Using the name of somebody else's product in your domain...is it legal?

[Game999]

Hello
Does anybody register a domain with the name of the product in it? I know you can't do this with huge brands like Nike, etc, but lets say the product is new and you're launchjacking, or promoting a product that doesn't have a big audience, would you register productnamereview.com or productname.com (for example) or do you always need the permission of the owner to register this type of domain?

If you put the name of the product on an inner page so the url would be something like yourdomain.com/Nike (or any other brand, big or small) is this legal?

I know a little about SEO, nothing about affiliate or especially CPA, are there any starting points you'd recommend where beginners start out? If some of its review, that's fine, I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything

Thanks in advance

PS I tried to edit the thread title to read "somebody else's product" instead of "your product", but could only edit the post, not the title

 

[Graybeard]

If the product's name is already a registered trademark you will have issues. If the product's owner can prove his common law trademark/wordmark the entity could challenge your right to the domain name.

On a practical basis; some product owners should pay you to help them get name recognition by the use of their trade name --as they are currently a nobody in the beginning.

If you are an affiliate: READ their Affiliate agreement it covers this contractually (usually). Trademark is the term used usually and there may be further restrictions on domain name use.

Often, product_trademark.domain_name.com or .domain_name.com/product_trademark may be used without issues and accomplish the same goals.

 

[Game999]

Thanks Graybeard

Is product_trademark.domain_name.com a URL structure that is used outside of the US? I dont think I've seen that before. If not, can you provide a link of a sample website that uses that structure? For SEO purposes, if I could structure site that way, would it rank better than domain_name.com/product_trademark?

 

[aff-marktr-remote]

stay away from trademarks in domains. 9 companies might not say anything, but the 10th will make you pay for all of them combined

 

[Graybeard]

that is a sub domain
this.example.com
SEO LOL
sub domain EMD's used to work -- now IDK.
I would tend to think content relevancy is what will matter the most.