Airbnb threatening me over my domain. Legit? | Hacker News Reader

Airbnb threatening me over my domain. Legit?

6 pointsscottndecker29 comments

Received an email from "Brandprotection@airbnb-mm.com". Is this legit? What happened to a free internet? Is anyone really going to get confused between my site and airbnb.com? What happens if I don't reply and don't change the domain?

"To Whom It May Concern:

As you may know, Airbnb, Inc. is the owner of the well-known trademarks, AIRBNB (Reg. No. 4884815)

itslikeairbnbforyourdog.com

As a trademark owner, Airbnb, Inc.is obligated to enforce its rights by taking action to ensure that others do not use its trademarks without permission, including in domain names. Registration and use of domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to Airbnb, Inc.’s trademarks, without permission, could result in a likelihood of confusion among consumers.

In light of the above, we request that you respond to this e-mail within ten (10) days, informing us whether you have obtained rights from Airbnb, Inc.to register and use the domain name(s) itslikeairbnbforyourdog.com. If so, please provide us with details as to who granted you such rights and when. If not, please indicate your agreement to immediately stop using the Domain(s) and refrain from creating any new domain names using Airbnb, Inc. in any manner.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

Airbnb Brand Protection"

Legalities aside, it's not a recipe for success to use another brand's name as part of your brand. Lots of companies are like something for something else, but they don't call themselves that. They create their own distinct identity.

You are in the wrong here, you are "trading" on their registered mark and you need to fix it. You cannot use another companies registered trademark this way. If you mentioned airbnb in a marketing piece and had respected their trademark in the material (e.g. shown it is theirs) then you'd be in a different position. But this is almost a text book example of what not to do, IMO.

Good thing is if you respond and say you are fixing it and give specifics with a date, then I doubt this goes any further.

Look closer at the email address.

I did, and I also did a whois lookup on airbnb-mm.com, which is registered by Airbnb Inc. And if you go to the domain it redirects to airbnb.com.

*edit word and this, I did just check airbnb's site and it doesn't list that domain as one which would be a valid email domain for their consumer site information. But the whois and the redirect makes me think it is. However OP could forward the original message to report.phishing@airbnb.com and see what they say.

FWIW too the whois for airbnb.com and airbnb-mm.com look identical. I obviously had too much free time tonight.

If they don't send such noticed then years later somebody could claim they don't enforce their trademark and thus can loose protection.

I'd say your use is sarcasm of the larger industry and protected use. A hypothetical airbnb-sucks.com containing an anecdote could be protected as free speech.

Looks like a pretty standard bulk email in a larger process (some clerk going through hundreds of matches in an Excel table).

Airbnb could take the issue to court. Or file a motion with ICANN(?) or your domain registrar to take over your domain. That means a third party will have to establish if there's really 'likelihood of confusion among consumers'. Clear no.

Yeah, I've heard of Disney having to do similar things. Not allowing kids to make home made tshirts with Mickey Mouse on them, etc or someone else could claim they aren't defending it and do something worse.

Agreed it feels like a canned message and I'm tempted to ignore it since I clearly have no ill intent towards Airbnb.

I’m not a lawyer. But as @mtmail points out, they’re legally obliged to defend it even if they don’t give a hoot about your particular site. So if you ignore it, they may have no choice but to pursue legal action - as in a lawsuit. That could get expensive for you.

Most likely if you don't respond and they really want to shut you down, they'll file a UDRP which will cost them $1500+. If they win the dispute, the domain will be transferred to them.

Seeing as they are a well known company, you have airbnb in your domain and your domain name even explains that you are familiar with their company, I'd be very surprised if the domain wasn't ordered to be transferred to them.

If you look up UDRP cases involving AirBNB you should be able to get an idea of the type of names they feel worthy of going after in UDRP. Some companies go after anything moderately infringing where as others seem to be more lax.

I should have taken a look at your site before commenting on a likely UDRP outcome.

I'm not a lawyer, but parody, satire etc... can be considered legitimate use. It doesn't look like you are using it any commercial way, so, I'd say you do have a case.

If a UDRP was filed, you'd have to decide how much work and money would be worth defending it.

