Total Training, a company that offers software training went on a Microsoft Trademark buying spree last March acquiring domains like MicrosoftExcelFormulas.com and MicrosoftExcelTutorials.com. As you probably already know, companies like Microsoft aren’t a big fan of people buying domains with their Trademark(s) in it. Total Training must have thought they hit the jackpot last year buying these domains that exactly match popular search terms related to their services.
Well this week Microsoft dropped the axe and took 11 domains from Total Training with the final ownership transfer taking place this past Tuesday. According to my research Total Training lost a total of 11 domain names, all very blatant trademark violations. You can see a full list of the domains below, all are now registered to Microsoft Corporation.
microsoftexcelformulas.com
microsoftexceltutorials.com
microsoftoffice2007training.com
microsoftoffice2010download.com
microsoftoffice2010professional.com
microsoftoffice2010rapidshare.com
microsoftoffice2010technicalpreview.com
microsoftoffice2010tutorials.com
microsoftofficeprofessionalplus2010.com
microsoftofficeword2007.com
office2010microsoft.com
Microsoft has already forwarded a number of these domains to Bing, specifically the search results page for the given keywords. Thus if you go to MicrosoftExcelFormulas.com you will be taken to a Bing search for – Microsoft Excel Formula. Lucky for Microsoft, Total Training doesn’t appear on the first page of Bing. This is just another great example of why buying domains that infringe on a company’s Trademark is about as far from investing as you can get. Total Training learned this lesson the hard way and something tells me they won’t be going down this path again anytime soon.
