DomainTools Blog

Comments

1. Apartment Says:
   August 30th, 2007 at 10:21 pm

   Check out soup.com

2. jjonesjr Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 5:27 am

   PayPal – x.com

3. icapital Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 7:46 am

   AOL – Games.com
   Microsoft – Start.com
   1-800-flowers – Flowers.com

4. icapital Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 7:58 am

   R.H. Donnelley – Business.com, Work.com
   Disney – Video.com, 101.com, Go.com
   CNET – Help.com, Online.com
   Sports Endeavors – Soccer.com, Lacrosse.com

5. icapital Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 8:01 am

   Nissan – Z.com (although they don’t own Nissan.com)

6. icapital Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 8:06 am

   another Disney domain – Family.com
   another CNET domain – Kids.com
   (okay, i could do this all day.. back to work!)

   UPDATE BY JAY: I added all the domains from the comments above. Thanks for filling in gaps.

7. rsequin Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 9:07 am

   On a related note, I have a list of over 200 national brands that are using non-brand domain names in national advertising campaigns.
   UPDATE BY JAY: I see dozens of domains in commercials, thanks for the link. Great to have a place that is collecting them. I am sure your list will be very long because creative domain names are all that is left. It would be nice to get a screen shot or video next to each one. I think the national anti-tobacco campaign must have a dozen domains you could add to your list.

8. tenthmusemedia Says:
   September 2nd, 2007 at 7:59 pm

   I’m not a lawyer and this isn’t legal advice.

   “Bayer – Aspirin.com”

   Bayer actually invented and registered the trademark “Asprin” back in the late 1800′s and enjoyed trademark protection worldwide until the end of WWI, when the German company’s assets became spoils of war claimed by Uncle Sam. Even though our government subsequently sold the company, the fact that there was no clear corporate entity aside from Uncle Sam which consumers could associate as the source or origin of the product meant that the trademark protection was lost — or genericized — here in the U.S.A.

   Most countries of the world still recognize and protect Bayer’s trademark in “Asprin” – including, I think, our neighbors on both sides of us.

   This highlights an important feature of trademark law though — clearly the most important and dangerous area of intellectual property law for domainers, and one worth learning — and that’s that it is a right that belongs less to the companies that enjoy the protection than it does to consumers themselves.

   What the courts primarily look to when deciding whether a particular mark should enjoy or continue to enjoy protection is whether the infringing mark will be confusingly similar to the trademark in the minds of consumers who continue to associate the trademark with a particular source. So, if consumers associate a particular brand or mark with a particular company for years and years — and let’s make it a fanciful mark which is entitled to the highest protection (like Google – a made-up word that consumers did not associate with anything at all and had likely never heard before Google opened shop), and the product becomes *so* wildly popular and dominates the market to the point where consumers begin to no longer think of the mark as identifying its maker or source, but instead come to associate the mark with the general class if things to which the product belongs, then all of a sudden this most protected kind of mark loses nearly all of its protection and is (basically) fair game for all.

   Thus, Asprin(TM) became asprin (in America, because American’s started acting and thinking like it was the name of the generic substance). Reflect on what we call facial tissue, the stuff we rub on our lips when they get chapped, photostatic copies, petrolium jelly, plastic bandages….

   Again – this is a sometimes complex and confusing area of the law, and since it’s one so incredibly important to domainers and their business interests, you should certainly not rely on my quite possibly incorrect musings when assessing the legal availability for purchase or registration of a possible domain name, and should instead seek the counsel of a licensed intellectual property attorney if you have questions or doubt in any particular case.

9. nicwolff Says:
   September 3rd, 2007 at 1:41 pm

   Heh I sold soup.com to unilever back in, jeez, I guess late 2000? I got $50000 which wasn’t bad at that time – I renovated my apartment with it.

