Question About Sponsor Trademarks, Domains, and Subdomains
 

Nearly every sponsor protects their trademarks by forbidding the use of their brand names within domains. Yet I constantly find affiliates who break this rule. But whatever...

So what's the general consensus on using the sponsor's name as a subdomain? (e.g. https://brazzers.mypornblog.com)

Do they ever go apeshit over that?

They can and do from time to time.

The issue is not so much who's right and who will win in court but rather, is a legal battle really worth the money it will cost, win or lose?

If the affiliate is working with the sponsor then it maybe accepted. If you promoted opposition then you would find problems. I did once pay for traffic to a site only to find they claimed the traffic of pornhub and xhamster combined then mashed the names together. Did I tell them what I thought of them and told pornhub and xhamster. It maybe fine to promote a sites services it is fraud to claim their achievements.

Yes, of course that makes sense. I assume a C&D would come long before anything else. My intent would be to promote/presell each program exclusively on their own subdomain -- with no desire to deceive. But I'm unaware of how white knuckled the individual sponsors might be in that instance.

You were kicking ass with the first two sentences. Then I lost you. Then the last sentence makes sense. So 7/10. Thanks.

you can do it under the umbrella of a Review Sub Domain Script. Its the most direct relationship an affiliate can have with a sponsor.

If you ask permission and are just promoting their stuff on that site/domain some of them may be cool with you using their trademarks, however, get their approval in writing and even then I would be wary of it.

Many years ago I had a blog that had a solo girl's name in it and ranked very high for her name in Google. I had permission from the owners to use the name in the domain and on the blog. Eventually, the affiliate program that owned the site was sold and the new owners wanted me to give them the domain. I ultimately decided not to fight it as I wasn't making enough to warrant the legal costs. They just let the domain expire once they had it.

So, if it were me, I wouldn't do it with anything that you plan to put a lot of effort into as it could easily go away.

Good post. Thanks for sharing your experience. Pretty stupid for them to fight you for the domain and then let it expire.

Yeah, well that was the idea. But to avoid issues, I'm thinking I might just use subdirectories instead of subdomains.

What frustrates me is crap like ChaturbateEU . com -- blatant infringement. It's clear that sometimes the rules apply and sometimes they don't.

Try webcamrecordings.com and you'll faint. Drama drama drama and no one takes actions. Seems this person is above affiliates and has a free ride to do whatever they please.