I am going to be starting a buddy icon site soon and have registered the name www.anythingaim.com its going to be a one stop shop for stuff for aol instant messenger from buddy icons, away messages, profiles, expressions, and more. Now just recently I've discovered a couple articles about www.aimster.com and how aol took them to court cause it had aim in the domain name. Also I believe that they have gone after other sites like www.aimisland.com but I'm not sure of the outcome. I wanted to know if they have a legal rigth to take the domain away from me or should I change the domain to something "buddyicons"?

The latter would be a good idea.

if there is past issues having *aim* then i think its better to be away from *aim*.com and take something else.


aren't they satiscfied with their aim.com ?! :mad:

Get permission first.

i just changed the name, its easier

There is an open source clone of aim called gaim. With a name like anythingaim.com, you could probably argue that you're realling using the name gaim. Of course, you could still get taken to court just as easily (gaim does have aim in the name) and even if you're more likely to win, it would be much too expensive to be worthwhile, so changing the name was the best idea.

Originally posted by Socrat
With a name like anythingaim.com, you could probably argue that you're realling using the name gaim.
Good luck trying to convince them the domain is really anythin gaim - in most situations, people aren't quite that dim.

i now have www.buddy-central.com

i believe aim is a dictionary word though?

are you guys seriously saying that if I had the domain: i-have-a-great-aim.com (meaning bow/arrow or gun aim) that they could take me to court?

Assuming that AOL has AIM as a trade mark, and you are using that trade mark in relationship to that product, I would say that you will be in danger of legal recourse from America Online at some point. If your site, as someone mentions, has to do with archery, or improving your hunting skills, AOL would not be interested or have a legal interest in protecting their trade mark because it is unrelated to their product.

Originally posted by Chicken
Good luck trying to convince them the domain is really anythin gaim - in most situations, people aren't quite that dim.

There's lots of names that share a letter between words. Even DirecTv is "Direct TV" not "Direc TV"

I think thomor25 explained the relation of anythingaim.com to AIM in his first post...Originally posted by thomor25
I am going to be starting a buddy icon site soon and have registered the name www.anythingaim.com its going to be a one stop shop for stuff for aol instant messenger...
You can't be a, "one stop shop for stuff for aol instant messenger" and claim your domain is "anythin gaim" or even "anything gaim" -but if you'd like to try it, heh...

This post premuch covered the whole issue, in addition to the, "but it's a dictionary word!" and "bow/arrow or gun aim" ...
Originally posted by noguru
Assuming that AOL has AIM as a trade mark, and you are using that trade mark in relationship to that product, I would say that you will be in danger of legal recourse from America Online at some point. If your site, as someone mentions, has to do with archery, or improving your hunting skills, AOL would not be interested or have a legal interest in protecting their trade mark because it is unrelated to their product.
Bottom line is that if you try to claim that your xboxplanet.com domain is really xb ox planet (a site about bovines), yet the content is about gaming, etc., no one is going to buy the bovine or ox is a dictionary word defense.

It's all about usage, and it's not black in white, just to make it even more confusing.

Originally posted by thomor25
www.anythingaim.com
Perhaps anythingim.com would be better, this would allow you to feature products for any instant messaging system.

yeah but aim has control of the market share right now.

Originally posted by Chicken


Bottom line is that if you try to claim that your xboxplanet.com domain is really xb ox planet (a site about bovines), yet the content is about gaming, etc., no one is going to buy the bovine or ox is a dictionary word defense.

It's all about usage, and it's not black in white, just to make it even more confusing.

Well-said Chicken. After all, I know some people who are looking to get spanked (http://www.spanked.org) but they end up somewhere else :D