I assume that this, or at least parts of this has been covered multiple times, but I cannot find it..
Here are my questions regarding first name domains that also happen to be the first name of a celebrity/entertainer.
1) If my name is say Tim, I can register first name Steve.com, right?.
2) If I own Steve.com and it is not my name, could I safely approach a random Steve who is not a celeb with an offer to sell the name to him or would that be unwise?.
3) if I cannot approach a Steve, can I offer the domain for sale and if a Steve contacts me, is it safe to sell it to a Steve?.
4) If the Steve is a celeb who is somewhat known/recognizable by just the one name "Steve" (but certainly not the only celeb by this first name), then it would be unwise to approach the celeb, right?.
5) Would the answer to 4 chang if the celeb was very recognizable by the first name, such as Elvis or something?.
6) If said celeb makes an offer, is it safe to sell the name to him?.
7) If I were to sell such a domain to some third party that then later uses the domain to profit off the celebrity, can I get in trouble? If yes, can I mitigate the trouble by documenting that I notified the buyer that the domain cannot be used to profit off the celebrity?.
(The entertainer has no REGISTERED trademark on the first name. They do, however, have a design plus words service mark that includes both ther first and last name.)..
Anyone can register a domain name? Also anyone can try and take it? It would all depend on how strong there claim to the name was, trademark service mark etc gives them a stronger case but by no means an open and shut case.
There are many things to take into account e.g Your justification of use and theresName registered prior to the service mark, do you have many other names also associated with said celeb, there location your location, the price, your use of the domain etc.
A high percentage of the time if it were truly a genuine name you would have a strong case to keep it but there are always exceptions so without knowing the name any opinion would be purely speculative.
What someone does after you sell a name is not your responsibility..
Curtis, other than being wrong on virtually everything you said I would appreciated if you stopped hijacking every legal thread with information about your case vs NameMedia.com.
I'm confused... I thought that a first name only domain was different from first name + last name because first name only does not adequately specify any single individual?..
You are fine. I buy and sell popular first name domains all the time.
I would just take everything Curtis says with a grain of salt. His main goal of posting just seems to be keeping his frivolous lawsuit against NameMedia.com in the news.
Agreed. Curtis' post has been disapproved. The next time any such post occurs, Curtis, you will be given an infraction for trolling. No exceptions this is a final warning. You may not discuss your case(s) or offer opinion based on those cases, on any thread until further notice from us.
EDIT: I've talked to Curtis and we have reached mutual understanding. If he posts in future threads, they should not be related to his own case. Though, he is free to post his general opinion without mentioning/alluding to his own case(s)..
I get the reasoning behind NOT being able to cyber squat on name brands and celeb trademarked singular names or full names for that matter and try to unload it back on them for crazy prices BUT what would happen if you had a cool singular name for awhile and THEN someone famous came around and branded that name as theirs.
If you don't try and hold the name hostage and for a high ransom you could still be able to keep it and use it correct? If you had the name and used it trying to brand it in your own fashion, am I right on that and if not can you fill me in.
Like I answered in a similar thread: http://www.namepros.com/legal-issues...ml#post3669820.
It really depends. The madonna.com UDRP Cartoonz mentioned can give you an idea.
Are .net s of most first names worth more much? How easy/hard are they to sell? Post added at 10:40 AM Previous post was at 10:36 AM The guy with the lawsuit (his post was deleted), included a link to something that said something like "one cannot sell the name of a person or partial name of a person for profit." Was that a real law? If yes, what would be a "partial name"? Last name? First name? First + last witout the middle name?.
Popular first and last names are worth good money in virtually any major extension (COM/NET/ORG).