Can I sell my personal name domain to others with same name and avoid UDRP?

[StonePillar]

Hi all,

Let's say, for example, that my true, legal name is Smith and that I've owned the domain name smith.com for many years and used it daily for email communication. Let's also say that I registered my Smith name with the purpose of using it for email communication and launching a personal or business website. (This is only an example. I don't own the smith.com domain name.)

Can I contact end-users whose name is also Smith to try to sell my smith.com domain name without fear of a domain name dispute or a UDRP proceeding? What if some of the Smiths I contact are sort of known (not very famous) in their respective fields, e.g., law, entertainment, sports, art, business, etc.?

Thanks for your comments!

 

[Name Trader]

You'd need to be careful that any Smith you tried selling the domain to doesn't have a registered or unregistered trademark for the word smith. The idea seems fraught with problems.

 

[mwzd]

Surnames are fair game, but approaching people automatically puts you on the back foot.

If its as generic as smith.com your best bet would be a premium auction, you'd get a higher price, or reserve protection, without the hassle.

Good Luck

 

[StonePillar]

Samit says that surnames are "fair game," but stub says that trying to sell the domain name is "fraught with problems." How do I reconcile these conflicting statements?

Stub, can you give some examples of unregistered trademarks for Smith that should cause me not to try to sell to someone? Also, Samit, are you suggesting that we don't contact end-users to try to sell our domain names? If we don't have totally premiere domain names, we can wait many years for a buyer.

 

[Name Trader]

Of course, unregistered trademarks, are just that. You don't know who has them until you try to sell them your name. You could maybe get around some of the problems by not having your domain resolve, and claiming you only use it for email purposes. But approaching a smith with the intent to sell them your name, is fraught with problems, like unregistered trademarks, or famous personalities, like Will Smith. Of course, the less premium the name, the less likely you are to get yourself into trouble. I think you've got to decide whether you have premium names, like smith, or non-premium names, and give us a better example.

 

[mwzd]

A surname could be used by 100s of 1000s of people, so in that its 'fair game'.

Contacting end users is probably the best way to sell domains for higher value, but a generic surname like Smith would probably have a lot more buyers in a high value auction than when you contact individuals.

After all, it would be tough to qualify which Smith would pay the most for the said domain, hence a direct sale might not get you the best pricing.