"Under the ACPA (Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act) a cybersquatter can be held liable for actual damages or statutory damages in the amount of a maximum of $100,000 for each name found to be in violation, although application of this act in the form of actual fines assessed are few in number." Cybersquatting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia..
Thank You.
As a follow up, say widget is patented and widget.com is used by the company to market the product. If I register, say whitewidgets.com and redwidgets.com, etc...to sell the product, would that be a TM violation?..
Yes. Unless you are a licensed distributor and have permission from the "widget" company...
Probably, unless as cartoonz said, you're an authorized licensee of the company.
There's also the Lanham act - if the infringement is determined to be intentional (i.e. you had willful intent to trade on the reputation of the other company or dilute their mark) they can be awarded up to triple the damages and reimbursement of their legal fees if you lose. source: 15 USC 1117, Recovery for violation of rights; profits, damages and costs; attorney fees; treble damages (BitLaw)..
Really this is going to depend on your supply chain and how the widget manufacturer sees this. If they are against it they can sue you and then you'll have to make a case in court for fair-use. Avoiding lawsuits imho is important. Even if you just settle it can be costly let alone fighting it.
However some sectors are pretty lenient about this situation. Such as video game developers and manufacturers. Typically they only go after you if your parking or using the domain in a disagreeable manner (i.e. porn links).
As for the damages part...yes in US Law damages of up to $100k per domain are possible...