I blogged about the trademark use in affiliate domain names. But what about subdomains?

Amazon, for example, deems it “unsuitable” for affiliate websites to:

…include any trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates, or any variation or misspelling of any trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates, in any domain name — for example, a domain name such as “amazon.mydomain.com”, “amaozn.com”, “amazonauctions.net”, “facebook.com/amazondealsgroup,” “endlessboots.com,” “endless.mydomain.com”, “endlss.com,” “kindlemagazines.mydomain.info,” or “kindlewirelessreader.co.uk”…

What about other affiliate programs? I’ve polled affiliate program managers and merchants, and regardless of the fact that not too many people took part in the poll, the results already look quite interesting:

If you haven’t yet participated in this poll, I would highly appreciate your vote too.

In the meantime, it does look somewhat strange that while the majority of affiliate programs out there do prohibit the use of their trademarks in domain names, they are okay with the use of them in affiliate subdomains. Most of the participants of this discussion [as well as this blogger, and many here as well] for example, believe that subdomains are treated and indexed as separate websites. Shouldn’t the rules for affiliate use of trademarks in subdomains and subfolders be the same as the rules for domains?