Could you be cybersquatting?

So, you've found this really cool domain name. You bought it because it uses the name of another company and you figure that, at some point, either the company who owns the trademark to the name will want to buy it from you or someone else will want to buy it. You figure that you'll just park it somewhere. That can't get you into any trouble, could it?

Well, yeah. You're currently violating the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) 15 USC 1125(d) which provides, in pertinent part:

"(d) Cyberpiracy prevention (1) (A) A person shall be liable in a civil action by the owner of a mark, including a personal name which is protected as a mark under this section, if, without regard to the goods or services of the parties, that person— (i) has a bad faith intent to profit from that mark, including a personal name which is protected as a mark under this section; and Factors considered in finding bad faith are listed, in pertinent part, as:(B) (i) In determining whether a person has a bad faith intent described under subparagraph (A), a court may consider factors such as, but not limited to— . . . .

(VI) the person’s offer to transfer, sell, or otherwise assign the domain name to the mark owner or any third party for financial gain without having used, or having an intent to use, the domain name in the bona fide offering of any goods or services, or the person’s prior conduct indicating a pattern of such conduct".

Now, of course there are fair uses for a site with another company's tradename or trademark in it which do not incur trademark or cybersquatting liability. For example, a satire, parody or commentary site about the trademark or tradename that is completely non-commercial, is an acceptable use. For example, a site that does not have any advertising at all that uses a famous name and the words "stinks" which is a commentary site on the mark is probably legal.

Another acceptable use for an otherwise infringing domain name is if, for example, you have a legitimate right to use the name, particularly in a different field than the famous mark. For example, if your name is Joe McDonald and you own a hardware store called McDonald's Hardware, you could certainly own the site, mcdonaldshardware.com. But what if you owned a chicken restaurant called McDonald's Restaurant. Could you own mcdonaldsrestaurant.com? Maybe, but it would be a much more difficult fight.

That being said, the best suggestion is (almost always) to not register domain names with famous marks in them. If you can find a domain names that work for you that don't include famous marks, you're going to save yourself a lot of heartache and headache...