Originally Posted by raymor

Pick your own name without trying to in any way leach off of someone else's name.

In general, if you plan to make money by making your name similar to theirs and then competing in the same industry, that's infringement. It's ok if nobody ever heard of bluetree.com and you happened to use greenbush.com for something not directly related, but if you go out trying to leach off their name that's not cool.

The courts may consider many different factors, but in the end they are trying to figure out if you are trying to take unfair advantage of someone else's brand. Make your own brand. The record company Apple had the exact same name as the computer maker Apple and that was fine because neither was usury the other's reputation for their own gain. They were very different types of businesses so they could have identical trademarks. Only when Apple computer started selling music was there a problem because then they were competing. Similarly, if you do online porn with a brand similar to youporn that's not ok. Again, build your own brand rather than trying to leach off someone else's brand. Alternatively, be an affiliate of a major brand and use their brand in a fair way.