Ask HN: How to make the most out of my domain name? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to make the most out of my domain name?

14 pointsaymeric23 comments

Hi, I am a developer and entrepreneur based in Australia. I am lucky enough to have bought buyipad.com before Apple announced the iPad.

It has the potential to be a great domain name (I can already see the traffic towards my site) and I don't want to waste it.

What would be the best way to make money out of it?

1. Sell the domain name? 2. Set up an affiliate-based website? 3. Resell iPads myself? 4. Partner with resellers? 5. Any other advice?

Thank you guys!

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I suspect you're over-estimating the traffic you'll be able to attract based on the domain name itself. I'd sell the domain to the highest bidder and reinvest the money into something that can have a strong ROI over the next months/years.

STRONGLY second that.

Especially with the trouble Apple might give you later over Trademark Infringement.

The way I see it you only have one option and that's use it yourself and try to make it into something that can make you money while staying off Apple's radar.

I base this on the following conclusions:

1. As gte910h points out it's next to worthless to sell because Apple has shown it will target companies that try to exploit it's trademarks.

2. You can't just resell iPads you have to be an Apple reseller and the chances of you getting the nod from Apple are slim (in fact you run the chance of getting sued just by putting yourself on their radar)

3. Apple gives resellers virtually no controls over pricing ($20 or less) so it isn't worth it to pay a site to partner with.

So if it were me I'd set Google Alerts to tell me every mention of the iPad and create a directory of reviews/media stories/etc... Then try to sell ads. That way you stay off Apple's radar while hopefully making a little cash with minimum effort.

You should know that if the iPad name was trademarked before your registered it (probably true) and even in many cases if it wasn't and you're not using it for something significant and very different than Apple, all Apple has to do is file a complaint with ICANN and the domain will be yanked from you and handed to them. No lawyer required. You get zippo.

I've lost 2 domains this way. NB: When you are registering a domain name. Always and I mean always do a trademark search first.

What website do you suggest for trademark search?

USPTO: http://www.uspto.gov

Domain squatting is icky business.

I'd get rid of it ASAP. Why waste time monetizing a site when Apple's lawyers could come knocking at any moment?

If it were me, I'd call Apple and offer to trade it for an actual iPad.

Most large companies have a "don't negotiate with squatters period" policy.

All calling Apple will do is get the lawyer's paperwork to you more quickly.

Really? I'm sure they buy domains all the time especially if the offer is far less than the cost of litigating. Of course we wouldn't know since it would come with an NDA

Let us assume that the domain was bought prior to Apple's registration of the iPad trademark. Even so, the original post makes it clear that the domain owner is trying to monetize the domain based on Apple's trademark. It's not like the OP has produced some iPad product and are just worried that Apple will shut them down - to the contrary, they're actively trying to profit from the Apple trademark. I fail to see how this will survive.

ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy is relevant: http://www.icann.org/en/dndr/udrp/policy.htm (esp. see Section 4)

What is the best way for me to clean the situation properly?

Do I have any way to release a domain name before its expiry date?

I've never gone through the process. However, were you so inclined, you could presumably contact Apple, tell them what happened, and ask how you can assign the domain to them at no cost.

I am not a lawyer, so am not sure that this is the best route to keep you out of legal trouble - but it does seem reasonable.

You will likely lose it to apple if they find out about it.

Point it at an affiliate store and wait for that to happen.

Knowing how many HN readers actually work at the big corps (MS, Apple, Google, Amazon, etc) odds are this is on their radar now.

There are so many something-iphone.com or something-ipod.com websites out there, when is a domain name infringing the trademark laws?

Does anyone have any guidelines around that?

> when is a domain name infringing the trademark laws?

1) When the trademark owner decides it is, and 2) They have more money than you.

Would that it were more related to the actual infringement or the intent behind it, but that discussion rarely reaches an open court.

Not if he can show that he owned the domain name before Apple established trademark. Now here is the tricky part if you use it to blur Apples Trademark on tablet computing and possibly (it's a stretch) Personal Electronics it could be argued that you are trying to cause confusion in the market place. If you offer to sell it to apple you could be accused of squatting if you owned it before Apple established trademark then you have a defensible position.

So,

Selling iPads would give the indication that you are an Authorized reseller, you are not which means legal trouble.

Selling software or ebooks for the iPad is a gray area, while it is not a competing product for the trademark it could successfully be argued that it is causing confusion in the marketplace.

Selling a USB enabled trampoline that you have named the iPad will most likely still get Apple after you, but it is very defensible, unless Apple could successfully argue for broader coverage that the Trademark applies to all personal electronics.

There are lots of accessories for iPhone. Its just a matter of time, before these pop up for iPad. you could try selling those, for affiliate commission.

If you don't want to start using this right now for a non ipad related web site, you should email the admin and ask for this post to be deleted. With this disclosure public, you are going to lose the upcoming domain dispute and possibly be reimbursed for the cost of the domain registration.

Why is no one talking about Fujitsu? =)

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/retailing/technology/hard...

The most effecient way I've found is to sign up as an Amazon affiliate, do a specific search query affiliate link (in your case "ipad"), and direct the domain there.

I've done this for years with consistent 3 - 5% buy rate - although the iPad may not be sold on Amazon there are plenty of accessories that will, and the cookie set will pay you on all that user's purchases inside of 30 days i believe.

Others are right, you are in trademark violation, will likely eventually lose domain, and this is a simple & painless way to monetize in the meantime.

Last time I looked Amazon's affiliate cookie was a 1 day one, not 30. (otherwise valid idea)

My bad - you're right ->

http://www.davidtan.org/the-biggest-problem-with-amazon-affi...

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