I've been an amazon associate for a little over a year, and to be honest, didn't really bat too much of an eye, until my first referral fee was deposited to my account. It was a very pleasant surprise, and well, lets just say that it got me to a level of motivation I hadn't experienced since I became an adsense publisher.

In any case, I get an email from them today, I've pasted it below:


Greetings from Amazon.com.

It has recently come to our attention that you are using a domain
name in our Associates Program that contains a variation and/or
misspelling of the name AMAZON, including but not limited to
AMAZONWEBSHOP.COM. Please note that we do not allow anyone with a
URL containing the word "amazon" or any misspelling of the
word "amazon" to participate in the Associate Program (see Section 1
of the Associates Program Operating Agreement at
http://associates.amazon.com/gp/ass...help/operating/).
Such use violates Amazon.com's trademark, proprietary and other
rights.

At this juncture, we are willing to assume that you have registered
and are using this domain name without a full appreciation of the
above, provided that you are willing to assign this domain name over
to Amazon.com. Please advise whether you agree to transfer ownership
of the AMAZONWEBSHOP.COM domain name to Amazon.com. If so, you will
be contacted with further details.

If, however, we do not hear from you regarding the above within ten
days from the date of this email, we will have no alternative but to
terminate your associates account effective as of the date of this
email and you will not receive payment for Q1-2006.

Please know that we value our relationship and we look forward to
hearing from you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have
any questions.

Best regards,

Amazon.com Account Specialist
Associates Program
http://www.amazon.com


Sure enough the agreement did say that I can't use the amazon name in my domain name to serve in the associates program. Fine, I've replied back that I agree to change the domain name and their letter says that I have a full 10 days to comply, but does that mean I have to give up the domain name?

I was totally shocked that the name AmazonWebShop dot com was available, and I'm sure that if the name were appraised, it'd be worth a whole hell of alot more then my associates account. Do I have to give up the name? I mean I could always use the domain as a marketing platform to refer traffic to other shops. I'd make more money doing that, then I actually make from the associate program.

Lastly, could I in fact use a loophole, and simply forward all the traffic from the domain to my new one awswebshop dot com(yeah, i register nice domains)? Since it would not be breaking the assosciate's agreement any longer, and my new name wouldn't violate their IP.

I could use alot of replies on this post.


Thanks,
PuReWebDev

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E-commerce For Everyone E4E Amazon Storefronts - Use OrderItOnTheWeb.com for all your online shopping.

If they want to be corporate punks, they could probably try and sue you out of the domain name, although with a name like AmazonWebShop they would probably have a hard time winning the case. The could certainly terminate your account at any time if you don't hand it over though.

There was a case a few years back where a guy named Mike Row started a domain called MikeRowSoft.com I couple of weeks later he got a cease and desist letter from Microsoft demanding he hand over the domain. I guess Microsoft offered him $10 for the domain, so he didn't hand it over.

Last I hear, he was getting sued, I never did find out the outcome. Domain names and trademarks are a touchy subject with lots of legalese behind it. Good luck with your progress.

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Hi,

Well of course we all sympathise with a forum member in trouble, and we can all give our 2 cents; at the endof the day you'll need specialised professional advice on this one.

My feeling is that you will have to give up trading under the domain name; indeed you might have to give up that domain name completely... However, you MIGHT be able to negotiate a redirect to your new site, and you can try.

In any case, wouldn't give up with out some sort of fight!

Good luck!

Cheers,
Paz.

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10.3 million entries for Hotels in Turkey but I'm still chipping away.

That URL is in violation of the DMCA. They are completly right and they are not being unreasonable at all.

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I wouldn't go so far as to say violation of dmca, but it would be a violation of their ip to use the domain to promote amazon products.

I've since stopped using the domain for my associates account, however, I still am the registered owner of the domain. I'll not use it in a way that confuses their customers, however, if it came down to it, I say that the value of the domain is worth more then my associates account.

They own the copyright to the name amazon as it relates to amazon.com and the sales or it's products. They don't have the right to everything named amazon, so if I really wanted, I could be selling products from the amazon (as in jungle/river), so I do have a legitimate right to use the domain in that manner.

Just a little something to make you laugh, they aren't the only ones to drop the ball on getting domains they feel are important to them, IBM doesn't even own the domain ibmcomputer dot com, ~


thanks,
PuReWebDev

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Then perhaps you should re-read it.


And that is exactly why it is illegal.

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I believe they dropped the suit as they considered to be counter-productive, gave Mike a bunch of goodies for free and invited him to a job-fair.

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Alyson Hannigan

Well that's good to know. Maybe I should try and make a domain that Microsoft wants - then I could be a bunch of Microsoft goodies too.

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Just to follow up on my original post. Amazon stopped pursuing me about the domain, so right now, I'm using it to forward traffic to my new webshop. Everything looks like it worked out well.

I'll post any future updates.

PuReWebDev

__________________
E-commerce For Everyone E4E Amazon Storefronts - Use OrderItOnTheWeb.com for all your online shopping.

Do you mind me asking how well you do with Amazon affiliates? You dont' have to post #'s of course, just curious. I've been told it's not one of the best, but I've been trying it lately so I'm curious of what's in store for me

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Alyson Hannigan