Can you use BYU in a domain name? - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

buffchazen · 02-11-2008, 03:38 PM

I noticed all BYU sports boards don't have BYU in the domain name. Does this mean that the school will take you to court if you have something like www.byuboard.com?

Indy Coug · 02-11-2008, 03:40 PM

what about byuruguay.com?

YOhio · 02-11-2008, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buffchazen

I noticed all BYU sports boards don't have BYU in the domain name. Does this mean that the school will take you to court if you have something like www.byuboard.com?

At it's early inception, CB was found at byuboard.com. IIRC, BYU asked Jefe to change it and he obliged.

buffchazen · 02-11-2008, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YOhio

At it's early inception, CB was found at byuboard.com. IIRC, BYU asked Jefe to change it and he obliged.

Asking and being forced to are two different things. Would they have slapped a lawsuit on said Jefe if he didn't agree to change the name?

ewth8tr · 02-11-2008, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buffchazen

Asking and being forced to are two different things. Would they have slapped a lawsuit on said Jefe if he didn't agree to change the name?

iirc, they did insinuate it.

cambo · 02-11-2008, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buffchazen

I noticed all BYU sports boards don't have BYU in the domain name. Does this mean that the school will take you to court if you have something like www.byuboard.com?

If they were to ask you to remove BYU from the URL and you didn't do it then they can take you to court. They have the trademark rights on BYU.

I work for a marketing agency that does the marketing for higher education schools and we watch this like a hawk for our clients. You can't have it in the URL or the Adtext. We have a whole compliance team that looks at this every day for our schools.

JohnnyLingo · 02-13-2008, 01:42 AM

I was on Byuboard back in the day. I remember posting while the 2000 BYU bball team was getting smoked by Cincinnati.

Cali Coug · 02-13-2008, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buffchazen

Asking and being forced to are two different things. Would they have slapped a lawsuit on said Jefe if he didn't agree to change the name?

Frequently, being asked to change a domain name is done with a demand letter that states you will be required to change a domain name if you don't comply.

BYU almost certainly has the name "BYU" registered as intellectual property. Any domain name that incorporates "BYU" into it would be in violation of their IP rights and could be removed by court order.

Any sophisticated corporation will have a law firm (or other IP search entity) doing constant searches for improper uses of their intellectual property. When they find inappropriate uses, they will send off a demand letter.

BigFatMeanie · 02-13-2008, 03:44 PM

I've had it in my domain name for the last year or so now. Haven't received a Cease and Desist yet...

02-11-2008, 03:38 PM	#1
buffchazen Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Can you use BYU in a domain name? I noticed all BYU sports boards don't have BYU in the domain name. Does this mean that the school will take you to court if you have something like www.byuboard.com?

02-11-2008, 03:40 PM	#2
Indy Coug Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Between Iraq and a hard place Posts: 7,569	what about byuruguay.com?

02-13-2008, 01:42 AM	#7
JohnnyLingo Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,175	I was on Byuboard back in the day. I remember posting while the 2000 BYU bball team was getting smoked by Cincinnati.

02-13-2008, 03:44 PM	#9
BigFatMeanie Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: South Jordan Posts: 1,725	I've had it in my domain name for the last year or so now. Haven't received a Cease and Desist yet...