Today, I received a letter from GoDaddy thanking me for being their customer and expressing appreciation for my interest in participating in their aftermarket and/or parked page programs. However, they expressed regret that they are unable to list my domain name(s) below in these programs at this time as another person or business owns a trademark that matches one or more of the terms or words contained in my domain name(s).
Despite the domain being absolutely free for registration and containing common words, the special service is not available for my domain name(s). They provided a contact email (trademarkclaims@godaddy.com) for any questions I may have. Has anyone else faced this situation before? What can be done?
GoDaddy has a policy of not selling domains that contain trademarks through their platform. As a result, any such domains are automatically blacklisted in the auction. I had several domains containing variations of the word "yahoo" but both GoDaddy and Sedo declined to take them. One of the domains could be monetized while the rest had to be dropped.
I do not recommend GoDaddy to anyone based on my recent experience. I paid for a domain mail service 10 days ago and it is still being created. When I requested a refund for the unproven service, I was informed that it was impossible. It turned out that the domain I purchased from them was already registered.
The support service asked me to wait on the line twice for 50 minutes each time, and in the end, I did not receive a satisfactory answer. They referred me to another service and I was told to wait for 72 hours to receive their response. There is no option to write a complaint and I cannot get a refund. Despite having paid for services, I will not continue to work with them as my experience was terrible. I recommend others to avoid this registrar and instead work with more reliable ones.
Even though a domain might be available for registration and seems generic or made up of common words, there are cases where trademarks can throw a wrench in the works.
So, here's the deal: when GoDaddy or any other registrar detects that your domain name includes a term that's trademarked by another entity, they often err on the side of caution. This is because they want to avoid any potential legal issues. It can be pretty frustrating, especially when the domain doesn't seem to infringe on anything obvious. I've seen cases where domains with really common words get flagged just because there's some obscure trademark out there.
What can you do about it? First off, you might want to reach out to that email they provided, trademarkclaims@godaddy.com. Explain your situation and ask them for more specifics on why exactly your domain got flagged. Sometimes, they might provide more info on the trademark conflict, and other times, they may not.
Another route you could take is to do some research yourself. Look up the trademark database in your country or the US (if you're dealing with a US company). See if there's actually a trademark that's close to your domain name. If you find one, then you'll at least know what you're up against.
In some cases, you might be able to appeal or negotiate, especially if you believe that your domain doesn't actually infringe on the trademark. But be prepared for some back-and-forth and possibly needing to prove that your domain is being used in good faith and not to compete with or dilute the trademarked name.
If this domain is really important to you, and you believe there's no real trademark issue, you might want to consult a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property. They could provide advice on whether it's worth challenging the restriction or if there's another approach you could take.
I've faced similar issues a few times, and sometimes it's just a matter of pushing back a little. Other times, it's more of a headache than it's worth.