Salesforce.com Registers 21 Trademarked Domain Names
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
Direct navigation with a potential timebomb.
Online CRM and application provider Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) just made an interesting direct navigation move that could potentially land it in hot water.
Realizing that it can be difficult finding particular pages on its site and its channels on social networking sites, it registered over 20 direct navigation domain names to make it easier. For example, it registered FeatureComparisionChart.com to direct visitors to its page that compares Salesforce.com editions. That’s smart.
But then it went another level, registering domain names including famous trademarks such as YouTube and Facebook to direct people to its social networking channels. For example, the company registered:
YouTubeSalesforce.com
FacebookSalesforce.com
LinkedInSalesforce.com
FlickrSalesforce.com
Will those brand owners agree to Salesforce.com’s registration of domains including their brands? Perhaps they cleared it in advance, but I’d be surprised if it doesn’t make those company’s lawyers cringe.
Salesforce went a step further, registering YouTube domain names that include generic terms instead of Salesforce.com’s name, such as YouTubeCloudComputing.com and YouTubeSuccessStories.com.
Even more worrisome is that the domain names are registered in the name of a Salesforce.com employee rather than the company. This tells you that the company doesn’t have a good domain name registration policy in place.
[Hat tip to HotNameList for the link]
Further Reading:
Salesforce.com Registers 21 Trademarked Domain Names – http://tinyurl.com/daho4n
“Even more worrisome is that the domain names are registered in the name of a Salesforce.com employee rather than the company.”
Not that it makes it right but perhaps this
employee did these registrations on his own without the Salesforce senior management’s knowledge and approval.
And certainly without the Legal department’s okay.
Otherwise it would be very stupid corporate behavior.
Seems a tad stupid… RT @dnnews: Salesforce.com Registers 21 Trademarked Domain Names – http://tinyurl.com/daho4n
Patrick, that’s probably the case. I doubt it went through legal.
The said thing is this guy understands the power of direct navigation…just didn’t know how to do it properly.
What is Salesforce.com staff thinking? Via @domainnamewire: Salesforce.com Registers 21 Trademarked Domain Names http://tinyurl.com/daho4n
I’m thinking it is a rogue employee not fully understanding the implications of what he has done. This could be a job ending move.
I wonder if by creating the other joint domains, are they also diluting the TM on SalesForce.com?
@domainer….I think they would be diluting each others brand…IMO.
You know, as little as most companies and people understand domains and trademarks it’s surprising this has not happened more often.
Salesforce.com Registers 21 Trademarked Domain Names http://bit.ly/Zttk6 – if its real then SF lawyers will busy in near future
Since the official salesforce blog talks about this I assume it was an approved move. I don’t think they have a trademark problem as long as the domains redirect correctly. So if you click YouTubeSalesforce.com, it brings you to the salesforce youtube channel. There is no misrepresentation going on and I believe a court would not have a problem with this.
Mr Mxyzptlk – but what about YouTubeCloudComputing.com?
YouTubeCloudComputing.com not as strong but I don’t think a trademark/legal problem because it redirects to a Cloud Computing page on YouTube, so again the consumer who hits that URL was not misled. If it said YouTubeCloudComputing.com and went to a page on Hulu…
[...] Salesforce.com Registers 21 Trademarked Domain NamesDomain Name Wire, TXOnline CRM and application provider Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) just made an interesting direct navigation move that could potentially land it in hot water. Realizing that it can be difficult finding particular pages on its site and its channels on …Salesforce.com (CRM) PriceWatch Alert With 16.51% Downside Protection Market Intelligence Centerall 3 news articles [...]