Can anyone buy a .us and other questions?

[OfficeGuy]

Hi,

I was wondering if any person residing outside of the U.S may buy .us

I am in the process of regging one but have to choose from a dropdown menu, either if I am a U.S citizen, or my main business etc is in the U.S and so on..

Is this something I need to worry about as a "foreigner"or is it just to regg it?

Another question more on "copyright" etc

I found an available .us which is somewhat generic. Consists of two words. A vegetable and a place.. like CarrotHill.us whatever.
(just an example lol) There are several restaurants with this name. And their website is like carrotHillTexasCity.com for ex.

If I offer CarrotHill.us to them and say it is available for purchase. Can they demand the rights for it.. How does that work.. Its kind of a generic name anyway?

Where do you step over the line in these cases. How do you propose to end users in these cases..

:gl:

 

[bmugford]

.US does have Nexus requirements -

U.S. Nexus Requirement

To be in compliance with the U.S. Nexus Requirement, all registrants for the .US domain must be either:

1. A natural person (i) who is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States of America or any of its possessions or territories, or (ii) whose primary place of domicile is in the United States of America or any of its possessions, or

2. An entity or organization that is (i) incorporated within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States possessions or territories or (ii) organized or otherwise constituted under the laws of a state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia or any of its possessions or territories, or

3. An entity or organization (including a federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof) that has a bona fide presence in the United States.

This U.S. Nexus Requirement is intended to ensure that only those individuals or organizations that have a substantive connection to the United States are permitted to register for .US domain names.

Brad

 

[enlytend]

Another question more on "copyright" etc

I found an available .us which is somewhat generic. Consists of two words. A vegetable and a place.. like CarrotHill.us whatever.
(just an example lol) There are several restaurants with this name. And their website is like carrotHillTexasCity.com for ex.

If I offer CarrotHill.us to them and say it is available for purchase. Can they demand the rights for it.. How does that work.. Its kind of a generic name anyway?

First of all, if you're going to be in this business, you owe it to yourself to learn the difference between a copyright and a trademark (take a second to google it) and learn the basics of trademark law as it applies to domains.

What seems "generic" may not necessarily be "generic" in terms of law, so nobody can say for certain without specific information. For example, "carrot" and "hill" are both dictionary words, but used together, unless someone is selling real estate on a hill of carrots, it could easily be a common-law tm, if not a registered one.. IF you try to sell a tm domain to a tm holder, that can be used as evidence of "bad faith."

 

[TheBaldOne]

Concerning registration of .us names there is of course the option to incorporate a company (LLC) in one of the States (see BMugford's post above under 2(1) of the Rules for Registration). This may well cost between $600 - $900 hundred, but it is fairly easily done by non-US citizens with an abode outside the US (most seem to go for Connecticut or Delaware - just Google for the information).

Of course if your business is unlikely to recoup the fees involved in registering an LLC then the likelyhood is that this is not the route for you to follow.

Good luck.