The Ninth Circuit has ruled a Web site using the name of another company in its Web address has not violated U.S. trademark law if the Web site is one of protest and comment rahter than commerce. Generally, a name must be used in commerce by both sides to be a violation.
There also must be some likelihood of confusion.
The winner in this case was the publisher of bosleymedical.com, which is critical of The Bosley Medical Institute. The complaint site’s author apparently received some bad hair restoration services.