Domain Name and Site question

[The Godfather]

Can you use words such as "Mercedes, VW, BMW, Audi etc.." in a domain name, and in the name of a website that will possibly generate income through Google?

I know "vwvortex" is just a forum for Volkswagens and it is pretty big started by Vortex Media Group, I'm not sure if they had to pay Volkswagen to use the name.

This will be of big help if I can get it resolved. Thanks.

 

[coxmaster]

It really comes down to the company. Obviously there are lots of sites with company copyrights in the URL that dont get in trouble.


General rule of thumb: The bigger the site, the more likely to get shut down.

 

[Aluvus]

It depends on the nature of the site, whether the domain could be seen as a bad-faith effort at typo-squatting, and how trigger-happy the company's lawyers are. For instance, "audisucks.com" (if it actually is a site criticizing the company) is much more likely to survive a challenge than "auudi.com".

 

[The Godfather]

Interesting. So if the site is content-relative, positive (in ways), it serves those companies in beneficial ways as far as marketing is concerned, and they will most likely encourage it, instead of shutting it down due to copyright infringement. Is that how I should understand it? Thanks.