused of trademark infringement before today. A year or so ago, a buddy of mine and I decided to register nascargang.com and nascargangs.com for an idea he/we had. I say he/we because he’s the racing fan–not me. We had planned to investigate what it took to become a licensed affiliate. Their website is of no help at all to this end. It was put on the back burner as other things in life came along (as they tend to do).
Recently, since we weren’t doing much with the domains, I decided to list them on The Domain Name Aftermarket through GoDaddy.com. I guess I wasn’t expecting much to happen, but if someone wanted to purchase the domain, they’d be able to start a dialog with us about doing so. Nothing did happen until today. The domains were delisted from the auction service after GoDaddy received a trademark infringement letter from a law firm (apparently) representing NASCAR. Even though our domain names weren’t mentioned specifically in the letter, I believe GoDaddy just swept through and dropped anything with “nascar” in it. So, now, I’m not really sure what use the domain name is to us.
Here is the letter sent to GoDaddy.
It brings up issues I may have to face with other domain names I own. I currently own two domain names for local sports teams. Without saying what the names are, they both have the word “colts” or “pacers” in them. My reason for registering these domains was to someday create a fan-site related to the teams. There are many fan-sites out there that operate freely because they only seek to support the team and increase the fanbase. My hope is that any actions I take on these domains will be perceived similarly. I’ve even made a few requests of the Colts organization about their rules for fan-sites and what is/isn’t allowed.
Unfortunately, I have received no response (and this was well before all the superbowl hysteria).
Recent Posts
- SnapNames admits employee found bidding up the price of domain auctions
- Update your Wordpress permalink structure right now!
- Thinning my huge list of domain names
- Alexandra Rose Coffey
- Why off-stream Twitter advertising is good for Twitter
- Startup Weekend Indianapolis
Categories
- advertising
- asides
- blog indiana
- blogging
- domains
- downloads
- freelancing
- ideas
- links
- marketing
- money
- news
- observations
- questions
- resources
- reviews
- security
- SEO
- technology
- tips
- usability
Archives
- November 2009
- August 2009
- May 2009
- February 2009
- December 2008
- October 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- January 2007
- November 2006
Pieces of Flair
Projects
LifeStream
- March 11th
- 2:22 pm @y0mbo Maybe we can get @kyleplacy to sign books at #BIN2010
- 2:21 pm @4hfarmer @hubspot does somewhat related webinars often: http://bit.ly/bFS2y6 Hope that helps!
- 2:09 pm @CBalling @edeckers @4hfarmer @amystark is putting one on next week: http://bit.ly/c2k2M8
- 1:44 pm @robbyslaughter @jamespaden You say that like it's a bad thing. ;) Oh, and this seems appropriate: http://bit.ly/bkwEAK
- 12:50 am @y0mbo I wrote it :) Tried looking for off-the-shelf but nothing did what I wanted. Really glad you like it :D #bin2010
- March 10th
- 9:31 pm RT @douglaskarr: So I have almost 9,000 followers and can only get 2 votes for a session at @blogindiana? You guys suck! ;)
- 12:53 pm
- 1:32 am Power is out. Random unrelated awesome fact: I know @bradjward
- March 9th
- 7:22 pm @JustHeather You can submit more than one session! Others have and we encourage it! #BIN2010
- 7:19 pm @JustHeather What if you could unvote later if you changed your mind? Hmm.. maybe that's a bad idea... #BIN2010
- 4:33 pm @brewhouse @AmyStark Sure, it's: http://smhappyhour.com
- 4:11 pm RT @BlogIndiana: Announcing the open call & voting for BIN2010 sessions! Want to speak this year? http://bit.ly/ae8OJ4
- 2:08 pm Amen. RT @JamieHS: Moving back to my Microsoft mouse from the Apple Magic Mouse feels like getting back home from vacation. Just feels right
- 2:05 pm I plan to get @jamespaden drunk and steal all his web 3.0 secrets! (or at least get the name of his sleep mask supplier) #sxsw
- 11:57 am @brewhouse How many do you need for a swarm?
- March 8th
- 3:06 am Is there some super secret ExactTarget / CoTweet #SXSW party? (@exacttarget, @dawndevirgilio)
- March 6th
- 1:41 pm
- March 4th
- 10:25 pm Ugh. Hostgator billboard. Like I don't see those ads enough on the web.
- 4:51 pm @chrisbrogan Kinda surprised you are only now realizing you've had this power... commander of the Twitter hoards!
- 4:15 pm @ericadobson @kyleplacy LOL. Technically, the closet is IN my office, not the other way around. Which means I can yank the internet cable!
- 4:10 pm @ericadobson How can you tell if the sun is out, you don't have a window in your office :P (neither do I)
- 1:54 pm Who's going to NENR-NENR-NENR tomorrow morning?
- 1:42 pm Secret message... http://tweetphoto.com/13209999
- 3:55 am Seems like if the "Harry Brunette 374" thing was real, the #ghosthunters would act a lot more excited about revealing it. #fake
- March 3rd
- 7:19 pm Wouldn't it be awesome if food-related blogs and websites could end in .nom (ie. PizzaHut.nom)
- 1:33 pm @DunkinDonuts I'm waffling over whether to print up my own tshirts for SXSW this year #WaffleWeDDs
- March 2nd
- 8:32 pm
- 6:27 pm @y0mbo I agree, but you still need the building (at some point in the equation).
- 4:07 pm @kyleplacy @jamespaden Seems the better answer would be something like: That's how we roll here @ Brandswag, become a client & find out how!
- 4:02 pm Looks like @kyleplacy's blog post is ranking higher than Mashable for "Exacttarget cotweet" search: http://bit.ly/cQEGf7
One Response
I received a cease letter a few years back when I put up a consulting site at cliintel.com… I still have the domain name but I don’t use it. I was okay with taking the site down… it wasn’t really being used. But I’m not giving up the domain without a fight. I wonder if AA can sue every business that has 2 ‘A’s in their URLs!
Leave a reply
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.