10. domaincash Says:
    September 4th, 2007 at 6:57 am

    few more significant ones missed out…like the ANSW play

    Microsoft (MSFT) – Investor.com

    Answers Corp. (Nasdaq: ANSW) – Answers.com, buying Reference.com, which owns Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com

11. topnotchdomains Says:
    September 4th, 2007 at 7:00 pm

    Plumber.com – Roto Rooter

12. keonda Says:
    September 5th, 2007 at 6:55 am

    Polo and Rugby by… Ralph Lauren!

13. GermanDucks Says:
    September 5th, 2007 at 11:22 pm

    Bass Pro Shops – Hunting.com

14. keonda Says:
    September 6th, 2007 at 7:37 am

    Just found a funny one : eGovernment.com -> Oracle Corp

    UPDATE BY JAY: I do not consider eAnything a great generic. It is good I grant you that.

15. temphi Says:
    September 6th, 2007 at 7:42 pm

    Microsoft – TV.net

    UPDATE BY JAY: .NET hmmmm. A little bit questionable. I will say it is a great generic just because Microsoft is behind this DotNet movement. I know they own a lot of .NET domains so this is a slipper slope.

16. keonda Says:
    September 14th, 2007 at 5:00 am

    HairTrimmer goes to Conair Pro

17. icapital Says:
    October 22nd, 2007 at 1:52 pm

    Office Depot – School.com

18. HBaker Says:
    August 25th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

    Apple: Apple.com, airport.com, carbon.com, next.com, newton.com, mammals.org

    Berkshire Hathaway: Genre.com (for “General Re”), Fruit.com, Sees.com

    Google: Deja.com, Android.com, Urchin.com, Jot.com, Keyhole.com, Dodgeball.com, Hello.com

    Also there is a typo on the “motorcycles.com” link, it points to the “motorcyles.com” whois page.

19. mox_eg Says:
    June 12th, 2009 at 8:27 am

    Here you can find tons of great online flash games to play.
    Remember to check back often because we are always adding new games.

    Play Free Online Games http://www.baggygames.com

Pingbacks

1. Surflizard » On Domain Names Says:
   September 4th, 2007 at 4:35 am

   [...] DoaminTools blog takes a look at some of the generic domain names owned by big companies. it’s an interesting list, and the authors point that a lot of these [...]

2. Links: 2007-09-04 « Kempton’s blog Says:
   September 4th, 2007 at 8:41 am

   [...] Generic Domains owned by Large Companies – [via Paul Kedrosky] – interesting list [...]

3. Joyas.es | blogdominios.com Says:
   September 5th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

   [...] ayer Domisfera se refería a un post de DomainTools en el que se introduce una tendencia en alza ya abordada en Blog Dominios, por la que grandes [...]

4. burlington coat factory Says:
   March 31st, 2008 at 11:04 am

   [...] [...]

5. citibank com Says:
   April 1st, 2008 at 1:57 pm

   [...] Close Lower After Seeing Early Strength – U.S. CommentaryGeneric Domains owned by Large CorporationsAmerican Express – Open.com Bank Of America – Loans.com Barnes and Noble – Books.com Bayer – [...]

6. america bank corporate Says:
   April 2nd, 2008 at 12:51 pm

   [...] Times reported on its Website on Sunday.http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080331/bs_nm/bankofamerica_dc_1Generic Domains owned by Large CorporationsAmerican Express – Open.com bank Of america – Loans.com Barnes and Noble – Books.com Bayer – [...]

7. underwear com Says:
   April 4th, 2008 at 9:51 am

   [...] movie.http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/04/02/bobby.razak/index.html?eref=si_moreGeneric Domains owned by Large CorporationsAmerican Express – Open.com Bank Of America – Loans.com Barnes and Noble – Books.com Bayer – [...]

8. burlington news com Says:
   April 5th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

   [...] straight months now, subscribers to the BullTradehttp://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080404/0383319.htmlGeneric Domains owned by Large CorporationsAmerican Express – Open.com Bank Of America – Loans.com Barnes and Noble – Books.com Bayer – [...]

