Hello all,
I am in need of advice. Bear with me while I explain. I frequent a chat room which discusses my favorite band. During interviews over the last few months, band members have made comments about their new album and have mentioned phrases and odd grouping of words which has led fans on the chat room to hypothesize that these were song titles or perhaps the name of the album. One guy finally did a WHOIS check and found that one of these phrases had been registered by the band's record company a few weeks earlier. I checked this out myself. Yes they had registered the phrase with the .com ending but no others. I registered the phrase with the .net ending. A third party already registered that phrase with the .co.uk ending a couple of years ago. My questions are: 1.) Are there any legal issues I need to be concerned with? It is only a rumor this will be their album title and regardless I feel I am fine in registering this phrase with any ending which is still available. 2.) My wish is to contact the record company and offer a trade of my domain for concert tix, backstage passes or something along these lines. If they were interested what steps do I need to make sure the transfer goes smooth? 3.) If they don't want to trade or buy, where do I find how to set up my domain to try and profit from any traffic this could generate? I would expect perhaps their .com site might have a few hundred thousand hits. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated by this true newbie. Thanks
I would do some research on the issue of trademarks and domains and you should get some of the answers to what you are asking. I doubt it's a trademark issue, but when you are trying to profit from someone else's work, it can cause problems.
Well, I think a couple of things need to be cleared up. First of all, you don't need to go through a formal process to have a copyright for something. You can do that, but if you publish something it's my understanding that in the US at least it is protected by copyright laws.
A trademark is something you need to register and pay a fee for.
Here is one link that may help. Oh, here is an even better one about copyrights!
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Thanks to all who replied to my questions. Unfortunately I have yet to adequately answer my questions. I found domain names interesting and have just recently started reading about the whole concept of domain names. I have decided I do not know nearly enough to try and 'profit' from the domain I have registered. For one, I am not knowledgeable enough as yet to do this and two, I don't really want to capitalize on something unless I am 100% sure it is legal. Therefore, what I really wish to do is contact someone (the band, their record company, the company who bought the domain name for the band, etc.) and give them the domain in exchange for concert tix, backstage passes or such. I realize this is 'profiting' in a sense, but I feel it is more of a trade benefitting both parties. Can anyone offer guidance or where I can research what I need to do to not only initiate and conduct such a trade, but to also ensure I am well within the law concerning this matter? Again, thanks to all who have offered their opinions.
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