famous peoples names and domain names

[justwondering]

famous peoples names such as actors etc( not there characters/roll) if you bought there name and turned it into a fan site using copyright free photos and your own articles or free articles , could that person have a claim on the domain name ? because you are using the domain name for your own benefit and potential profit via google ads etc ?

 

[Edwin]

Yes of course they could. It's a VERY bad idea.

 

[doodlebug]

It use to be done but these days is a big NO NO,I and hopefully other domainers don't touch 'em

 

[redbird]

I'm willing to stand corrected but my interpretation of the DRS policy was that this was acceptable.

"....4.b. Fair use may include sites operated solely in tribute to or in criticism of a person or business...."


EDIT: I think I get it now, is suspect the key word is "solely" ?

 

[Edwin]

"....4.b. Fair use may include sites operated solely in tribute to or in criticism of a person or business...."

EDIT: I think I get it now, is suspect the key word is "solely" ?

The other keyword is "may".

Why risk it?

 

[Skinner]

They keyword is SOLELY i.e. Not for Profit.

Generally speaking as long as your not profiting (in a way that's easy to identify) they can't really do jack. Soon as you put ads, aff stuff or whatever on there, you are potentially in trouble.

Some management will hunt you down like a dirty dog, others simply send in the legal hounds, others will ask you to sign over, and if its popular allow you to continue running it for them as a fan (remember this is why you setup so you can't really say no, without jumping out the fire into the frying pan).

I have heard of MANY successful sites being run with permission, and some being 'bought' by the management later on, but most of these have been setup way back or been running so long it could be complex to simply nail them.

 

[redbird]

The other keyword is "may".

Why risk it?

I quite agree I personally won't risk it but do think in the right circumstances it "may" as you say be OK. I have actually caught two FOR a celebrities (free of charge) that I admire to ensure they got them. It does take lot of effort though to get the transfer sorted by speaking to the right people. No where near as simple as dealing with another domainer

Dave

 

[doodlebug]

The guy who owned Madonna;com had nothing on his site related to the singer yet she legally took it off him

Personally I think that was out of order as Madonna is a religious figure.

So be warned :!:

 

[retired_member12]

...Madonna is a religious figure...

No, that's Maradona with his Hand of God!

 

[Skinner]

The guy with Madonna put Pornography on it, so he was fecked anyway, he couldn't claim religious, nor the singer, or anything.

 

[justwondering]

okay , so if a famous persons name , which will be the same name of many people etc , could i still offer the said name to the famous person at a profit ? based on the fact there is many other people with actually the same name ? with it been totally undeveloped ? for say £250 for said time and trouble etc , names like matt smith (latest doctor who) surely there is so many of the same a normal first name and surname cant be DRM , i wonder if someone was born and christian by there parents "harry potter" and they had the domain name "harrypotter.co.uk" could the film company take it away from them ?

the name matt smith could be offered to 100's of people.

 

[Edwin]

No. The moment that you approach them to sell them the name at a profit, they can turn around and DRS you based on the fact that you registered it in "bad faith" (using the fact that you approached them as "proof" of that bad faith). They might not win, but it's a lot of hassle either way.

You're much better finding a GENERIC domain name that describes a product or service, and putting your energy into building a website about that product or service.

 

[justwondering]

thank you all for your advice , DRS is still new and a bit alien to me , so i kinda like to find out the knucks and crannys of buying and profiting from domain names , does anyone have a link to the DRS site , so i can read up furthur to help to try and not make DRS based mistakes.

 

[justwondering]

ah , i was just wondering , let say i dont offer the name directly to the said person at a profit , but i list it with say sedo and someone puts in a offer and it becomes a auction , thats with no content on the site , just the domain name , surely a name e.g "mattsmith.co.uk" if people decided to bid on it and the price goes up and i do make a profit based on my original outlay , surely no bearing on the fact one of the people in the world who has that name happens to be famous ? that would seem a tad unfair , but you guys know the DRS rules and have no doudt been through the mill by the sounds of it and suffered .

 

[Skinner]

If you added it to sedo at an overly inflated price based on the famous person being the likely buyer that would go against you. So if you got an offer of say £10, how can you justify your counter offer of £500 ?

Also ANYONE called mattsmith for example could attempt to DRS as, you would have no legal right to the name, and anyone called mattsmith would.

If you happened to reg the name on the date he was revealed, or something significant occurred like those x-factor names, I heard they lost them because they regged them within minutes of the names being announced on TV, which went to bad faith.

Its really not worth registering them to sell on, only to develop on a not for profit basis.

 

[justwondering]

okay , sounds fair enough I shall stay well clear such names, copyrights etc , it really does not sound like it's worth it .

cheers for the info

 

[synapsis]

I've heard my fair share of do's and do nots, but it appears that you can get away with it, but its not too much of a respectable practice. If you are doing it and your successfully avoiding any sort of confrontation, I wouldn't be bragging about getting x amount of hits on celebrityname.com