Trademark Law

Domain Name Wire » News » GoDaddy Files Patent for Filtering Ads on Trademark Domains - The Domain Industry's News Source

GoDaddy has filed a patent for a technology that would filter ads from domain names containing trademarks. Patent application #20080033822 reads:

invention allow for filtering online advertisements containing third-party trademarks. In an example embodiment, a webpage host may host a webpage that resolves from a domain name. A check trademark service may parse the domain name into a keyword that an advertising generator may use to generate an advertisement relevant to the keyword. Before the advertisement is generated, however, the check trademark service may download a list of registered trademarks from a trademark database into local storage and determine whether the subject keyword is trademarked by searching the downloaded list of trademarks for the keyword. If the keyword is present, the process may end. Otherwise, the advertising service may generate an advertisement for publication on the webpage. This process may be repeated if the domain name is parsed into more than one keyword.

This is an important technology for domain registrars and parking companies. While big companies goes after small time domainers who hold trademark typos, domain registrars shows ads on thousands of trademark domains registered by their customers. This opens registrars up to trademark infringement lawsuits.