Re:Donald Trump is coming after my domain name, claiming tra...
by jeremysmyth on Tuesday January 05, 2016 @07:30AM
(#10842885)
Net neutrality has absolutely nothing to do with trademark infringement. The lesson you should have learned is not that the Internet should be free, but that you cannot earn money by using someone else's name in a similar context (which in trademark law is their legal property), especially after they find out and ask you to stop using legal methods.
I got a C&D from the car company, which I promptly ignored because I was young and I thought it was ridiculous that a company should be allowed to regulate the internet.
I was making about $1K+/per month in revenue from Google Ads because I was putting relevant content on the site (I never pretended to be the car company).
About three months in, GoDaddy, my registrar, took my domain name and gave it to the car company without notice.
They also charged me $30 for the administration fees associated with handling that transaction.
I learned a pretty good lesson that day. This is why I adamantly support things like net neutrality. I find it repugnant that companies can do stuff like this.