An all too common problem I see - even moreso now - is domainers both new and experienced buying into trademarked domains. With the new domainers, you have not only TM infringements but the names in and of themselves would be worthless anyways. Experienced domainers are weary of the names, but know a good typo or add-on when they see it and sometimes can't resist. One of the common justifications is there's a lot of other sites with them and they don't get in trouble.
Well, maybe not, but you still risk losing that domain or much worse when you register a trademarked domain name. Let me clarify this for those who don't want to see the light.
googleforum.com is a TM.
gooogle.com is a TM.
googlez.com is a TM.
Basically, anything you register with the premise of using someone else's name or brand to make money is a TM. And that makes common sense. You wouldn't want someone to take your name that you had invested millions into marketing and be able to make money off your resources and hardwork for nothing.
What is ok:
youforum.com
moneytube.com
You can use a popular generic keyword as part of your website's name. After Youtube.com was launched for example, domainers jumped on the (you + keyword) or (keyword + tube) bandwagon. This is ok. The word's you and tube seperated from one another and combined with another word takes advantage of the fad popularity, but does not specifically take from the youtube brand.
A good place to start when determining if you have a name may be a trademark is the online trademark search. Here is the link:
http://www.uspto.gov/
Click the trademarks tab. Then select Search TM database.
In general, register in good faith domainers. This is the most key component to keeping you free of lawsuits and attorney letters. Most TMs are coming from boldface bad faith registers to capitalize off someone else's brand. There really aren't too many whoops I accidentally registered a name that might be a TM infringement.
Now, there can be a gray area with domains and TMs where it is not clear whether the domain is a TM or not. Seek out a patent attorney on these issues if you truly want to start a working business with that site. If not, err on the side of caution.
Here is a related article on cybersquatting hitting a record high:
http://www.contractoruk.com/news/003731.html
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