Under domain trademark law, registering a name is not automatically infringement, but using a domain that matches someone else's trademark to trade on their reputation is. Trademark owners can file a UDRP complaint for gTLDs, a Nominet DRS complaint for .uk, or sue in court, for example under the US Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.
Every week, someone registers a domain that matches an existing brand without giving it a second thought. A café owner picks a name that happens to belong to a coffee chain in another state. A developer registers the name of a product he likes for a fan project. Most of these never cause trouble. Some end with a letter from a law firm, and a few with a lost domain.
Domain trademark law sits between two systems that don’t talk to each other. Registries hand out names on a first-come basis and check nothing. Trademark offices grant exclusive rights to signs in particular classes of goods and services. Conflicts appear where these overlap.
When does a domain infringe a trademark?
Registering a domain alone is rarely the problem. The risk comes from what the domain is used for and why it was registered. Roughly, from low risk to high:
| Situation | Risk | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Generic word, used in its ordinary meaning (apple-orchard.com for an orchard) | Low | No reference to the brand |
| Same name as a mark in an unrelated industry | Low to medium | Depends on how famous the mark is |
| Your own surname that matches a brand | Medium | Legitimate interest, but careful use needed |
| Brand name plus a generic word (brandname-shop.com) | High | Suggests a connection |
| Brand name used for competing products or ads | Very high | Classic infringement |
| Brand name registered to sell to the owner | Very high | Bad faith, cybersquatting |
Famous marks get broader protection. A name that matches a household brand is risky even outside the brand’s own industry.
What can a trademark owner do?
Owners have several options, often used in this order.
1. A cease-and-desist letter
Usually the first step. It demands that you stop using the domain, transfer it, or both. Some letters are reasonable, some overreach. Don’t ignore one, and don’t reply with a price offer before you’ve thought it through; offering to sell a domain to a trademark owner for more than your costs can later count as evidence of bad faith.
2. UDRP for gTLDs
The Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy applies to .com, .net, .org and all new gTLDs, and some country codes have adopted it. The complainant must prove three things:
- The domain is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark in which they have rights.
- You have no rights or legitimate interests in the domain.
- The domain was registered and is being used in bad faith.
The case is decided on written submissions, usually within a couple of months. At WIPO, a complaint covering one to five domains with a single panelist costs USD 1,500. The only possible outcomes are transfer, cancellation or denial; there are no damages. The procedural rules are on WIPO’s UDRP page.
3. Nominet DRS for .uk
For .uk, .co.uk and related domains, Nominet runs its own Dispute Resolution Service. It starts with free mediation, and only if that fails does an independent expert decide, for a fee. The test is whether the registration is “abusive” in the hands of the respondent, which overlaps with UDRP thinking but isn’t identical.
4. A court case
Courts can award what UDRP can’t: damages, injunctions and legal costs. In the US, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(d)) targets registering, trafficking in or using a domain confusingly similar to a mark with a bad-faith intent to profit. The court can award statutory damages of USD 1,000 to 100,000 per domain. In the UK, trademark infringement and passing off are the usual grounds.
If you receive a court claim rather than a UDRP complaint, get a lawyer in the relevant country involved early. That’s the one piece of advice here that applies to everyone.
What counts as “bad faith”?
UDRP panels look for patterns like these:
- Offering the domain to the trademark owner or a competitor for more than your registration costs
- Registering many brand-related names to block the owners
- Using the domain to divert the brand’s customers, for example with ads for competitors
- Impersonation or phishing pages
- Registering right after a brand announcement or trademark filing
Parked pages full of ads for the brand’s competitors are a frequent example. That’s one more reason a plain for-sale page is better than ad parking, as explained in domain parking.
Six checks before you register or buy a domain
- Search the USPTO, UKIPO and EUIPO trademark databases for the exact term
- Search with and without spaces, hyphens and common misspellings
- Check whether a company trades under the name in your market
- Look at the domain’s history if you’re buying it: was it ever used to impersonate someone?
- Ask whether your use refers to the brand or to the ordinary meaning of the word
- Document why you chose the name, with dates
If you’re buying a name from an investor, these checks matter even more, because a UDRP complaint follows the domain. The process for safe purchases is in buying a domain from the owner, and the attack side of this topic is in cybersquatting.
Protecting your own brand
If you own a trademark, the cheapest defence is registering the obvious domains yourself. That usually means the .com, your country code and perhaps one or two common misspellings. Defensive registrations cost little compared with a single UDRP case. A .com for your brand costs €14.99 a year at betadomain, a .us domain €12.99.
You can check which variants of your brand are still free in a few seconds, and decide which are worth holding. For a sense of which names are worth fighting for and which aren’t, the criteria in domain valuation help.
Found your domain? You can check and register it directly at check your domain – yearly price from €2.99.
FAQ
Can I register a domain that contains a trademark?
Registries don't check trademarks, so the registration will usually go through. Whether you can keep and use it depends on what you do with it. A generic word that happens to be a trademark in one industry is different from a famous brand name you have no connection to.
Does owning a domain give me trademark rights?
No. A domain registration is a contract with a registrar, not a trademark. Using a name in trade can build rights over time in some countries, but the safe route is to register the mark itself.
What happens if I lose a UDRP case?
The panel orders the domain transferred to the complainant or cancelled. The registrar implements this after a short waiting period unless you file a court case. UDRP panels cannot award damages or costs.
Can I use a competitor's brand in my domain for a review site?
Genuine, non-commercial criticism or review sites sometimes survive UDRP complaints, but outcomes vary and a court may see it differently. Adding ads or competitor offers makes your position much weaker.