link:http://www.androidunderground.com/2010/03/22/every-domain-name-containing-android-at-risk-of-trademark-infringement/
Last week we applied for an Amazon Associates Program account so we could put some ads on the site for Android phones, accessories and books.
A few days later we received the following:
Hello,
Thanks for your application to the Amazon Associates Program.
When you filled out our online application form, you listed the URL for your web site as: http://www.androidunderground.com/
We do not allow the use of URLs that include trademarked words. This includes variations or misspellings of any trademarked words. Therefore, we are unable to accept your application. Please review our Operating Agreement for further details:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/agreement
Thank you for your interest in the Amazon Associates Program.Best regards,
Patric
Amazon.com
We’re Building Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company
Of course we were quite amazed and wrote back the following:
Hello,
ok, so I didn’t know Underground was a trademarked word, could you provide me the link that proves that ?
Or did you mean the word Android ? Ya know, robot[1] or synthetic organism[2] designed to look and act like a human.OR did you mean the Android OS, released under the Apache License, a free software and open source license.[11]
Anxiously awaiting your answer….
A day later we received a final answer from Amazon:
Hello,
We have investigated this issue and confirmed that the term, “Android” is trademarked in reference to phones and applications. Your site isn’t suitable for the Associates Program as a result.
You are welcome to re-apply for membership in the Associates Program if you have another suitable site to use and do not use the androidunderground.com site to refer customers to our site.
Based on our confirmation of the trademark, further requests to accept the http://www.androidunderground.com site into the program won’t receive a response.Thank you for your understanding.
So according to Amazon, every domain name that contains the word ‘Android’ in reference to phones and applications is at risk.
Our next step is going to be to find a way to contact Google to have this matter cleared up, the last thing we want is a lawsuit from Google while running a website promoting their software…
