Celebrity domain name - what to do | Warrior Forum - The #1 Digital Marketing Forum & Marketplace

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by rosetrees

I thought of contacting the agent and asking if the celeb would like a site developed for them.

Worth trying, I suppose. Risky, but anything's risky. That's not to say that it's "all downside", of course, but under UK law and procedures for dealing with these things, they can probably take it off you, any time they like, can't they? :confused:

I wouldn't be investing too much time/energy/money into it, anyway; for sure.

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Alfred Shelver

14 years ago

WHat if you found some normal person who had the same name. Emailed them and asked them permssion to own the name and pay them a small fee to own it. Can they still take it away from you.

If you say the .com and others are not really developed It does sound like a good Idea to offer to build them a site and sell them the whole pakage. (even show them how to redirect the others sites to this one)

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DogScout

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Cathy Shelver

WHat if you found some normal person who had the same name. Emailed them and asked them permssion to own the name and pay them a small fee to own it. Can they still take it away from you.

Nissan had that same problem. nissan.com belonged (still does) to a guy whose last name IS Nissan. He owned (still does) a computer biz and Nissan, (the car company), spent thousands attempting to force the owner to give up the site. So far they have been unsuccessful. The site is still owned by Nissan Computers and last I heard they were selling email addresses @nissan.com as a goof (or just to push Nissan Motor Corp's face in it). So finding an average person with the same name and 'cutting them in' for a percentage or fee 'appears' like it would do the job. In the US anyway, the precedent has been set. Don't know about UK regulation.

Disclaimer: I am not now, nor have ever been a member of the communist party... Oops... wrong disclaimer. Okay let's try: Hi, My name is Mark and I am an alcoholic... poop, wrong again. How about: The author of the above post is ADHD, OCD with a little turrets thrown in. He is not a lawyer and if he was a lawyer, he would not be a very good one. Before acting on any of the information above, it is recommended that a lawyer who has actually passed the bar and has a good rep on Angie's list be consulted.

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sbucciarel

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by DogScout

Nissan had that same problem. nissan.com belonged (still does) to a guy whose last name IS Nissan. He owned (still does) a computer biz and Nissan, (the car company), spent thousands attempting to force the owner to give up the site. So far they have been unsuccessful. [/B]

I believe Nissan Computers was using their family name before Nissan Motors even existed.

This is after more than 20 years of Mr. Nissan's well-documented prior use of his family name for business purposes in the United States
which he commenced when the cars were known as DATSUN.

In addition, they are in computers/peripherals category ... not automotive. Both of those make a huge difference.

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2 replies

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rosetrees 14 years ago

Thanks for all the input guys. I wasn't worried about asking a legal opinion on whether or not I can use the site - I'm well aware of the potential implications.

I've found an address for the celeb's agent. I'm going to take a flyer and contact them and see if the celeb would like the site developed on their behalf, or even developed as a blog. This celeb does a lot of community work - which is why I was surprised to find that they didn't already have a site. I'm not interested in making mega bucks at the celebs expense - that's not what I "do".

If they aren't interested - I'll try parking it and see what happens.
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DogScout

14 years ago

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

In addition, they are in computers/peripherals category ... not automotive. Both of those make a huge difference.

What is sick is Nissan Motor Corp is now trying to register a FEDERAL trademark FOR computers and computer peripherals, JUST to go after Nissan Computers AGAIN!!

Nissan Motor vs. Nissan Computer - Digest.com

AS$$E$

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sbucciarel

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by DogScout

What is sick is Nissan Motor Corp is now trying to register a FEDERAL trademark FOR computers and computer peripherals, JUST to go after Nissan Computers AGAIN!!

Nissan Motor vs. Nissan Computer - Digest.com

AS$$

Yeah ... I read that and I think they are assess too. I hope they lose that category. Nissan computers has every right to use that name. They had it when Nissan was Datsun.

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davezan

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Cathy Shelver

WHat if you found some normal person who had the same name. Emailed them and asked them permssion to own the name and pay them a small fee to own it. Can they still take it away from you.

As mentioned, it depends on U.K. law. But in the U.S., look up the cyberpiracy
protections for individuals.

Originally Posted by Kay King

Have you checked trademarks for the name? I see a lot of trademark comments but you didn't mention it.

Chances are, the celebrity's practically established a trademark for her name if
she especially uses it to make money.

Good luck, rosetrees. Hopefully the celebrity's agent might see a win-win thing
for both of you.

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David

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robs132

14 years ago

I don't think that they could just take it off you...

