What do you think about using popular events as domain names? Suppose FIFA haven't registered worldcup2010.com (which is not the case), is it OK for us to register the domain? Will we face legal issues for registering a copyrighted name? Is that copyrighted anyway?

If the popular event is attached to a company or organization, then stay away. It's not worth the eventual trademark dispute.

So, don't register domains like worldcup2010.com.

such domains are registered YEARS in advance. besides, those are profitable for a short period of time and only if executed right.

I don't think such domain names really help to increase business if these are not related the site content (like a webhost).

I agree with webfreak08, it's not worth the frustration of the eventual, but certain trademark dispute.

Have to agree with everyone else - not worth the ligitation and headaches.

You have to take care if there is no Trademark on the Name, as the Domain Name can in that case be claimed back.

The organizing committees for big events like the world cup (or the Olympics) are very vigilant in protecting their brand identity. You might get away with registering such a domain name, but as soon as you start actually using it online chances are that your hassles would begin.

Thanks guys for the input. I think everybody agree that we should stay away from such domain names for legal reasons. After all, I agree with Cableguy that it's profitable only for a short period of time.

I think that the time of grabbing names that are widely popular, like search, teach, design... has passed. Because when you think of something good, there is always someone who beat you already to it. Take a look:

http://www.worldcup2014.com/
http://www.worldcup2018.com/
http://www.worldcup2022.com/
http://www.worldcup2026.com/
http://www.worldcup2030.com/
...

Oh my.... They have even registered the domain for an event held the next 20 years. But it's funny that olympicgames2008.com and olympicgames2012.com belongs to individuals who monetize the domains through domain parking.

What good is it to send FIFA traffic to your hosting site? If you get 1 million visitors how many do you think will buy hosting?

Using un-related domains to push people to your site will likely do nothing but tarnish the image of your company and possible irk all mighty google.

I scoop up relevant domains when I find them as we used to have a mini-site marketing idea. However, mini-sites are largely frowned upon by google and other SE's these days, so we've canned that project as well.