9. burlington coat Says:
   April 18th, 2008 at 9:18 pm

   [...] – Coat.com Calvin Klein – Bras.com and Underwear.com Citibank – Student Loan.com CNET – News.cohttp://blog.domaintools.com/2007/08/generic-domains-owned-by-large-corporations/Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation: Oracle Customer …File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat – [...]

10. burlington coat factory Says:
    May 5th, 2008 at 3:32 am

    [...] – Coat.com Calvin Klein – Bras.com and Underwear.com Citibank – Student Loan.com CNET – News.cohttp://blog.domaintools.com/2007/08/generic-domains-owned-by-large-corporations/Burlington Coat Factory Selects MicroStrategyBusiness Intelligence Network delivers business [...]

11. com express computer Says:
    May 19th, 2008 at 4:50 am

    [...] [...]

12. domain loans Says:
    May 19th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    [...] [...]

13. burlington coat Says:
    May 30th, 2008 at 11:36 pm

    [...] – Coat.com Calvin Klein – Bras.com and Underwear.com Citibank – Student Loan.com CNET – News.cohttp://blog.domaintools.com/2007/08/generic-domains-owned-by-large-corporations/Boycott Burlington Coat Factory PetitionThe appalling discovery found about burlington coat Factory [...]

14. calvin klein bras Says:
    May 31st, 2008 at 6:04 pm

    [...] – Coat.com calvin klein – Bras.com and Underwear.com Citibank – Student Loan.com CNET – News.cohttp://blog.domaintools.com/2007/08/generic-domains-owned-by-large-corporations/Calvin Klein Perfectly Fit Seductive Arabesque Demi Bra – Compare …Shop for calvin klein Perfectly [...]

15. calvin klein shoes Says:
    June 10th, 2008 at 1:48 am

    [...] – Coat.com calvin klein – Bras.com and Underwear.com Citibank – Student Loan.com CNET – News.cohttp://blog.domaintools.com/2007/08/generic-domains-owned-by-large-corporations/Calvin Klein: Calvin Klein Shoes – Free Shipping Both Ways &amp 365 …Calvin Klein: calvin klein [...]

16. calvin c brown Says:
    June 12th, 2008 at 8:02 am

    [...] – Coat.com calvin Klein – Bras.com and Underwear.com Citibank – Student Loan.com CNET – News.cohttp://blog.domaintools.com/2007/08/generic-domains-owned-by-large-corporations/The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Brown, J.Brown, John C. ?? of Ohio. Ohio treasurer of [...]

17. calvin klein underwear Says:
    June 20th, 2008 at 9:07 am

    [...] [...]

18. klein bank Says:
    June 20th, 2008 at 9:10 am

    [...] [...]

19. noble company Says:
    June 24th, 2008 at 12:53 am

    [...] [...]

20. bank of america student loans Says:
    June 30th, 2008 at 6:12 am

    [...] [...]

21. open bras Says:
    July 7th, 2008 at 8:10 am

    [...] [...]

22. calvin klein bras Says:
    July 9th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    [...] – Coat.com calvin klein – Bras.com and Underwear.com Citibank – Student Loan.com CNET – News.cohttp://blog.domaintools.com/2007/08/generic-domains-owned-by-large-corporations/Calvin Klein bras, Calvin Klein bra at Bare NecessitiesCalvin Klein, women&39s calvin klein bra, [...]

23. generic downloader z Says:
    July 9th, 2008 at 7:44 pm

    [...] [...]

24. citibank student loans Says:
    July 11th, 2008 at 2:10 am

    [...] [...]

25. burlington coat factory Says:
    August 19th, 2008 at 5:51 am

    [...] – Coat.com Calvin Klein – Bras.com and Underwear.com Citibank – Student Loan.com CNET – News.cohttp://blog.domaintools.com/2007/08/generic-domains-owned-by-large-corporations/Burlington Coat Factory Fiscal Year 2008 Financial Results Conference Call Rescheduled for September [...]