Check how easy it would be to rank for their name (pretty simple if you have the name in url) and start ranking.

Sounds like fun!

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taolaga

Banned 14 years ago

[DELETED]

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computerfan

14 years ago

I think if you have already sent an email asking the celeb's agents and they haven't reponded, keep a copy of the e-mail you sent them. Start building the site and optimize it and put some adsense ads on it. In case they ask you to take it down you have a copy of the e-mail to defend yourself.

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AFI

14 years ago

I have a celebrity domain....a .com even, and I parked it and that is where the most revenue has come from.

I created a fan site for it at first but fans weren't converting on the merchandise so I parked it and had the best luck.

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n7 Studios

14 years ago

Originally Posted by AFI

I have a celebrity domain....a .com even, and I parked it and that is where the most revenue has come from.

I created a fan site for it at first but fans weren't converting on the merchandise so I parked it and had the best luck.

I'm in agreement with this - I got a .co.uk of a celebrity's name, and found the same.

I've owned the domain for around 6 years.

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sbucciarel

Banned 14 years ago

Under Fair Use, you can use it as a non-commercial fan page. It's possible that the .com and .net are parked for a reason. A page may have been developed and then taken down already or the celeb's agent may own it.

It can be taken from you if it is used in any way connected to the celebrity, if they want to, so it's just making the decision on whether or not you want to try it.

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1 reply

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Alexa Smith

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Cathy Shelver

WHat if you found some normal person who had the same name. Emailed them and asked them permssion to own the name and pay them a small fee to own it. Can they still take it away from you.

I believe they can in the UK, yes ... (am not a lawyer and no longer even willing to play one on TV either - only high court judges, now). It depends on what your intention was/is assumed to be.

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

Under Fair Use, you can use it as a non-commercial fan page.

Not certain this is so in the UK, Suzanne: I understand the laws (and practices) regarding domains/squatting are a little different from those of most countries ... (am still not a lawyer).

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Fleki

14 years ago

I posted the same question here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ing-money.html

It's called Cybersquatting and the answer is a big NO, don't do it, it's not worth the risk if you're thinking about ANY affiliate offers or promotions at all.

Of course you may be able to get away on such a small scale but there's that constant anxiety that will follow you... trust me.

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rosetrees

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Fleki

I posted the same question here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ing-money.html

It's called Cybersquatting and the answer is a big NO, don't do it, it's not worth the risk if you're thinking about ANY affiliate offers or promotions at all.

Of course you may be able to get away on such a small scale but there's that constant anxiety that will follow you... trust me.

I am wondering how many people actually read my OP and my last post a few posts above this!

Edit - I've emailed the celeb's agent.

Thanks

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Ashley Wright

14 years ago

It be good to see where this goes! I was gonna do the same a few years back with "upcoming xfactor winners" But it took up more time than I expected! Truth is there is no harm in trying right?

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petevamp

14 years ago

Originally Posted by rosetrees

I just read a news item which made me think I'd look at the celebrity's own website. There isn't one. The .com and .net versions are a parked page and an adsense site.

The celeb is UK, seriously famous (must be if even I have heard of them) and the .co.uk version was available - so, on a whim, I bought it.

Question is - now what do I do?

I don't want to develop a site and find their agent asks me to take it down.

I thought of contacting the agent and asking if the celeb would like a site developed for them.

What would you do?

You can do any thing you wish to do with the domain really. For one thing that is not possible is to copyright ones name. There for you can pretty much do what ever you want with the site. Just think of how many john smiths there are in the world. If they could copyright a name then you would have about 50k john smiths fighting over the domain saying it is theirs.

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sbucciarel

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by petevamp

You can do any thing you wish to do with the domain really. For one thing that is not possible is to copyright ones name. There for you can pretty much do what ever you want with the site. Just think of how many john smiths there are in the world. If they could copyright a name then you would have about 50k john smiths fighting over the domain saying it is theirs.

Could you at least Google celebrity domain name trademark infringement
before answering a legal question that you don't have a clue about the correct answer?

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Alexa Smith Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by petevamp

For one thing that is not possible is to copyright ones name. There for you can pretty much do what ever you want with the site.

This is utter nonsense, Pete. The one thing doesn't follow from the other at all, however much you might like it to! :rolleyes:
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- Kay King 14 years ago
  
  Rosetree -
  
  Have you checked trademarks for the name? I see a lot of trademark comments but you didn't mention it.
  
  kay
  
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Celebrity domain name - what to do

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