There is also a possibility in your case that they won't pursue it further than the initial email.

Someone else had the same email as you:

https://californiaglobe.com/media/airbnb-threatens-journalis...

But this is the list of legitimate Airbnb domains:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/971/how-do-i-know-if-a...

Therefore,

This one is 100% fake.

I seriously doubt this is fake, the airbnb-mm.com domain is owned by Airbnb Inc and they have every right to stop the improper usage of their registered trademark. A domain name is a different animal than just using their name in an article, which is fair use and free speech -- assuming you leave the mark in place or attribute it properly.

IANAL but the author of that article you linked is wrong from what I understand. A domain name has been enforced in the past as a violation of the mark and is not the same as free speech. It is of course up to the company to enforce it and take action. They may choose not to based on circumstances but they will send out the form letter at minimum to show they worked to enforce it.

Technically it isn't from AirBNB, but, it is from Mark Monitor who is authorized to protect AirBNB from infringing domains.

This email doesn't pass the smell test. A nameless sender claims to be acting on behalf of Airbnb but is asking you rather than telling you whether you're a party to an agreement with it. The writing is clumsy and contains a split infinitive. I predict that if you ask for confirmation by surface mail on the firm's letterhead you'll be waiting a long time.

You should not using airbnb in your domain name. That is trademark infringement. Also lot of people here are saying that airbnb-mm domain looks fishy. It is not unless they have hacked airbnb itself since it redirects to the airbnb.com domain. Also whois shows the same information.

You can redirect domain A to domain B if you own domain A but have nothing to do with domain B. That means nothing.

Trademarks are trademarks. But, scammers who want to steal the domain from you are scammers...

Do a lookup on their domain and compare the results. If still unsure, email air b'n'b's actual support and ask them if that email address is legit.

...without necessarily pointing out your domain... why open two cans of worms?

I think they've got you TBH. airbnb is literally in your domain name. It'd be different if it was in marketing materials/etc but its in your domain name...

If you'd registered "itslikeabnbforyourdog" you'd probably be in a lot less of a predicament.

Interesting. So basically no one can ever use the letters "airbnb" in a domain ever again so long as Airbnb continues to exist? I get companies need to defend their copywrite, and a site called airebnb.com that's mean to look just like the legit site definitely crosses the line, likely has malicious intent, etc. This just feels a little bit like a stretch considering how different the domain is.

It is a trademark not a copyright, and if they don't defend it they could lose the right to later. Airbnb is a very specific combination and isn't a common english word, therefore yes, those letters in any domain name are protected. If it was a common word, like windows, but the site was about cleaning windows then Microsoft wouldn't be able to come after that person given the common english word.

For Airbnb, if they don't defend their trademark, they can lose the trademark and the right to enforce it, so they must go after everyone who is using it that doesn't have permission. And your usage is a direct reference to their trademark so yea you are in violation here. They obviously don't feel like you are being malicious, hence you got a simple polite form letter and a request to comply not something more aggressive.

Replace "airbnb" with "microsoft" and see if your opinion changes. "itslikemicrosoftforcats" would probably get shutdown very quickly for the same reason - once you establish trademark for a brand name and make it well-known, other people trying to use that brand (which you spent a lot of time and money to build) for their own purposes are in the wrong.

The exception would be if you can show the letter sequence really is coincidental, but the case we're discussing is a blatant attempt to cash in on Airbnb's brand.

https://itslikeairbnbforyourdog.com/ is a single page with a couple of "It's like <company name> for your <other word>." No product or business and imho no possible confusion with the airbnb brand.

I wonder, does it also get a parody exception, like you do for copyright?

If its got another company's name in the URL, you're already stealing brand identity. Its not a good game to play.

Could be fair use, could be a trademark violation. I don't know because I'm not a lawyer. Talk to one.

-mm? hmm!

The mm stands for Mark Monitor. Most major corporations use Mark Monitor to manage their domains and protect their intellectual property online. It is a legit C&D email

https://au.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?checkAvail=1&tmskey...

Facebook doesn't use Mark Monitor anymore. I beleive they own their own entity to manage their domains. RegistrarSafe

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